van Heugten-van der Kloet Dalena, Cosgrave Jan, Merckelbach Harald, Haines Ross, Golodetz Stuart, Lynn Steven Jay
Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford Oxford, UK.
Forensic Psychology Section, Department of Clinical and Psychological Science, Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2015 Mar 26;6:324. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00324. eCollection 2015.
Dissociative symptoms have been related to higher rapid eye movement sleep density, a sleep phase during which hyperassociativity may occur. This may enhance artistic creativity during the day. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a creative photo contest to explore the relation between dissociation, sleep, and creativity. During the contest, participants (N = 72) took one photo per day for five consecutive days, based on specific daily themes (consisting of single words) and the instruction to take as creative a photo as possible each day. Furthermore, they completed daily measures of state dissociation and a short sleep diary. The photos and their captions were ranked by two professional photographers and two clinical psychologists based on creativity, originality, bizarreness, and quality. We expected that dissociative people would rank higher in the contest compared with low-dissociative participants, and that the most original photos would be taken on days when the participants scored highest on acute dissociation. We found that acute dissociation predicted a higher ranking on creativity. Poorer sleep quality and fewer hours of sleep predicted more bizarreness in the photos and captions. None of the trait measures could predict creativity. In sum, acute dissociation related to enhanced creativity. These findings contribute to our understanding of dissociative symptomatology.
分离症状与快速眼动睡眠密度较高有关，快速眼动睡眠是一个可能出现过度联想的睡眠阶段。这可能会增强白天的艺术创造力。为了验证这一假设，我们举办了一场创意摄影比赛，以探究分离、睡眠和创造力之间的关系。在比赛期间，参与者（N = 72）连续五天每天拍摄一张照片，照片主题基于特定的每日主题（由单个单词组成）以及每天尽可能拍摄有创意照片的指令。此外，他们每天完成状态分离的测量和简短的睡眠日记。照片及其说明由两位专业摄影师和两位临床心理学家根据创造力、原创性、怪异程度和质量进行排名。我们预计，与低分离参与者相比，分离程度高的人在比赛中的排名会更高，并且最具原创性的照片会在参与者急性分离得分最高的日子拍摄。我们发现急性分离预示着在创造力方面有更高的排名。较差的睡眠质量和较少的睡眠时间预示着照片和说明中会有更多怪异之处。特质测量均无法预测创造力。总之，急性分离与创造力增强有关。这些发现有助于我们对分离症状学的理解。
