Creativity, altered states of consciousness and anomalous cognition: the role of epistemological flexibility in the creative process

In this PhD research a question is posed that concerns ‘varieties of creativity’ that have infrequently been explored empirically, although often described anecdotally. This question being: is, and if so, how, is creativity related to altered states of consciousness (ASCs) and parapsychological experiences? This thesis systematically explores the relationship between multiple dimensions of creativity and: personality traits characterised by an openness to intrapersonal experience and a fluid cognitive-style; specific altered states of consciousness and anomalous experiences (such as mystical experiences and subjective paranormal experiences); and anomalous cognition. The common thread is conceived as an examination of the extent to which creativity might involve ‘epistemological flexibility’ — that is, involves shifts into, and between, different ‘ways of knowing’. As such, a major part of this thesis was the psychometric development of a new self-report instrument, the Creative Cognition Inventory, which measures the reported use of different epistemological resources (such as intuition, dreams and rational logic) in the creative process. Creativity is defined in terms of a process, participated in at the person-level, which leads to a novel and adaptive product or performance. Drawing upon models of the creative process and person, it is suggested that a biphasic process is common to most theories of creativity, and that individuals with particular traits have been hypothesised to engage in this with more facility. Models that have explored cognitive, affective and perceptual ‘looseness’ as facilitating novelty are examined. As altered states of consciousness involve subjective shifts in these same dimensions, it is proposed that creativity and ASCs may be experientially related, either directly, or in terms of an overarching trait, such as ‘boundary-thinness’ or ‘transliminality’, which propitiates both. A multi-dimensional approach was taken to creativity measurement, accepting its complexity as a componential construct that might consist of multiple creativities. In Study One, the benefits of a multidimensional approach to creativity measurement were evident, refuting earlier work that had used only cognitive estimates of creativity and found no relationship with either boundary-thinness or transliminality. These constructs are experiential-traits that assess ones degree of intrapersonal openness, cognitive fluidity and sensitivity, and are associated with a proclivity to have unusual experiences. In Study One, they were found to be significantly correlated with both domain general measures of creativity (creative personality) and domain specific measures (emotional creativity and involvement in the arts). The sample for Study One consisted of 65 psychology undergraduates (49 females; 16 males). A second study assessed the degree to which different dimensions of creativity were related to different experiences of consciousness. 211 participants were recruited from the general population through opportunity sampling (108 females; 101 males). The sample included professional artists (n = 36) and scientists (n = 27). Competing models of a relationship between creativity and ASC-proclivity were assessed: cognitive expansion; affective openness; and motivational impetus. This study provided numerous insights into the experiences of consciousness that might be related to varieties of creativity. The key findings were that emotional creativity was most robustly associated with ASCs; artistic creative-personality was associated with ‘positive’ ASCs, including those along an oneiric continuum (e.g. hypnagogia and hallucinations), and those along an affective expansion continuum (e.g. dissociation and positive mystical experiences). Further, original and flexible cognition appeared to be associated with states along an oneiric continuum. Thus, Study Two found support for the affective and cognitive models, yet within different ranges of experience. This ‘model’ helps to clarify, by using heterogeneous, rather than homogenous constructs of ‘unusual experiences’, specific processes by which ASCs and creativity may be related and as such deserves further exploration. The final piece of research developed a novel protocol for recording impressions thought by participants to involve extrasensory perception (ESP) and associated states of consciousness in daily life, using experience- sampling methodology. As success in ESP experiments has consistently been reported amongst visual artists, the above models were used to explore what aspects of the creativity complex might be associated with ESP-performance. As only emotional creativity related to the reporting of parapsychological experiences in Study Two, the affective openness model was expected to predict ESP-performance. Further, a carefully matched control group (n = 15) was used against which to compare success of artists (n = 15). Artists did not demonstrate a superior ESP effect in this study, although they did perform at a level commensurate with previous research. The affective openness hypothesis for ESP performance was rejected. Rather, it was questioned whether previous studies had not adequately matched controls or that the ‘take-home’ methodology, perhaps increasing relaxation and control for the participants, increased performance levels for the non-artist

The impact of MYT1L-syndrome on behaviour and cognition

This thesis aimed to investigate the cognitive and behavioural phenotype of MYT1L-syndrome (2p25.3 deletion), a novel cause of intellectual disability. Initially, a systematic review was conducted exploring the cognitive and behavioural phenotype of children with genetic disorders affecting chromatin remodelling, a process which the MYT1L gene is also involved in. Generally, there are clear associations between genetic disorders implicated in chromatin remodelling and neurodevelopmental conditions. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were then conducted with parents and caregivers of children with a diagnosis of MYT1L-syndrome to understand the lived experience of individuals with, and families of those, with the syndrome. Then, based on the findings of the systematic review and the insights provided by caregivers, a series of standardised measures were selected to quantitatively assess the cognitive and behavioural phenotype of individuals with the syndrome. Collectively, the findings reported within this thesis advance our understanding of the cognitive and behavioural phenotype associated with MYT1L-syndrome. The impact is often complex, and there is notably a profound impact on multiple areas of life for individuals with the syndrome. Impacted areas include reaching developmental milestones, communication and social skills, anxiety, adaptive behaviour, and sensory processing. The research also found that there is frequently a significant and multi-faceted impact on caregivers, siblings, and the wider family. Collectively, this research provides a detailed description of the cognitive and behavioural phenotype of individuals with MYT1L-syndrome. Additionally, the findings highlight some of the collective strengths and weaknesses of the cohort and recognises the intra-group heterogeneity. Clinical implications are discussed alongside recommendations for future research

Measuring autism spectrum disorder: associated features and diagnostic criteria

The overall aim of this thesis is to use the distinctive “spectrum” approach uniquely offered by the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) to explore the different descriptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder across four parts of the thesis. Part 1 introduces the concept of an “autism spectrum” and evaluates how this is continually developing. In Part 2, the focus is on the associated behaviours of ASD, that is, the behaviours not used to make a diagnosis. Sensory behaviours were found to be related to the core features of ASD, to maladaptive behaviours and were found to mediate the relationship between maladaptive behaviours and the core features of ASD, implicating sensory behaviours as having a particularly influential role in the behavioural manifestation of ASD. Further work addressed the lack of research on adults and found high-functioning adults with ASD reported significantly more sensory behaviours than IQ matched typically developing adults. Part 3 explored the measurement characteristics of two definitions of ASD: Wing and Gould (1979) and the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5). A new diagnostic algorithm for DSM-5 criteria using DISCO data was designed and tested. Results showed that when the DSM-5 behaviours were mapped accurately onto a tool that is capable of measuring the spectrum, the DSM-5 criteria were found to have both good sensitivity and specificity. An advantage of the DISCO is the range of behaviours included. Comparison with Wing and Gould’s measure revealed a strong overlap in spectrum concepts and one single element “quality of social interaction” had excellent diagnostic accuracy alone. Finally, in Part 4 the findings from Part 2 and 3 are brought together and discussed and a revised definition of the “autism spectrum” is proposed with regards to a continuum of reciprocal social interaction, which proposes that the pattern of behaviours seen in ASD need to be considered in combination

INVESTIGATING MIND WANDERING IN UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY SAMPLES

Mind wandering is a commonly experienced phenomenon that has been the focus of more research over the past few decades. In keeping with changing terminology used to characterize the experience, our understanding of the construct continues to evolve. The current dissertation, composed of three separate studies, sought to build on these recent advancements by adding to our understanding of 1) the assessment of mind wandering, 2) the association between mind wandering and symptoms of attention disorders, and 3) how mindfulness training may impact mind wandering frequency. Study one used ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to investigate the utility of three measures of mind wandering (i.e., Mind Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ), and the Mind Wandering – Spontaneous (MW-S) and Deliberate scales (MW-D) in a university sample (N = 100). Results showed that reporting more mind wandering episodes during the EMA data collection was associated with higher scores on two mind wandering measures (MWQ and MWS), but was not significantly correlated with the MW-D score. The findings highlighted the benefit of using EMA to validate self-report measures designed to capture mind wandering. The second study examined the relation between symptoms of attention difficulties (i.e., Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) symptoms) and mind wandering in a group of university students (N = 161). Hierarchical regression analyses were done in an effort to identify the unique contribution of the different symptom dimensions on trait levels of mind wandering. Endorsement of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo symptoms was found to be a consistent predictor across the different measures of mind wandering, with symptoms of ADHD also predicting the MWQ and MW-S scores. The findings reaffirm the association between mind wandering and attention difficulties. Lastly, building on research demonstrating the positive impact of mindfulness training on attention, the third study was designed with the aim of examining if participation in a mindfulness intervention is associated with reduced self-reported mind wandering and if endorsement of ADHD symptoms can help predict change in mind wandering post-training. Twelve participants recruited from a community in Southwestern Ontario participated in an instructor-led eight-week mindfulness intervention, with the results showing no decrease in self-reported mind wandering following the intervention. ADHD symptom endorsement was also not found to be a significant predictor of change in mind wandering. Importantly, the findings were interpreted with consideration of the recruitment difficulties encountered and insufficient power resulting from the small sample size. In sum, the results from the three studies provide evidence in support of the use of self-report measures of mind wandering, and demonstrate the importance of examining the association between mind wandering and attention disorder symptoms. The findings also reaffirm the need to differentiate between spontaneous and deliberate mind wandering and highlight the potential clinical implications

How to improve learning from video, using an eye tracker

The initial trigger of this research about learning from video was the availability of log files from users of video material. Video modality is seen as attractive as it is associated with the relaxed mood of watching TV. The experiments in this research have the goal to gain more insight in viewing patterns of students when viewing video. Students received an awareness instruction about the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors to see whether this would enhance their learning effects. We found that: - the learning effects of students with a narrow viewing repertoire were less than the learning effects of students with a broad viewing repertoire or strategic viewers. - students with some basic knowledge of the topics covered in the videos benefited most from the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors and students with low prior knowledge benefited the least. - the knowledge gain of students with low prior knowledge disappeared after a few weeks; knowledge construction seems worse when doing two things at the same time. - media players could offer more options to help students with their search for the content they want to view again. - there was no correlation between pervasive personality traits and viewing behavior of students. The right use of video in higher education will lead to students and teachers that are more aware of their learning and teaching behavior, to better videos, to enhanced media players, and, finally, to higher learning effects that let users improve their learning from video

Using Technology to Address the Problems of Malnutrition and Dehydration in Older Adults

Malnutrition and dehydration of important problems for older adults even in developed countries such as the UK and both have many serious health consequences. This programme of research developed an app, MyHealthyLiving, to support older adults in monitoring their intake of liquids and fruit and vegetables. I followed a user-centred design lifecycle and conducted six studies, starting with focus groups to understand the older users’ needs and wishes, through expert and user evaluations, to a two week field study of the use of the app by 15 older people. Using the data from the user evaluations, a new set of evidence-based heuristics for the development and evaluation of tablet apps for older people was also produced