Predictors of Creativity in Young People: Using Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches in Estimating the Importance of Individual and Contextual Factors

© 2020 American Psychological Association. The development of creativity in young children has been studied extensively, but relatively few studies have examined the period of adolescence and emerging adulthood in relation to creative potential. The present study uses a combination of frequentist and Bayesian analyses to evaluate the impact of individual factors (e.g., IQ) and contextual factors (e.g., pursuit of creative hobbies) on creative ideation in three cohorts of young people aged 14-20 years. Measures of divergent thinking, specifically the Alternate Uses Task (AUT) and the Overcoming Knowledge Constraints Task, were used to this end. Openness to aesthetic and imaginative experience was the strongest predictor of creative potential for the 3 AUT measures. Moreover, Bayesian hypothesis testing revealed that the best predictive model for AUT ideational fluency and AUT overall originality was one that included only Openness, whereas the best predictive model for AUT peak originality, or the propensity to generate highly original responses, included Openness, as well as IQ and Engagement in Creative Hobbies. No group differences in creative potential were found between the three age cohorts (aged 14-15, 16-17, and 18-20). The study not only confirms the importance of openness to aesthetic and imaginative experience as a predictor of creative potential in adolescents and young adults, but also indicates the necessity to consider the combined and differentiated impact of individual and contextual factors in different facets of creative ideation

The role of personality traits and leisure activities in predicting wellbeing in young people.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between wellbeing and personality has been studied extensively, but few studies have examined these in the period of adolescence and emerging adulthood. Moreover, the influence of contextual factors such as engagement in leisure activities are rarely considered. METHODS: The present study employs a combination of frequentist and Bayesian analyses to evaluate the concurrent impact of personality traits and leisure activities on five conceptions of wellbeing (life satisfaction; positive affect; negative affect; mental health; flourishing) in three cohorts of young people (aged 14-15; 16-17; 18-20 years). RESULTS: Personality traits were the only significant predictors of life satisfaction and negative affect, but leisure activities in the form of socialising or physical activity, in addition to personality traits, predicted positive affect, mental health and flourishing. Neuroticism was the largest predictor of wellbeing overall, whereas conscientiousness was the most consistent. Lower levels of wellbeing were also associated with higher levels of creative potential. CONCLUSIONS: The study not only confirms the importance of personality traits as predictors of wellbeing in adolescents and young adults, but also indicates the necessity to consider the impact of leisure activities in different conceptions of wellbeing. The negative relationship between creative potential and wellbeing is in line with the literature which shows a link between mental illness, particularly at subclinical levels, and creativity

Correction to: The role of personality traits and leisure activities in predicting wellbeing in young people.

Following publication of the original article [https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00954-x], some formatting and data entry errors were identified in Table 10, ‘Correlations between creativity and wellbeing variables’: The p-value for the correlation between overall originality and negative affect should not have been formatted in bold; The p-value for the correlation between OKC raw score and life satisfaction should not have been in bold either; The correlation between OKC raw score and mental health should be − 0.024; The correlation between negative affect and mental health should be − 0.490

Predictors of Change in Creative Thinking Abilities in Young People: A Longitudinal Study

Previous research has examined how creative potential develops during childhood and has identified peaks, slumps, and bumps during maturation. However, little is known about the causes of such changes. This study employed a longitudinal approach to assess predictors of change in creative ideation over 2 years in young people (N = 76) aged 14–20 years old at the first time point. The analysis employed frequentist and Bayesian methods to evaluate the effect of individual factors, such as openness to experience (assessed using the BFI‐10 short form), and contextual factors, such as pursuing creative hobbies (measured with a leisure questionnaire). Openness at the first time point and change in openness over time predicted change in peak originality. Engagement in creative hobbies at the first time point predicted change in fluency. The findings support the contribution of individual factors, in the form of openness to experience, and contextual factors, in the form of engagement in creative hobbies, in the development of divergent thinking abilities in mid‐adolescence and young adulthood. Altogether, this study suggests that interventions aimed at increasing time spent on creative activities and promoting openness to experience may enhance divergent thinking abilities, which are essential components of creative potential

Validity of the Polar V800 heart rate monitor to measure RR intervals at rest

Purpose To assess the validity of RR intervals and short-term heart rate variability (HRV) data obtained from the Polar V800 heart rate monitor, in comparison to an electrocardiograph (ECG). Method Twenty participants completed an active orthostatic test using the V800 and ECG. An improved method for the identification and correction of RR intervals was employed prior to HRV analysis. Agreement of the data was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), Bland–Altman limits of agreement (LoA), and effect size (ES). Results A small number of errors were detected between ECG and Polar RR signal, with a combined error rate of 0.086 %. The RR intervals from ECG to V800 were significantly different, but with small ES for both supine corrected and standing corrected data (ES 0.999 for both supine and standing corrected intervals. When analysed with the same HRV software no significant differences were observed in any HRV parameters, for either supine or standing; the data displayed small bias and tight LoA, strong ICC (>0.99) and small ES (≤0.029). Conclusions The V800 improves over previous Polar models, with narrower LoA, stronger ICC and smaller ES for both the RR intervals and HRV parameters. The findings support the validity of the Polar V800 and its ability to produce RR interval recordings consistent with an ECG. In addition, HRV parameters derived from these recordings are also highly comparable

Effect of parasympathetic stimulation on brain activity during appraisal of fearful expressions

Autonomic nervous system activity is an important component of human emotion. Mental processes influence bodily physiology, which in turn feeds back to influence thoughts and feelings. Afferent cardiovascular signals from arterial baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses are processed within the brain and contribute to this two-way communication with the body. These carotid baroreceptors can be stimulated non-invasively by externally applying focal negative pressure bilaterally to the neck. In an experiment combining functional neuroimaging (fMRI) with carotid stimulation in healthy participants, we tested the hypothesis that manipulating afferent cardiovascular signals alters the central processing of emotional information (fearful and neutral facial expressions). Carotid stimulation, compared with sham stimulation, broadly attenuated activity across cortical and brainstem regions. Modulation of emotional processing was apparent as a significant expression-by-stimulation interaction within left amygdala, where responses during appraisal of fearful faces were selectively reduced by carotid stimulation. Moreover, activity reductions within insula, amygdala, and hippocampus correlated with the degree of stimulation-evoked change in the explicit emotional ratings of fearful faces. Across participants, individual differences in autonomic state (heart rate variability, a proxy measure of autonomic balance toward parasympathetic activity) predicted the extent to which carotid stimulation influenced neural (amygdala) responses during appraisal and subjective rating of fearful faces. Together our results provide mechanistic insight into the visceral component of emotion by identifying the neural substrates mediating cardiovascular influences on the processing of fear signals, potentially implicating central baroreflex mechanisms for anxiolytic treatment targets

The Fate of miRNA* Strand through Evolutionary Analysis: Implication for Degradation As Merely Carrier Strand or Potential Regulatory Molecule?

BACKGROUND: During typical microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis, one strand of a approximately 22 nt RNA duplex is preferentially selected for entry into a silencing complex, whereas the other strand, known as the passenger strand or miRNA* strand, is degraded. Recently, some miRNA* sequences were reported as guide miRNAs with abundant expression. Here, we intended to discover evolutionary implication of the fate of miRNA* strand by analyzing miRNA/miRNA* sequences across vertebrates. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mature miRNAs based on gene families were well conserved especially for their seed sequences across vertebrates, while their passenger strands always showed various divergence patterns. The divergence mainly resulted from divergence of different animal species, homologous miRNA genes and multicopy miRNA hairpin precursors. Some miRNA* sequences were phylogenetically conserved in seed and anchor sequences similar to mature miRNAs, while others revealed high levels of nucleotide divergence despite some of their partners were highly conserved. Most of those miRNA precursors that could generate abundant miRNAs from both strands always were well conserved in sequences of miR-#-5p and miR-#-3p, especially for their seed sequences. CONCLUSIONS: The final fate of miRNA* strand, either degraded as merely carrier strand or expressed abundantly as potential functional guide miRNA, may be destined across evolution. Well-conserved miRNA* strands, particularly conservation in seed sequences, maybe afford potential opportunities for contributing to regulation network. The study will broaden our understanding of potential functional miRNA* species

Toward Improved Lifetimes of Organic Solar Cells under Thermal Stress: Substrate-Dependent Morphological Stability of PCDTBT:PCBM Films and Devices

Morphological stability is a key requirement for outdoor operation of organic solar cells. We demonstrate that morphological stability and lifetime of polymer/fullerene based solar cells under thermal stress depend strongly on the substrate interface on which the active layer is deposited. In particular, we find that the stability of benchmark PCDTBT/PCBM solar cells under modest thermal stress is substantially increased in inverted solar cells employing a ZnO substrate compared to conventional devices employing a PEDOT:PSS substrate. This improved stability is observed to correlate with PCBM nucleation at the 50 nm scale, which is shown to be strongly influenced by different substrate interfaces. Employing this approach, we demonstrate remarkable thermal stability for inverted PCDTBT:PC70BM devices on ZnO substrates, with negligible (<2%) loss of power conversion efficiency over 160 h under 85 °C thermal stress and minimal thermally induced “burn-in” effect. We thus conclude that inverted organic solar cells, in addition to showing improved environmental stability against ambient humidity exposure as widely reported previously, can also demonstrate enhanced morphological stability. As such we show that the choice of suitable substrate interfaces may be a key factor in achieving prolonged lifetimes for organic solar cells under thermal stress conditions

Heart rate variability and the relationship between trauma exposure age, and psychopathology in a post-conflict setting

BACKGROUND: Cumulative exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) increases risk for mental distress in conflict-affected settings, but the psychophysiological mechanisms that mediate this dose-response relationship are unknown. We investigated diminished heart rate variability (HRV) - an index of vagus nerve function and a robust predictor of emotion regulation capacity - as a vulnerability marker that potentially mediates the association between PTE exposure, age and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological distress and aggressive behavior, in a community sample from Timor-Leste - a post-conflict country with a history of mass violence. METHOD: Resting state heart rate data was recorded from 45 cases of PTSD, depression and intermittent explosive disorder (IED); and 29 non-case controls. RESULTS: Resting HRV was significantly reduced in the combined case group compared with non-cases (p = .021; Cohen's d = 0.5). A significant mediation effect was also observed, whereby a sequence of increased age, reduced HRV and elevated PTSD symptoms mediated the association between PTE exposure and distress (B = .06, SE = .05, 95% CI = [.00-.217]) and aggression (B = .02, SE = .02, 95% CI = [.0003-.069])). CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate an association between diminished resting HRV and psychopathology. Moreover, age-related HRV reductions emerged as a potential psychophysiological mechanism that underlies enhanced vulnerability to distress and aggression following cumulative PTE exposure