Darya L. Zabelina

The Effect of Age on Weight-Related Quality of Life in Overweight and Obese Individuals

The objective of the current study was to investigate the association between age and weight‐related quality of life in a broad range of overweight/obese individuals. Participants included 9,991 overweight and obese adults from a cross sectional database (mean age = 44.9, mean BMI = 38.3, 75.3% women, 73% white). Participants completed the Impact of Weight on Quality of Life‐Lite (IWQOL‐Lite), a measure of weight‐related quality of life. For the total sample, weight‐related quality of life was more impaired with increasing age for physical function, sexual life, and work. However, increasing age was associated with less impairment for self‐esteem and public distress. On the sexual life domain there was an interaction between age and gender. Men showed a steady decline in sexual life with increasing age, whereas women showed reduced scores on sexual life in all age groups beyond age 18–24.9. Of note, womens scores on all IWQOL‐Lite domains were significantly lower (more impaired) than mens. Thus, there are both positive as well as negative consequences of increasing age with respect to the impact of weight on quality of life in overweight and obese persons.

Personality Dominance and Preferential Use of the Vertical Dimension of Space Evidence From Spatial Attention Paradigms

Previous research has shown that dominant individuals frequently think in terms of dominance hierarchies, which typically invoke vertical metaphor (e.g., “upper” vs. “lower” class). Accordingly, we predicted that in spatial attention paradigms, such individuals would systematically favor the vertical dimension of space more than individuals low in dominance. This prediction was supported by two studies (total N = 96), which provided three tests involving two different spatial attention paradigms. In all cases, analyses controlling for speed of response to horizontal spatial probes revealed that more dominant individuals were faster than less dominant individuals to respond to probes along the vertical dimension of space. Such data support the metaphor-representation perspective, according to which people think in metaphoric terms, even in on-line processing tasks. These results have implications for understanding dominance and also indicate that conceptual metaphor is relevant to understanding the cognitive-processing basis of personality.

Dynamic network interactions supporting internally-oriented cognition

Recent advances in systems neuroscience have solidified the view that many cognitive processes are supported by dynamic interactions within and between large-scale brain networks. Here we synthesize this research, highlighting dynamic network interactions supporting a less explored aspect of cognition with important clinical relevance: internally-oriented cognition. We first present a brief overview of established resting-state networks, focusing on those supporting internally-oriented cognition, as well as those involved in dynamic control. We then discuss recent empirical work emphasizing that many cognitive tasks involving internally-oriented processes-such as mind-wandering, prospection, and creative thinking-rely on dynamic interactions within and between large-scale networks. Our aim is to provide a snapshot of emerging trends and future directions in an important aspect of human cognition.

Don't Be So Hard on Yourself: Self-Compassion Facilitates Creative Originality Among Self-Judgmental Individuals

Self-compassion is a multifaceted state of potential utility in alleviating the self-critical tendencies that may undermine creative expressions among certain individuals. To investigate this idea, 86 undergraduates were randomly assigned to control or self-compassion conditions, following which creative originality was assessed by a version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The manipulation was hypothesized to facilitate creative originality particularly among individuals who are prone to critical self-judgment, as assessed by a trait measure. This interactive hypothesis was supported: Self-judgmental individuals displayed lower levels of creative originality in the control condition, but equal levels of creative originality in the self-compassion condition. Results are discussed in the context of theories of creative potential, self-compassion, and chronic tendencies toward self-criticism.

Dopamine and the Creative Mind: Individual Differences in Creativity Are Predicted by Interactions between Dopamine Genes DAT and COMT

The dopaminergic (DA) system may be involved in creativity, however results of past studies are mixed. We attempted to clarify this putative relation by considering the mediofrontal and the nigrostriatal DA pathways, uniquely and in combination, and their contribution to two different measures of creativity–an abbreviated version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, assessing divergent thinking, and a real-world creative achievement index. We found that creativity can be predicted from interactions between genetic polymorphisms related to frontal (COMT) and striatal (DAT) DA pathways. Importantly, the Torrance test and the real-world creative achievement index related to different genetic patterns, suggesting that these two measures tap into different aspects of creativity, and depend on distinct, but interacting, DA sub-systems. Specifically, we report that successful performance on the Torrance test is linked with dopaminergic polymorphisms associated with good cognitive flexibility and medium top-down control, or with weak cognitive flexibility and strong top-down control. The latter is particularly true for the originality factor of divergent thinking. High real-world creative achievement, on the other hand, as assessed by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, is linked with dopaminergic polymorphisms associated with weak cognitive flexibility and weak top-down control. Taken altogether, our findings support the idea that human creativity relies on dopamine, and on the interaction between frontal and striatal dopaminergic pathways in particular. This interaction may help clarify some apparent inconsistencies in the prior literature, especially if the genes and/or creativity measures were analyzed separately.

Manipulating Mindfulness Benefits Creative Elaboration at High Levels of Neuroticism

Trait and state influences on creative performance have primarily focused on the trait of openness to experience and on states hypothesized to facilitate intrinsic task motivation. The present investigation (N = 81) sought to broaden our understanding of such influences. Neuroticism was hypothesized to predict lesser creative elaboration, whereas trait-level variations in mindfulness were hypothesized to predict greater creative elaboration. Both hypotheses were supported. In addition, the state of mindfulness was manipulated and hypothesized to result in higher levels of creative elaboration, particularly among neurotic individuals. An interaction of this type was found. Results are discussed in terms of a broadened perspective of creative performance, the distinction between creative elaboration and originality, and a model of the prefrontal cortex contrasting self-conscious versus task-oriented processing modes. Implications for understanding neuroticism are also discussed.

Short-Term Attentional Perseveration Associated with Real-Life Creative Achievement

There are at least two competing hypotheses of how attention interacts with creative cognition, although they are not mutually exclusive. The first hypothesis is that highly creative people are particularly flexible at switching their attention – that is, they adaptively shift focus among different attentional levels using cognitive control. The second, less common, view is that creative people exhibit attentional persistence, or an ability for sustained attention. We suggest these two views need not be competing, as they may both operate, but on different time scales or on different components of creativity. In the present study we examined the role of attention in real-world creative achievement and in divergent thinking. In Experiment 1 participants with high and low real-world creative achievements identified whether the stimulus contained letters S or H within hierarchically constructed letters (e.g., large S made of small Es – global level; large E made up of small Ss – local level), which were presented in blocks of eight trials per level. In Experiment 2 participants with high, medium, and low creative achievements identified the same stimulus letters, but in blocks of five, seven, and nine trials per level. Results from both experiments indicated that people with high creative achievements made significantly more errors on trials in which they had to switch the level of attention, even after controlling for general intelligence. In Experiment 2, divergent thinking was also assessed, but it was not related to switching cost. Results from both experiments demonstrate that real-world creative acts relate to increased levels of attentional persistence, even if it comes with the cost of perseveration in certain circumstances.

Hypnotic Enhancement of Creative Drawing

Abstract A hypnotically based intervention to enhance creativity in drawing was evaluated in a controlled study. Participants were randomly assigned to either a hypnotic treatment or a nonhypnotic (task-motivational) control treatment. Subjects drew a standard still-life tableau twice. The first drawing involved no special instructions and provided a baseline measure of creativity in drawing. The second drawing was completed after the creativity-enhancement procedure. The drawings were rated blindly on several dimensions of artistic creativity. Hypnotizability, absorption, and debriefing measures were also administered. Results indicated that the hypnotic procedure had significantly greater effects on creativity in drawing. However, there were no significant main effects or interactions involving hypnotizability or absorption. Hypnotic and task-motivational groups did not differ on debriefing measures regarding their experience.

The Self’s Symbolic Role in Implicit Approach/Avoidance: Movement Time Evidence

ABSTRACT Theories of self-regulation emphasize the special role that the symbolic self may play in approach and avoidance movements, but experimental evidence is lacking. In two experiments (total N = 157), participants moved either a self-relevant (e.g., “me”) or non-self (e.g., “not me”) agent to one of two locations, one occupied by a positive word and the other occupied by a negative word. In both experiments, the movement agent interacted with the destination valence such that it was only the symbolic self that moved more quickly to positive rather than negative locations. These results established a role for the symbolic self in approach/avoidance that had been questioned, thereby supporting both classic and contemporary self-related theories of approach and avoidance.