Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Variability, constraints, and creativity. Shedding light on Claude Monet.

P D Stokes1

  • 1Psychology Department, Barnard College, Columbia University, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, USA. pstokes@barnard.columbia.edu

The American Psychologist
|May 2, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

An optimal period for setting sustained variability levels.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2001
Same author

Kinematic analysis of tongue movements in dysarthria following traumatic brain injury using electromagnetic articulography.

Brain injury·2000
Same author

Variability in the perceptual and physiological features of dysarthria following severe closed head injury: an examination of five cases.

Brain injury·1995
Same author

Impaired tongue strength and endurance in developmental verbal dyspraxia: a physiological analysis.

European journal of disorders of communication : the journal of the College of Speech and Language Therapists, London·1995
Same author

Lip function in subjects with upper motor neuron type dysarthria following cerebrovascular accidents.

European journal of disorders of communication : the journal of the College of Speech and Language Therapists, London·1995
Same author

Abnormal patterns of speech breathing in dysarthric speakers following severe closed head injury.

Brain injury·1993
Same journal

Universal pluralism: Appreciating and exploring both similarity and difference across people and cultures.

The American psychologist·2026
Same journal

Frank John Vattano (1931-2025).

The American psychologist·2026
Same journal

Bernard Spilka (1926-2025).

The American psychologist·2026
Same journal

Guided by the evidence: Reply to Paniagua (2026).

The American psychologist·2026
Same journal

Randomized controlled trials confirm the efficacy of psychological interventions and medications: Commentary on Jobes and Barnett (2025).

The American psychologist·2026
Same journal

Summary report of journal operations, 2025.

The American psychologist·2026
See all related articles

People learn not only how to perform tasks but also how to vary their performance. High variability in skills, like Claude Monet

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Art History

Background:

  • Recent research indicates that learning encompasses not only task execution but also the variability of performance.
  • High performance variability is often maintained by actively avoiding successful, repetitive solutions.

Discussion:

  • Claude Monet's consistent high variability in painting may stem from early learned constraints.
  • These self-imposed task constraints throughout his career likely sustained his innovative artistic style.

Key Insights:

  • Skill acquisition involves learning performance variability.
  • Self-imposed constraints are crucial for maintaining high variability in creative domains.
  • Variability in artistic practice can be both learned and intrinsically rewarding.

Related Experiment Videos

Outlook:

  • Further research can explore the neurobiological underpinnings of learning performance variability.
  • Investigating how different types of constraints impact creative output is warranted.
  • Understanding learned variability may offer insights into fostering innovation across disciplines.