[Association between processes of hemispheric selection of information in the modified Stroop task and creative...

Relationships between creative abilities and indices of selective attention were studied in lateralized serial Stroop Test presented in two conditions: color and word integrated or separated in a stimulus. The study enrolled 69 male and female subjects who were divided into high- and low-creative achievement groups by mean split of the originality score in figural tasks of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. It was found that features of hemispheric organization of selective attention assessed by the difference in reaction time to incongruent and a congruent color-word stimuli pairs individually administered in the right and left visual hemifields were differently correlated with creative abilities of men and women. High creativity of men was associated with lower attention-related selective processes in the right hemisphere and inversion of hemispheric asymmetry (as compared to low-creative men). There was no difference in these parameters between high- and low-creative women. Independently of gender, hemispheric asymmetry of selective attention indices reversed after transition from integrated to spatially separated presentation of color and word, which provided evidence for the use of flexible strategies.