Creativity: Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow

ABSTRACT Nineteenth century science neglected creativity, and the limited twentieth century approach (to 1950) was largely anecdotal. Recently, research has multiplied, although it has involved little experimental hypothesis testing. Creativity comprises many discrete abilities which often do not correlate very much with each other, and creativity and IQ correlate substantially only at lower IQ levels. Much work has been done in developing evaluative criteria for creative scientific production, and on teaching and learning creativity. Future basic research should concern transfer recall, transformations, reclassification, elaboration, incubation, environmental conditions, and motivation. The social consequences of releasing creative abilities are potentially enormous.     

Critical flicker fusion in normal elderly subjects; a cross-sectional community study

Critical Flicker Fusion Thresholds (CFFTs) were measured in 644 elderly people identified from community-based general practice records, and the relationship of CFFT with age was investigated. The CFFT was measured using the method of limits with mean scores for three ascending (flicker/fusion) and three descending (fusion/flicker) presentations being recorded. The difference between the ascending and descending means was found to be significantly correlated with age (r=−0.131,P<0.001) and may reflect a reduced sensitivity of the Central Nervous System to suprathreshold flicker with increasing age. The results suggest that CFFT measurement has an important role to play in gerontological research as an objective measure of cognitive aspects of the ageing process.