The (b)link between creativity and dopamine: Spontaneous eye blink rates predict and dissociate divergent and convergent thinking

Human creativity has been claimed to rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine, but evidence is still sparse. We studied whether individual performance (N = 117) in divergent thinking (alternative uses task) and convergent thinking (remote association task) can be predicted by the individual spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), a clinical marker of dopaminergic functioning. EBR predicted flexibility in divergent thinking and convergent thinking, but in different ways. The relationship with flexibility was independent of intelligence and followed an inverted U-shape function with medium EBR being associated with greatest flexibility. Convergent thinking was positively correlated with intelligence but negatively correlated with EBR, suggesting that higher dopamine levels impair convergent thinking. These findings support the claim that creativity and dopamine are related, but they also call for more conceptual differentiation with respect to the processes involved in creative performance.     

Effects of religion and type of religious internalization on the mental health of Iranian adolescents

This study was designed to assess the effects of religion and two types of religious internalization on the mental health of Iranian adolescents. High school students (82 Moslem and 37 Christian) were selected randomly from four high schools in Shiraz and completed the Religious Self-regulation Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire. Analysis showed that main effects of types of religious internalization measured on four subscales of the General Health Questionnaire were significant. Religion was significantly associated only with somatic symptoms. For other scales no main effects of religion, types of religious internalization, or their interactions were significant.     

Mental health among Afghan refugees settled in Shiraz, Iran

This study was designed to investigate the mental health of Afghan refugees settled in Shiraz, the capital of a southern province of Iran. They were mostly refugees from Afghanistan by reason of internal war during the last two decades. A version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) in Persian was administered on a group of randomly selected Afghan refugees (n=81) from a pool of Afghan residents in the Shiraz district. 34.5% of the subjects scored high enough to be considered as having psychiatric problems. There was a significant positive correlation between refugees' years of age and GHQ-28 factor scores, i.e., Physical Health and Social Functioning. The mental health of the subjects was not related to education or marital status. The years of settling in Iran were not significantly correlated with any GHQ-28 indices. The overall findings suggest that the rate of psychiatric problems in the refugees is higher than in the native population.     

Creative mood swings: divergent and convergent thinking affect mood in opposite ways

Increasing evidence suggests that emotions affect cognitive processes. Recent approaches have also considered the opposite: that cognitive processes might affect people’s mood. Here we show that performing and, to a lesser degree, preparing for a creative thinking task induce systematic mood swings: Divergent thinking led to a more positive mood, whereas convergent thinking had the opposite effect. This pattern suggests that thought processes and mood are systematically related but the type of relationship is process-specific.