Lateralization of defence mechanisms related to creative functioning

Eighty-four undergraduate students were randomly divided into left and right visual half-field groups. They were tested in either visual half-field with a percept-genetic test of anxiety and defense mechanisms (the MCT). The subjects also took a test of creative functioning (the CFT) and degree of lateralization in the MCT was related to level of creativity in the CFT. Subjects low in creativity were significantly lateralized on measures typical for the right visual half-field group (isolation and repression) and tended to differ on a left visual half-field measure (regressive strategies). For high creative subjects no differences were found between the visual half-field groups. Also, high creative persons more often responded with non-hemisphere-specific defenses than low creative ones. The results were interpreted as due to differing levels of transmission of information between the two hemispheres of the brain.