Do you get easily annoyed when you hear chewing sounds of the person next to you? Does the ticking of the clock in a semi-quiet room piss you off? Do soft mumbles and light footsteps irk you? If you answered yes to all three, then you might be a creative genius.
According to a study from Northwestern University, not being able to filter out competing sensory details is common among people who are creatively talented.
Darya Zabelina, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Northwestern and the study’s lead author explains that sensory hypersensitivity “might contribute to creativity because it widens the individual’s scope of attention.”
“The propensity to filter out ‘irrelevant’ sensory information happens early and involuntarily in brain processing and may help people integrate ideas that are outside the focus of attention, leading to creativity in the real world,” she added.
So if you’re able to pick up new information and make uncommon connections in between different key details, congratulations, you’re a creative genius!
