51¶¯Âþ

Mind

A simple word test can reveal how creative you are

By Alex O'Brien

12 July 2021

Woman in art studio

Do words speak louder than pictures?

Charday Penn/Getty Images

Are you creative? This question is difficult to answer objectively, but now researchers say that asking people to name random words and assessing how different they are could be a new way to measure this ability.

at Harvard University and his colleagues call this word puzzle the Divergent Association Task (DAT) because it measures divergent thinking, a component of creativity involving generating diverse solutions to open-ended problems.

Traditionally, researchers have used two main approaches to assess creativity. One is a questionnaire that quantifies someone’s achievements in a range of…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with 51¶¯Âþ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop