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(https://www.psypost.org/people-cannot-tell-ai-generated-from-human-written-poetry-and-they-like-ai-poetry-more/) People cannot tell AI-generated from human-written poetry and they like AI poetry more
Feb 9th 2025, 08:00

New research has found that people are unable to determine whether a poem was written by a human or generated by AI. Despite this, they tended to give more favorable ratings for qualities such as rhythm and beauty to AI-generated poetry. The paper was published in (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-76900-1) Scientific Reports.
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content—such as text, images, music, and code—by learning patterns from data. Examples include ChatGPT and DeepSeek, which generate human-like text, and DALL·E, which creates images from text descriptions. In music, AI composes original melodies, while in gaming, it helps design environments and dialogues. Businesses use AI chatbots for customer service, and researchers generate synthetic data for simulations. AI-powered tools like GitHub Copilot assist programmers by suggesting code.
In recent years, the quality of AI-generated content has improved dramatically. Studies show that humans tend to perceive AI-generated paintings as human-made more often than actual human-created paintings. Similarly, AI-generated humor is found to be as funny as jokes written by humans. Another study found that people perceive AI-generated faces as real human faces at a higher rate than actual photos of human faces.
Study authors Brian Porter and Edouard Machery sought to investigate whether people can distinguish between AI-generated poems and professionally written human poetry and what features they use to make this judgment. They also wanted to explore how participants evaluate the qualities of AI-generated poetry and whether knowing the author of a poem (whether human or AI) influences these evaluations.
The researchers conducted two experiments. The first experiment aimed to determine whether participants could distinguish between AI-generated and human-written poetry. The study included 1,634 United States-based individuals recruited through Prolific. The participants’ median age was 37 years, and 49% of them were women.
The researchers collected 50 poems from 10 English-language poets (five poems per poet) from mypoeticside.com, an online poetry database. They selected poems that were not among the most popular works of each poet, aiming to cover a wide range of genres, styles, and time periods. They also had ChatGPT generate 50 poems, instructing it to mimic the style of each specific poet.
Each participant was assigned a poet and shown five poems written by that poet and five poems generated by ChatGPT in the poet’s style. Their task was to determine whether each poem was written by a human or AI. Participants also rated their confidence in their answers and had the opportunity to explain their reasoning.
The second experiment examined how participants evaluated AI-generated poetry compared to human-written poetry. This experiment involved 696 United States-based individuals, also recruited through Prolific. Their average age was 40 years, and 47% of them were women.
Participants rated various qualities of each poem, including overall quality, rhythm, imagery, and sound. They also assessed how moving, profound, witty, lyrical, inspiring, beautiful, meaningful, and original each poem was, as well as how well it conveyed a specific theme and emotion.
Results showed that participants were unable to reliably distinguish between human-written and AI-generated poetry. Moreover, they were more likely to misidentify AI-generated poems as human-written than vice versa. The five poems least often identified as human were all written by actual human poets.
Findings from the second experiment indicated that AI-generated poems received higher ratings for qualities such as rhythm and beauty. The researchers suggest that these factors contributed to the mistaken belief that these poems were authored by humans.
“Our findings suggest that participants employed shared yet flawed heuristics to differentiate AI from human poetry: the simplicity of AI-generated poems may be easier for non-experts to understand, leading them to prefer AI-generated poetry and misinterpret the complexity of human poems as incoherence generated by AI,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on how people perceive AI-generated poetry. However, it is important to note that the AI-generated poems used in the study were specifically designed to mimic the styles of real human poets. This likely made them closely resemble the human-written poems they were compared with.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-76900-1) AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably,” was authored by Brian Porter and Edouard Machery.

(https://www.psypost.org/americans-think-political-parties-prefer-extremists-to-moderates/) Americans think political parties prefer extremists to moderates
Feb 9th 2025, 06:00

Political discussions in the United States often appear to be dominated by voices from the far left and far right. A new study published in the (https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.13079) Journal of Applied Social Psychology has found that people generally believe this emphasis on the extremes is not accidental, but rather reflects an underlying dynamic within political groups where moderate members are viewed with less favor than those with more radical stances. Through a series of experiments, researchers found that individuals anticipate both Democrats and Republicans will show less approval and trust towards fellow party members who express moderate viewpoints compared to those with extreme views.
Why would political groups seem to prefer their more extreme members? The researchers set out to explore this question by examining common understandings of group dynamics within political parties. They noted that in today’s political climate, strong divisions exist between Democrats and Republicans, with each side holding distinct and often opposing beliefs. Within this context, individuals with moderate political views can be seen as deviating from their own party’s norms in a way that aligns them somewhat with the opposing party. 
This kind of deviation, the researchers suggested, might be perceived differently than when someone deviates by becoming even more strongly aligned with their own party’s core ideology. Prior research has shown that groups often react more negatively to members who stray towards an opposing group, compared to those who become even more strongly aligned with the group’s values. The researchers wanted to investigate whether people intuitively grasp this dynamic within the context of American political parties.
“Back in 2017, I started my PhD with Dr. Laurie O’Brien. Dr. Moss, Dr. O’Brien, and I discussed how the current political parties seemed to be supporting more and more extreme candidates, and we started wondering if lay people in the United States thought this as well,” said study author (https://www.danicajk.com/) Danica Kulibert ((https://bsky.app/profile/danicajk.bsky.social) @danicajk), who is now an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University.
“I have always been very involved in politics and political manners, so better understanding how people perceived political parties and the inner workings of political parties really interested me. There was a growing number of research teams looking at meta-perceptions between political groups, but none were really looking at broader perceptions of political parties. We decided to start assessing how people (regardless of their own political party) viewed both Democrats and Republicans.”
To investigate these ideas, the researchers conducted six separate experiments involving over 1,600 participants. In the first experiment, college students were asked to imagine they were looking at a website for a Democratic candidate running for state senate in Colorado. Participants were randomly assigned to read different descriptions of the candidate’s political views. In one scenario, the candidate was described as having views that were in line with the Democratic Party’s platform. In another, the candidate was presented as politically moderate, preferring a less liberal platform. In a third scenario, the candidate was described as politically extreme, wanting a platform that was more liberal. After reading these descriptions, participants were asked to rate how they thought other Democrats would view this candidate in terms of approval, loyalty to the Democratic Party, and adherence to principles.
The second experiment was very similar, but instead of a Democratic candidate, participants were presented with a website for a Republican candidate. The descriptions of the candidate’s views were adjusted to be either in line with Republican norms, moderate (leaning less conservative), or extreme (leaning more conservative). Participants then rated how they believed other Republicans would perceive this candidate on measures of approval, loyalty, and principles.
In a third experiment, the focus shifted from political candidates to ordinary party members. Participants were asked to evaluate a Democratic campaign volunteer. Similar to the previous experiments, the volunteer was described as having views that were either normative for Democrats, moderate, or extreme. Participants then assessed how they thought other Democrats would view this volunteer regarding approval, loyalty, and principles.
To ensure the findings were not limited to college students, the fourth and fifth experiments were conducted with more diverse groups of people recruited online. These experiments essentially repeated the designs of the first and second experiments, again using Democratic and Republican candidate scenarios with moderate, normative, and extreme viewpoints.
The final experiment aimed to make the descriptions of political viewpoints even more precise. Participants were given information based on actual survey data about the typical political views of Democrats and Republicans on several issues. They were then asked to evaluate a Republican individual whose views were described as either exactly in line with the average Republican, moderately less conservative, or extremely more conservative. This experiment aimed to confirm whether the patterns observed in previous experiments held true when using concrete data about party positions.
Across all six experiments, the researchers consistently found that people believed fellow party members would react less favorably to political moderates compared to political extremists. 
“The average American, regardless of their own political party, believes Democrats and Republicans approve of their extreme members more than their moderate members,” Kulibert told PsyPost. “Americans also believe the political parties view their extreme members as more loyal and more principled than their moderate members.”
Specifically, in the first experiment, participants thought Democrats would be less approving of a moderate Democratic candidate, see them as less loyal to the party, and consider them less principled compared to an extreme Democratic candidate. The second experiment mirrored these findings for Republicans. Participants anticipated Republicans would also be less approving, less trusting of the loyalty, and see less principle in a moderate Republican candidate compared to one with extreme views. 
Experiment three extended these results to rank-and-file party members, showing that people believe Democrats would also view a moderate Democratic volunteer less positively than an extreme Democratic volunteer. Experiments four and five, using more diverse participant samples, largely confirmed the findings from the first two experiments. Finally, experiment six, using real-world data on political opinions, reinforced the conclusion that people expect Republicans to look less favorably upon moderate Republicans than upon those with more extreme conservative views.
“It is important to highlight that the participants’ own political party did not change the direction of the effects,” Kulibert said. “For example, both Democrats and Republicans think Democrats approve of their extreme members more than their moderate members. I do think the downstream consequences may differ based on the observer’s political party, and we plan to assess that moving forward.”
Despite the strengths of the research, the study does have some limitations that the authors acknowledge. One important consideration is that the experiments were based on hypothetical scenarios and brief profiles rather than on real-world political campaigns or detailed biographies. 
“I think a big thing to consider is that these are hypothetical vignettes and how these perceptions translate to real-world nominations is still unknown,” Kulibert noted. “There are a lot of things that impact who people vote for. Plus, how a party nominates county or state-level candidates is very different from federal-level candidates. We hope to better understand some of that nuance moving forward.”
“We have three really exciting projects related to this research. The first is assessing how moderate and extreme political members believe their party views them and if these perceptions can impact those members’ political behaviors. Another area of research aims to examine if the perceptions the average American has regarding moderate and extreme political members is accurate with how political parties truly view moderate and extreme members. Finally, we started some research to see how the current findings translate to other countries. We know the political climate in the US is somewhat unique, but other countries also have seen an increase in extreme political parties.”
“I am so excited to continue political psychology research and am always looking for collaborators,” Kulibert added. “I also think people should look at other scholars in this area, including Dr. Samantha Moore-Berg and Dr. Emily Kubin. There is some really interesting work in political polarization, moral outrage, and decreasing political animosity. I also think organizations like More in Common are doing some great work.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.13079) Perceptions of Political Deviants in the US Democrat and Republican Parties,” was authored by Danica Kulibert, Aaron J. Moss, Jacob Appleby, and Laurie T. O’Brien.

(https://www.psypost.org/brain-structure-and-connectivity-linked-to-financial-ability-in-middle-aged-and-older-adults/) Brain structure and connectivity linked to financial ability in middle-aged and older adults
Feb 8th 2025, 14:00

A new study published in the (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167494324003807) Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics suggests that the way the brain processes language and arithmetic facts may play an important role in how well middle-aged and older adults manage their money. The findings indicate that individuals with healthier brain tissue and stronger connections between specific brain regions tend to perform better on everyday financial tasks, which may offer some protection against scams and financial exploitation.
Financial scams targeting older adults are a widespread problem. These scams range from simple email phishing attempts to complex schemes designed to steal life savings. Because financial ability tends to decrease somewhat, starting in midlife, older individuals become more vulnerable to this kind of exploitation. Researchers are therefore interested in understanding how age-related changes in the brain might affect financial decision-making, to help protect people from fraud and to maintain their independence.
While prior research primarily investigated individuals with cognitive impairments, like mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease, the new study aimed to examine the brain mechanisms of financial ability in individuals without these diagnoses.
“Two factors inspired my interest in this topic,” said study author Ian M. McDonough, an associate professor of psychology at Binghamton University and the director of the (https://mac2research.sunycreate.cloud/welcome/lab-blog/) Memory, Aging, and Cognitive Control Research Laboratory.
“First, my dad was in the financial sector when I was growing up and so I was exposed to a lot of information about how to save, handle money, and invest in stock markets. These early life experiences created a consistent interest in financial management. Now that I’m older of course, my career took a different path towards the cognitive neuroscience of aging. One major concern in the field is the increased risks older adults have for financial exploitation because of numerous factors including their ability to successfully build up wealth but also their sometimes declining cognitive capacity to navigate an increasingly complex system of fraud and the move to digital finances.”
“Although some research has shown that declining brain regions can increase susceptibility to fraud and some brain regions that decline are associated with both financial capacity and Alzheimer’s disease, the underlying brain regions that differ with age that support financial abilities is a very underdeveloped field of research. I designed a study that could broadly characterize a neural footprint of the aging brain before the frank development of Alzheimer’s disease pathology or severe cognitive decline to better understand how the brain changes for various age- related risks like declining financial abilities.”
Sixty-seven middle-aged and older adults (ages 50-74) participated in the study. These participants had no prior diagnosis of a neurological condition and all had at least one risk factor for dementia, such as high blood pressure or a family history of Alzheimer’s disease. An additional group of 20 young adults (ages 20-30) was included for comparison of brain measures, though they did not complete the financial ability test.
All participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, which provided detailed images of their brain structure and allowed researchers to measure the activity and connections between different brain regions while the participants were at rest. The brain areas of focus were chosen because prior work shows they are related to arithmetic. These include regions in the temporal lobes (middle and superior temporal gyri), believed to store arithmetic facts, and a region in the frontal lobe (inferior frontal gyrus), believed to help retrieve these facts. Other regions are related to performing calculations (the inferior and superior parietal lobules, and the middle frontal gyri).
In addition to the brain scans, participants completed several assessments. These included a screening test for dementia to make sure that only those without this diagnosis were included in the main analyses, and a test specifically designed to measure financial abilities. This test included tasks such as counting money, writing a check, and balancing a checkbook. Participants also completed a range of tests that evaluated various cognitive skills, such as memory, language, reasoning, and processing speed. Finally, they answered questions about their health, financial situation, and financial background, including factors like income, education, and their parents’ experience with finances.
The researchers found that individuals who performed better on financial tasks had larger tissue volume and surface area in parts of the brain associated with language and memory retrieval. In particular, the left inferior frontal region—a part of the brain that helps access language-based memories—showed a strong association with financial ability.
“I was surprised to see how much the measure of language we had in our study correlated with the brain and financial abilities,” McDonough told PsyPost. “These language measures assess one’s word pronunciation and ability to accurately complete sentences based on the contextual cues, and thus were not directly related to math or finances at all. It could be that people with higher language abilities also were more educated and had more experience dealing with complicated financial matters. The high association could also indicate that such language measures could quickly be used to identify those at risk for decline in the brain regions associated with financial abilities as a type of general screening tool.”
In addition, the study revealed that stronger connections between the left inferior parietal region and parts of the frontal region were linked to better financial performance. These connections appear to support the automatic retrieval of arithmetic facts from memory.
On the other hand, participants with lower financial ability showed stronger connections between calculation-related areas. The findings suggest that older adults who lean too heavily on brain systems that support real-time calculation rather than on memory-based retrieval may be at a disadvantage when it comes to managing finances.
But the researchers did not find that the relationship between brain measures and financial ability was significantly related to the participants’ age or by their overall risk of developing dementia.
“I was also surprised that our dementia risk score was not associated with financial ability or the brain regions underlying math abilities,” McDonough said. “Other research has shown a link between declining financial abilities in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and with Alzheimer’s disease pathology. It could be the case that financial ability declines associated with dementia come in later stages and what we are sensitive to in this study is ‘normal aging’ rather than dementia-related aging. It also could be the case that there is a link between dementia risk and financial ability, but not in the brain regions we chose to investigate that were related to math processing.”
Finally, the researchers found that protective factors like a higher household income and a greater understanding of financial concepts (financial literacy) were related to the same brain connections that predicted financial ability.
“With advanced aging comes natural declines in being able to quickly and efficiently process information, including real-time calculation of financial information,” McDonough told PsyPost. “However, brain processes that rely on automatic retrieval of information seem to be intact with aging. Thus, as people age, if one can become fluent with how to manage their finances so they store knowledge that can automatically be retrieved, they will be able to more accurate at managing their finances and hopefully become less at risk for financial fraud.”
“As people become older, they may also recognize that the changing financial landscape necessitates a little bit of help. This help could come from friends or family that are more familiar with current financial tools or alerts to be set up on their own phone (and/or family’s phone) when an abnormality is detected in their finances.”
“We also identified key brain regions that support both automatic retrieval of information related to finances and regions that are used for in-the-moment financial calculation,” McDonough continued. “Strengthening these brain regions throughout life via physical exercise and practicing with financial information (i.e., increasing one’s financial literacy) will likely help maintain those abilities into old age. We showed that more “youthlike” brains were associated with better maintenance of financial abilities.”
Like any study, this research has its limitations. The brain imaging was conducted while participants were at rest rather than while they were engaged in an active financial task. This approach means that the imaging data provide a snapshot of the brain’s typical connectivity patterns rather than how the brain operates during real-life financial decisions.
In addition, the study focused on a relatively narrow age range and involved a modest number of participants. “Ideally, I would want to have a sample of 100 or more participants to ensure greater robustness,” McDonough said.
“Our study also was cross-sectional, which means there is a large possibility that the findings are related to financial experiences and/or math abilities stemming from childhood or young adulthood that last throughout the lifespan rather than due to longitudinal declines in brain structure and function with age.”
Future research could expand the range of participants and include brain imaging during active problem-solving tasks related to finances. Moreover, further studies might examine other financial skills and explore how different aspects of numerical processing contribute to financial management over time. Longitudinal studies that follow individuals over several years would be valuable to understand how these brain-financial ability relationships evolve as people age.
“In the long-term, we want to continue bridging the underlying components of math/arithmetic processing to the aging brain,” McDonough explained. “We also want to link these differences in financial abilities with experiences with financial scams and generalize these findings to financial management in the digital age.”
“One important point is that even though financial management is likely to decline with advanced aging, one should not simply take away financial responsibilities from older adults. Handling finances is oddly integrated with one’s work or household identity because we all have to manage some level of finances month to month. If a person is at risk for declines in their financial ability, they should work with their family to support them and provide some level of autonomy in a sensitive way and make sure the person has input into all future actions with their finances.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2024.105705) Separating neurocognitive mechanisms of maintenance and compensation to support financial ability in middle-aged and older adults: The role of language and the inferior frontal gyrus,” was authored by Macarena Suárez-Pellicioni and Ian M. McDonough.

(https://www.psypost.org/anxiety-boosts-idea-quantity-but-hinders-creative-originality-study-suggests/) Anxiety boosts idea quantity but hinders creative originality, study suggests
Feb 8th 2025, 12:00

A new study published in (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jocb.1531) The Journal of Creative Behavior has found that while anxiety can lead to generating a larger number of ideas, especially when thinking about negative possibilities, it may come at the cost of originality. Researchers found that individuals prone to anxiety, particularly those with a history of mental health challenges or therapy, tend to produce more ideas when asked to consider how situations could go wrong. However, these ideas are less likely to be original compared to those generated when considering positive outcomes.
Creativity is a fundamental human ability that allows us to generate novel and useful solutions to complex problems. Researchers have long been interested in understanding what factors influence creativity, and emotions are known to play a significant part. While positive emotions are generally thought to enhance creativity, the role of negative emotions, like anxiety, is less clear. Some studies suggest anxiety can boost creativity, while others indicate it can hinder it.
The authors of the new study noted that earlier work has shown that negative emotions can have a positive effect, causing an individual to perseverate and be less satisfied with their own work. This complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between emotions and creativity prompted the researchers to investigate further, focusing on how individual differences in anxiety and optimism might shape the creative process.
“My main area of research is dark creativity – or how people get good ideas to do bad things,” explained study author (https://www.hansikakapoor.in/) Hansika Kapoor, a researcher at Monk Prayogshala in Mumbai and an affiliate at the University of Connecticut.
“Usually, this research focuses on how creative persons can use their originality to help themselves at the expense of others or outright harm others. I was interested in understanding whether originality can also be used to harm oneself, perhaps through self-sabotage or thinking that fuels anxiety. Therefore, we developed a counterfactual divergent thinking task — basically a task that asks what could go right/wrong in a certain situation.”
“Allowing people to use their creativity to guide ‘what if’ thinking helped us understand how anxiety can increase negative what ifs but optimistic outlooks can reduce such thoughts. In a nutshell, the idea for the paper stemmed from trying to understand how we may be darkly creative to ourselves, limiting our growth.”
Kapoor and her colleagues designed an online study involving 647 participants, primarily from India and the United States. The participants were adults, with an average age of about 22 years, and included a mix of students, employed individuals, and those who were unemployed or retired. Slightly more than half of the sample were women.
The study centered around a series of tasks designed to measure “divergent thinking,” a key aspect of creativity that involves generating multiple solutions to a problem. The participants completed three different divergent thinking tasks.
Real-World Divergent Thinking Task: Participants were presented with a realistic scenario: needing a large sum of money in a short time. They were asked to come up with as many different ways as possible to address this problem.
Positive Counterfactual Divergent Thinking Task: Participants were asked to imagine they were going on a first date. They were then instructed to think of all the ways things could go right or in their favor.
Negative Counterfactual Divergent Thinking Task: Participants were given the same first date scenario, but this time they were asked to think of all the ways things could go wrong or not in their favor.
Participants were randomly assigned to either the positive or negative counterfactual task, ensuring that they only completed one of these two. All participants completed the real-world task.
The researchers assessed the responses to these tasks in several ways. Fluency was measured by simply counting the number of ideas generated. Flexibility was evaluated by determining whether the ideas belonged to different categories. Originality was assessed by how statistically rare or unusual each idea was compared to the ideas generated by other participants. For the real-world task, additional ratings were made for moral valence (whether the idea was morally good, bad, or neutral) and goal-directedness (how likely the idea was to actually solve the problem).
In addition to these tasks, participants completed several questionnaires to assess their personality traits and mental health history. They filled out the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to measure their general tendency to experience anxiety. The Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale was used to assess their self-perceived creativity in various areas like everyday life, academics, performance, science, and art.
The Creative Self-Efficacy Scale measured their belief in their own creative abilities and imagination. Finally, the Optimism Scale measured their general level of optimism or positive outlook on life. Participants were also asked about their history of mental health diagnoses and whether they had experience with therapy.
When comparing the different divergent thinking tasks, the researchers found that participants generated more original ideas in the positive counterfactual task compared to the negative counterfactual task. However, they came up with a greater number of ideas overall in the negative counterfactual task compared to the positive one. Both types of counterfactual tasks, whether focusing on positive or negative scenarios, led to higher levels of originality and fluency compared to the real-world divergent thinking task.
Regarding the influence of personality traits, Kapoor and her colleagues found that trait anxiety, especially when combined with past therapy experience or a previous mental health diagnosis, was linked to an increase in the number of ideas generated in the negative counterfactual task. In other words, individuals with higher anxiety and a history of therapy or mental health issues tended to think of more ways things could go wrong.
On the other hand, optimism appeared to act as a protective factor. Optimism was associated with a reduced number of ideas generated in the negative counterfactual task, even among individuals with past therapy experience or mental health diagnoses. This suggests that optimism might buffer the tendency for anxious individuals to dwell on negative possibilities.
“It was quite surprising to see the mirror images of the results for anxiety and optimism!” Kapoor told PsyPost. “I didn’t think that having a positive outlook toward life could mitigate against anxious thinking in such a powerful and direct way.”
“Our findings suggest the importance of promoting optimism through targeted interventions. Therapies that help reframe negative thoughts could transform them into creative opportunities. Future research could examine cultural differences in how emotions influence creativity. It’s also worth exploring the impact of specific therapies and emotional regulation strategies. Refining tools to measure creativity, anxiety, and optimism will provide deeper insights into their relationship.”
Interestingly, men were found to generate more original ideas in the positive counterfactual task compared to women. The study also found that individuals who rated themselves lower in scientific creativity tended to be more original in the real-world divergent thinking task, and those lower in performance creativity were more fluent in the real-world task.
The researchers acknowledge the limitations of their study. First, the study did not examine cultural differences in detail, which could influence how people approach creative tasks and experience emotions like anxiety. Second, the study did not include a specific measure of rumination (repetitive negative thinking), which could have provided a more direct link between anxiety and the generation of negative ideas. Third, the study did not investigate the specific types of therapy participants had received, which could affect how therapy interacts with anxiety and creativity.
Future research could address these limitations by including more diverse cultural groups, measuring rumination directly, and examining different types of therapy and their impact on creative thinking. Additionally, future studies could explore a wider range of “what if” scenarios and use more sophisticated methods to assess the originality of ideas, going beyond simple statistical rarity. The researchers also suggest that future studies could consider differentiating between thinking and creativity tasks more explicitly.
The long-term goal is to “understand more about self-limiting behaviors (such as counterfactual anxious thinking) that can be applied creatively to oneself,” Kapoor said. “This specific line of research would venture more into therapeutic applications as well as self-deception.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.1531) What Could Go Wrong? Anxiety Fuels, but Optimism Buffers Negative Counterfactual Divergent Thinking,” was authored by Hansika Kapoor, Sarah Rezaei, Hreem Mahadeshwar, and James C. Kaufman.

(https://www.psypost.org/pattern-glare-test-can-be-used-to-identify-individuals-with-schizotypy-traits/) Pattern glare test can be used to identify individuals with schizotypy traits
Feb 8th 2025, 10:00

New research provides evidence that a pattern glare test can be used successfully to detect subclinical autism and schizotypy traits. Participants with high levels of schizotypy tended to report more pattern glare illusions. The study was published in (https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2024.2335103) Cognitive Neuropsychiatry.
Schizotypy is a spectrum of personality traits that represents a subclinical, or milder, form of the cognitive and perceptual features observed in schizophrenia. In other words, while some individuals display only mild schizotypal characteristics, others exhibit more pronounced symptoms. Individuals with high levels of schizotypy are prone to cognitive disorganization, magical thinking, paranoia, and social withdrawal—features that resemble those seen in schizophrenia. However, unlike schizophrenia, schizotypy does not necessarily involve psychosis (a complete break from reality) or significant impairment in daily functioning. Because schizotypy is a risk factor for developing schizophrenia, scientists study it in hopes of detecting the onset of schizophrenia early, thereby allowing for timely treatment and potentially better outcomes.
Study author Wendy A. Torrens and her colleagues noted that behavioral hyperexcitability (i.e., strong reactions to stimuli) might be used to detect subclinical levels of autism and schizotypy, or even to differentiate between the two. Although these patterns of psychological characteristics often co-occur, they represent risks for different mental health disorders.
To investigate these characteristics, the researchers used the phenomenon of “pattern glare” illusions. Pattern glare illusions are visual distortions and sensations of discomfort that occur when viewing high-contrast striped patterns, such as black-and-white gratings. These illusions can include blurring, flickering, movement, color changes, shimmering, or distortion of the lines, even though the pattern itself remains static. They are caused by hyperexcitability in the visual cortex, where certain spatial frequencies trigger excessive neural responses. Pattern glare illusions are commonly reported in individuals with migraine, visual stress, epilepsy, and some neurodevelopmental conditions, such as dyslexia. These illusions are assessed using the Pattern Glare Test, which involves viewing a series of black-and-white striped gratings that vary in stripe spacing. Individuals with behavioral hyperexcitability typically report visual distortions (e.g., movement, blurring, flickering) or physical discomfort (e.g., eye strain, headaches) when viewing the images in this test.
The study involved 576 students from undergraduate psychology classes at the University of Nevada, Reno; 404 of the participants were women, and the average age was between 19 and 20 years. Participants completed assessments of schizotypy (using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire – Brief Revised), autistic traits (using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient), and the Pattern Glare Test.
The results indicated that autistic traits and schizotypy are highly correlated—in other words, participants with high levels of schizotypy tended to have higher levels of autistic traits, and vice versa. However, only individuals with high levels of schizotypy tended to report more pattern glare illusions on the Pattern Glare Test. The level of autistic traits, on the other hand, was not associated with the number of pattern glare illusions reported.
“High schizotypy performed the PGT [Pattern Glare Test] in a manner consistent with behavioral hyperexcitability. The PGT distinguished subclinical autistic traits from schizotypy, suggesting potential clinical application,” the study authors concluded.
This study sheds light on the psychological correlates of schizotypy. However, because it was conducted exclusively on undergraduate students, the results might differ in other demographic groups.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2024.2335103) Pattern glare sensitivity distinguishes subclinical autism and schizotypy,” was authored by Wendy A. Torrens, Jenna N. Pablo, Marian E. Berryhill, and Sarah M. Haigh.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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