An Exploratory Study on the Relationship between Creativity and Processing Speed for Gifted Children

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between processing speed and five dimensions of creativity, which were fluency, originality, elaboration, abstractness of titles, and resistance to premature closure (RPC). It is the first empirical study that examines this relationship, also relating it to gender and level of giftedness. Data came from 133 gifted students at grades one through four in three private schools in Istanbul, Turkey. Creativity was measured through the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking – Figural. Scores from the Coding subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were used as the data on processing speed. The findings showed that girls had significantly higher scores in processing speed, elaboration, abstractness of titles, and RPC. There were no significant differences in fluency and originality. While fluency and originality were the only two subscores correlated with processing speed for boys (both positively correlated), four subscores were correlated with processing speed for girls (all four negatively correlated). Girls had higher processing speed scores in the group of low giftedness, but not in the group of high giftedness. A distinct finding about the boys of high giftedness was the high positive interrelationships among originality, fluency, and processing speed, which were not there for boys of low giftedness or girls of high giftedness. With its findings, the study supports some of the previous explanations around the topic, and generates new hypotheses to be tested experimentally.