Published in Neuroscience Letters, the findings demonstrate that creativity and humor share common psychological and neurobiological processes that promote well-being in elderly individuals. The study aimed to investigate the cognitive resources available to older adults and how these resources can support well-being. Contrary to the common perception that aging decreases intellectual efficiency… the researchers found that creativity and humor are not negatively affected by aging.
Past studies have explored the neural underpinnings of creativity and humor by asking participants to complete tasks and fill out questionnaires. However, the study highlights that while a relationship between creativity and humor has been empirically supported, the underlying reasons for this association remain unclear.
The study proposes that both creativity and humor involve ways of thinking that allow individuals to step outside their usual perspective and adopt new meanings. This mental flexibility can be linked to both creative processes and humor, enabling older individuals to cope with difficulties and biological changes, “adapt their behaviors.”.. and recognize the challenges and opportunities of aging.
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Researchers at University of Brescia and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart recently carried out a study investigating the contribution of creativity and humor to the well-being of the elderly. Their findings, published in Neuroscience Letters , show that these two distinct human experiences share common psychological and neurobiological processes that promote well-being in older adults.
“Our recent study belongs to a line of research aimed at investigating the cognitive resources which are still available to elderly people and at understanding how such resources can support well-being,” Alessandro Antonietti, co-author of the paper, told Medical Xpress.
“A widespread idea is that aging involves the decrease of intellectual efficiency. This is true only of some aspects of cognitive functioning, but not of creativity and humor.”
Past studies exploring the neural underpinnings of creativity and humor asked people to complete tasks linked to these processes, while monitoring their brain activity. This could entail, for instance, completing tasks designed to assess creative thinking and filling in questionnaires that ask study participants to share funny personal experiences or jokes.
“Once a relationship is set between the two domains (creativity and humor), we are in front of a matter of fact, but we do not know why they are related,” Antonietti explained.
“In our paper, we tried to propose some conjectures, supported by existing theories, about the reasons of the empirically supported association between creativity and humor. The general claim was that both creativity and humor imply ways of thinking that lead people to step outside their usual viewpoint, so that a new perspective is adopted and new meanings emerge.”
The ability to adapt one’s view and see the world or events from a different perspective can be linked both to creative processes and humor. This mental flexibility can help older people to cope with difficulties and biological changes, allowing them to adapt their behaviors based on the constraints they might be facing, recognizing both the challenges and opportunities of aging.
