BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1541458
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychopathological and behavioral trajectories in transitional-age youth: Innovative approaches and paradigmsView all articles
Creative behavior, psychopathology, and salience processing: a case-control study of Italian artists from the Florence Academy of Fine Arts
Provisionally accepted
Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola1*
Andrea Patti2,3Bernardo Bozza1Davide Benedetti1Giulia Minotti1Andrea Saverio Spagnuolo1Giulia Pitt1Vincenzo Pecoraro1Andrea Lenti1Gaia D'Anna1Niccolò Porcinai1Silvia Tafuni1Isotta Fascina1Andrea Ballerini1
Valdo Ricca1- 1University of Florence, Florence, Italy
- 2Eating Disorder Clinic "Residenza Gruber", Bologna, Italy
- 3Santagostino Medical Center, Bologna, Italy
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Introduction: Creative behavior has been associated with psychopathological traits, particularly in the psychotic spectrum. Aberrant salience, a transdiagnostic feature of psychosis vulnerability, may influence the creative process. This study aimed to investigate differences between artists and non-artists in aberrant salience, creativity, personality traits, and psychopathology.Methods: The sample consisted of 123 adults (58 artists, 65 controls) who completed self-report measures, including the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI), Big Five Inventory (BFI), Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBS), Remote Associates Test (RAT), and Anagram Task (ANAG). Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney U tests for group comparisons, Spearman correlations, and regression analyses.Results: Artists showed significantly higher aberrant salience, openness to experience, and obsessive beliefs, with lower scores on the RAT and ANAG compared to controls. Regression analyses revealed that higher ASI scores were significantly predicted by greater Openness to experience, lower Conscientiousness and higher religiosity.Discussion: These findings suggest that artists have a greater propensity for altered salience experiences, which may contribute to their creative endeavors. The strong association between aberrant salience and openness to experience indicates that personality traits significantly influence creative expression and psychosis vulnerability. Religiosity's role in predicting aberrant salience highlights the impact of cultural and spiritual beliefs on perceptual experiences. By identifying these associations, this study contributes to evaluating risk populations for psychosis. Artists exhibiting high aberrant salience may represent a subgroup with heightened vulnerability, underscoring the importance of early detection and intervention strategies within creative communities.
Keywords: aberrant salience, psychosis, Psychopathology, creativity, Art
Received: 11 Dec 2024; Accepted: 18 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Merola, Patti, Bozza, Benedetti, Minotti, Saverio Spagnuolo, Pitt, Pecoraro, Lenti, D'Anna, Porcinai, Tafuni, Fascina, Ballerini and Ricca. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
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