Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Surprisingly, this process is a little dichotomous for us as humans. Some things
jump right out at us as important. On the other hand, most creatures (humans
included) have a little evolutionary quirk called
latent inhibition
built into us as
well. Latent inhibition is a filter system. On an instinctual level, it allows animals to
observe the world and classify things as either important or unimportant to sur-
vival. If something is deemed to be unimportant, the mind no longer pays attention
to it. That way, we don't waste precious clock cycles in our brains reprocessing
something that has already been classified as irrelevant.
LATENT INHIBITION AND CREATIVITY
It has been observed that people with lower levels of latent inhibition—that is, those
who do
not
shut out their environment as much as others do—tend to be more creative
than those with normal levels of latent inhibition. The theory is that these people do
not dismiss things as irrelevant as quickly as do their peers. Instead, they keep com-
ing back to them and, in doing so, may be better able to understand not just
what
the
subject of the observation is but how that subject fits into the world in a relative
sense.
While this seems like a desirable trait to have in a creative endeavor such as game
design and development—and, admittedly, it does come in handy—lower levels of latent
inhibition are also strongly correlated with psychosis or even diagnoses of mental
illnesses such as schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Be careful what you wish for.
However, in some pursuits, this time-saving device gets in the way of doing im-
portant work. Sometimes, in our process of observation and investigation, we need
to consciously
suppress
our latent inhibition (which makes for an interesting double
negative, doesn't it?). By doing that, we can reexamine things that are in our envi-
ronment. Often, the most interesting and relevant ways our world works are things
that we take for granted—right under our proverbial noses. It is through suppressing
our latent inhibition that we can see enough detail to begin to sketch out the struc-
tures of the decision-making process.
Running the Fifth Grade
A number of years ago, when my daughter Kathy was 10, I was treated to a 20-
minute dissertation in which she explained her entire reasoning for running for
vice
president of the fifth grade at her elementary school. First, she explained to me why
she was running for the number-two spot. Her reasoning was that, since everyone
