ABSTRACT
Simonton demonstrates that creative productivity is a function of age. Although creative people's decreased productivity with aging might be related to the exhaustion of new ideas, there also might be biological factors. With aging there is a decrease in the performance IQ, suggesting that fluid intelligence might decrease with aging, and fluid intelligence might be more important in developing creative ideas than is crystallized intelligence. There are many biological changes in the brain that occur with aging. The brain decreases in size and weight with aging. Injury to the frontal lobes or interruptions of subcortical connections with the frontal lobe impairs the functions of the frontal lobes, and some of these deficits of frontal lobe function are called executive deficits. Several studies suggest that frontal lobe dysfunction is often associated with aging. The right hemisphere–deterioration hypothesis of reduced creativity with aging is supported by studies that gave older and younger participants the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
