The relationship of reading ability to creativity: Positive, not negative associations

It has been argued that reading disability may be accompanied by compensatory enhancements in creativity. Here, we assessed reading, spelling and nonword repetition in a large, representative sample of adolescents and young adults, and examined associations with creativity, indexed by trait Openness to Experience and a creative writing task. Creativity and reading ability were significantly associated in a series of regression models controlling for IQ age, and sex, but the effect was in the opposite direction to that predicted by compensation hypotheses: Higher reading scores were associated with higher scores on creativity measures. We discuss possible explanations for this finding, suggesting a 'facilitation' hypothesis by which reading ability might facilitate creative thinking. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.