Citation

Sonuga-Barke EJ. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 2014; 55(12): 1297-1299.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jcpp.12359

PMID

25399636

Abstract

Historians of science continue to debate the importance of individual inspiration and personal creativity as fuel in the engine of scientific progress. While true that, in general, scientific knowledge advances cautiously by careful experimentation, painstaking observation and the gradual accumulation of evidence occasionally a field of enquiry can be revolutionised by a single, perhaps simple, yet inspired and profound insight. Such breakthroughs are most likely to occur when an individual moves outside the intellectual tramlines that normally constrain scientific thinking, leaving them able to look at old evidence in new and original ways. The reception of such original insights by the research community varies considerably, of course. Some insights may be 'too original' - a step too far in what is normally an incremental journey of discovery. Some ideas, enthusiastically accepted initially, may burn out before making any real impression. Other ideas revolutionize a field - producing a cascade of hypotheses and lines of enquiry that lead to new discoveries which permanently change the scientific landscape. The issue of scientific creativity was very much in my mind when reading through the papers slated to appear in the current journal number. One article in particular, by Pannekoeke and colleagues on intrinsic brain organisation in depressed adolescents, initiated a chain of thought that led me to my focus for this editorial. A development that provides perhaps the most compelling recent example of the transformative power of individual inspiration in the field of cognitive neuroscience - a development which is also beginning to have profound implications for models of childhood mental disorders.

Language: en