I’ve just watched episode 9 of the new tv series called ‘Prison Break’. Near the end of this episode we find out that the main character suffers from a condition known as ‘Low latent Inhibition’. I wanted to see if such an interesting condition actually existed so I googled it and here is what I found:
Low Latent Inhibition Plus High Intelligence Leads To High Creativity?
Jordan Peterson of the University of Toronto and colleages at Harvard University have found that decreased latent inhibition of environmental stimuli appears to correlate with greater creativity among people with high IQ.
The study in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment. Other people’s brains might shut out this same information through a process called “latent inhibition” – defined as an animal’s unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs. Through psychological testing, the researchers showed that creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition.
“This means that creative individuals remain in contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment,” says co-author and U of T psychology professor Jordan Peterson. “The normal person classifies an object, and then forgets about it, even though that object is much more complex and interesting than he or she thinks. The creative person, by contrast, is always open to new possibilities.”
Previously, scientists have associated failure to screen out stimuli with psychosis. However, Peterson and his co-researchers – lead author and psychology lecturer Shelley Carson of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard PhD candidate Daniel Higgins – hypothesized that it might also contribute to original thinking, especially when combined with high IQ. They administered tests of latent inhibition to Harvard undergraduates. Those classified as eminent creative achievers – participants under age 21 who reported unusually high scores in a single area of creative achievement – were seven times more likely to have low latent inhibition scores.
The authors hypothesize that latent inhibition may be positive when combined with high intelligence and good working memory – the capacity to think about many things at once – but negative otherwise. Peterson states: “If you are open to new information, new ideas, you better be able to intelligently and carefully edit and choose. If you have 50 ideas, only two or three are likely to be good. You have to be able to discriminate or you’ll get swamped.”
“Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked,” says Carson. “It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others.”
A less able mind has a greater need to be able to filter out and ignore stimuli. A less intelligent person with a low level of latent inhibition for filtering out familiar stimuli may well sink into mental illness as a result. But a smarter mind can handle the effects of taking note of a larger number of stimuli and even find interesting and useful patterns by continually processing a larger quantity of familiar information.
The central idea underlying our research program is therefore that individuals characterized by increased plasticity (extraversion and openness)retain higher post-exposure access to the range of complex possibilities laying dormant in so-called ‘‘familiar ’’environments.This heightened access is the subjective concomitant of decreased latent inhibition,which allows the plastic person increased incentive-reward-tagged appreciation for hidden or latent information (Peterson,1999). Such decreases in LI may have pathological consequences,as in the case of schizophrenia or its associated conditions (perhaps in individuals whose higher-order cognitive processes are also impaired,and who thus become involuntarily ‘flooded ’’by an excess of effectively tagged information),or may constitute a precondition for creative thinking (in individuals who have the cognitive resources to ‘‘edit ’’or otherwise constrain (Stokes,2001)their broader range of meaningful experience)
Note from the text of the full paper that stress causes the release of the hormone corticosterone which lowers latent inhibition. In a nutshell, when an organism runs into problems that cause stress the resulting release of stress hormones causes the mind to shift into a state where it will examine factors in the environment that it normally ignores. This allows the organism to look for solutions to the stress-causing problem that would be ignored in normal and less stressed circumstances.
So perhaps we could hypothesize something like this: under stressful conditions, or in personality configurations characterized by increased novelty-sensitivity, approach behavior, and DA activity, decreased LI is associated with increased permeability and flexibility of functional cognitive and perceptual category [see Barsalou (1983)for a discussion of such categories ]. Imagine a situation where current plans are not producing desired outcomes —a situation where current categories of perception and cognition are in error, from the pragmatic perspective. Something anomalous or novel emerges as a consequence (Peterson,1999), and drives exploratory behavior. Stress or trait-dependent decreased LI, under such circumstances, could produce increased signal (as well as noise), with regards to the erroneous pattern of behavior and the anomaly that it produced. This might o?er the organism, currently enmeshed in the consequences of mistaken presuppositions, the possibility of gathering new information, where nothing but categorical certainty once existed. Decreased LI might therefore be regarded as advantageous, in that it allows for the perception of more unlikely, radical and numerous options for reconsideration, but disadvantageous in that the stressed or approach-oriented person risks ‘‘drowning in possibility,’’ to use Kierkegaard ’s phrase.
One can easily see how this response could have been selected for evolutionarily. At the same time, one can also see how chronic stress could lead a person to fall into a state of confusion as a sustained large flood of stimuli could overwhelm the brain by giving it too much to think about and make a person unable to clearly see solutions that will relieve the feeling of stress.
take it as you will. truth is, am trying to learn as well…
hi, i'll like to know if one can gradually develope LLI.
Though your article is quite interesting and at same time educating.
Thumbs up pal.
Darlington G. M. Edache
Nigeria
Hi,
I 2 saw Prison Break..and it lead me 2 LLI. I don't know if i have it or not, but it would explain my life. Ppl do think i'm weird, as they can't follow my train of thought and so no-one really understands me. On the creativity aspect i feel like i need to be creative but can't find out how, makes me fell like exploding! i also moved school 2 years ago and fell into depression-maybe it was all 2 much new information?
it's nice 2 know i'm not alone 🙂
Hi Jeff, I was watching Prison Break series 1 eps 9 and I had to rewind to hear about this condition, and then like you I immediately did a search on the internet. Fascinating!! First time I have ever heard of this condition. I don't believe I have LLI, but I do see things differently than most people, I see humour in things people don't see, I have a strong attention to detail. Who knows, maybe the majority of us do possess a little bit of this LLI!
Hi jeff and everone, its petty much the same thing with me, watched it googled it blah blah blah, If anyone has been diagnosed with LLI i would realy like them to reply to me, maybe just saying how they found out they have it. I belive i have it, but I dont know how to go and "ask" because if i dont it will probably sound stupid, so what should i do
Hi Jeff and the others.
First of all, i see this article,and i must tell, a 3 years and still people writing back.
Although, not the same people (except Jeff) all the time – partially…
Wll, as everyone, i'll start with myself. No comptent person have ever diagnosed me LLI. I don't care how it is called. I have some very similar condition of myself like TheJackal, and I have to agree with him. The divergent thinking is pain in the a**.
I don't want to bore you with my story but just want to give you a clue:
Saw things, I shouldn't. Heard things I shouldn't. I don't want that. Don't want to feel others thoughts. I'm tired, don't need my creativity any more. "my heart is sick and sad,i will(would like to) fight no more". Becoming kinda disinterested in everything – probably some kind of defensive mechanism.
Think u understood me.
It's stupid question: is there any way-out? be normal?
p.s. fell free criticize my English, salute from Serbia.
Hello. I was proffessionally diagnosed with low latent inhibition some time ago. It was followed by a professional intelligence test on which I scored 163. Prior to being diagnosed I was in a constant state of panic. My head was constantly cluttered and I always felt like the world was full and overly noisy. I was irritated easily, and at things that others did not understand.
After diagnosis, and after some time, I became better able to handle this aspect of my personality. Just as stubborness and being apprehensive are character traits, latent inhibition can have its pros and cons. Personally, I love this aspect of my person. I am content with my level of percption and the things that it has brought me. This bein said, I am also glad that I spoke to a professional, because it helped me to harness this potential.
I would encourage any others who feel that they have this trait to contact a professional. If you do have low latent inhibition, they can aid you in understandng it. If not, you may find out something else about yourself.
Best of luck to everyone.
reason im good at all these things is bc i took this ability and i applied it
just to clarify
ugh i have this.
ive been misdiagnosed with ADD, bipolar disorder and depression as well
it honestly is a good thing and a bad thing
im extremely good artistically (painting, drawing, etc)
i play every instrument i touch by ear within seconds of hearing a song
im apparently a brilliant writer from what ive been told in terms of essays, poems, hell even rap LOL
physically very capable. i choreograph hiphop and whatnot and was one of those “gym class heroes”
i sing as well, and act very very well
when it comes to science, i have a deep understanding of things
physics especially
math, always been easy for me
understanding people, psychology to the point where its scary…is something i have been able to do since i was fourteen
people constantly claim i have model looks
the bad part about this is i have an incredibly low self-esteem. i dont know why. everyone tells me im great and whatnot i just dont see it.
idk.
bah. im gonna go to sleep
good for you
Danielle I don't think looks have anything to do with it sory joke, anyway I've never been tested for low latent inhibition but i'm pritty sure i have it i been doing alot of reasearch. i've been misdiagnosed for ADD SAD and when i was younger they thought i was anti social, i also get frequent head aches espeshaly when there is alot going on around me.
at least what i think, latent inhibition isn't as great as most people think on here say it is. it makes it hard to concentrate and some people can't handle it and go crazy the pros don't out weigh the cons.
there are some fun pros to it though it helps in poker lol i can read people really well
oh and i didn't find it from prison break i found before prison break was on.I was reasearching ADD and other things with abbreviations and happend to find it surfing the web It seemed to fit but I didn't really start to look into it tell last year. That's when i got high speed internet.
I would like to thank the enthusiastic supporters of this page for their ongoing and colourful updates.
Most people here are clearly responding to Prison Break – as I did myself. LLI is perhaps now seen as being cool or trendy. Fair enough. I was hoping for a bit less fantasy and a little more science but it is nice to hear from so many teenagers.
Whilst I doubt that many of the bloggers actually have LLI, I find it interesting to read the updates.
Rather than reveal any deeper insights concerning LLI, the postings do say a lot about the person who is posting the update. This in itself is interesting, and in the more absurd cases (spelling mistakes and all) quite amusing.
I just wanted to respond to a common misconception regarding Wikipedia. Some of the posters here have quoted Wikipedia as though it were accurate/factual. This is a significant assumption.
Wikipedia is written by the same people who have posted on this site. That in itself gives me pause for thought when I consider how accurate the resource can be, and how far a person may rely upon it for anything credible.
I googled “low latent inhibition” just now and must confess that not many credible hits are returned. I found the odd article that sounded scientific or at least believable, but not many.
What I look for is motive, clarity of message and meaning. Has the author thought the subject through? Are they promoting themselves or are they being more objective? Is the posting a cry for help or attention? Are there obvious signs of immaturity? Is the spelling/grammar and content poor?
I found a 6-page article written in 2001 that is quoted on this page back in 2007 by Jan. It remains perhaps the most compelling piece I’ve read on LLI. The author sounds very earnest and their overall website does speak of a truly ferocious level of intelligence.
Sadly, most of the on-line articles returned by Google are of a lesser standard.
If your referring to me on the spelling I’m sorry I’ve always had trouble on my spelling I’m the fastest reader in my class and I had a decent vocabulary but for some reason I can’t spell. Oh and I looked into it and as far as I could tell there isn’t really a official test for LLI, at least not like an I.Q. test. It seems that it is just guess work. another thing i was just stating a theory when i said that i think i have LLI and actually at least from what i’ve read it’s really rare.
oh and what is the website you found?
I am confused about the difference between the way the high-IQ-mediated LLI and the psychotic, presumably low-IQ-mediated LLI manifest themselves in terms of the behaviors of the two groups. I understand that creative achievement is associated with LLI and high IQ, but because LLI is often written about in the context of discovering the link between genius and madness, I assumed that both the creative achiever and the psychotic share a level of problematic functioning (while the high-IQ-mediated LLI individual gains mastery over his or her own psychic troubles through highly personal creative endeavor). At least one comment, by one of the more levelheaded readers seems to suggest that the existence of high IQ alongside low latent inhibition results in a person who is unremarkable except for their creative ability. It is quite possible that I have misread either this blog or other resources on the subject. If so I apologize. Any informed responses would be greatly appreciated.
In the past year, I was diagnosed with ADD and have been taking meds for it ever since. But, I'm not exactly convinced that this is why I can't always concentrate. Yes, it might have been passed down from my mom but the weird thing is, I relate more to LLI (in terms of symptoms). I decided to read about LLI after watching prison break, too. Because I tend 'obsess' over things I'm interested in if I don't find the answer I'm looking for, I research it. I normally don't self- diagnose or believe in it, but I think I might have it. Over the past few years, I hadn't had the best experience in my life and lived in a bad environment with negative influences so much that I started to feel depressed. But now, I can't get over it but I feel there is still more to it. Because now, everything I say somehow seems to be negative even though I'm somewhere else. In reading about LLI I heard that people who have it have trouble reading something like a paragraph because they see it as a whole, and have trouble focusing on every individual word in the paragraph; this is just like me. These aren't the only things that cause me to suspect I have LLI but really, I feel that I can relate to every symptom of LLI.
Hamilton: I think that people with LLI and a high IQ may become geniuses because they are able to take all the incoming stimuli and harness it into something positive with their problem solving skills. The high IQ allows them to deal with the stimuli more efficiently because the person has the ability to sort out all the ideas going around in their head and make it into something creative and though provoking. Where as someone with LLI and a lower IQ would still posses some of the problem solving skills but only to a certain degree. This person possibly not have enough creative insight or positive ‘energy’ (i’m not a hippy lol) to know what to do with their ideas. This would make them unable to get all of those thoughts and ideas out of their head, so much so that they’d have no idea what to do with them. In the long run, the person could have so many jumbled ideas going on in their head that they go insane. Sorry if I didn’t explain it well enough lol
Hamilton’s posting is certainly the most level-headed contribution we’ve seen in a very long time. I agree with Jeff that this blog could do with a bit more science and a lot less fantasy.
I googled “low latent inhibition” and think I’ve found the site Jeff was talking about:
http://www.dynamicbalancingtaichi.co.uk/LLI.htm
Whilst the article on LLI itself was quite fascinating, earnest and insightful, I found that the overall tone and articulate quality of the site indicated a considerable degree of intelligence and some remarkable insights.
The author undoubtedly has LLI, and perhaps more perceptual conditions. His website reads so very differently to the people who have posted on Jeff Wu’s article.
When you discover something that you find intersting do you build an obsession for it and research it more and more until you fully understand it after exploring every corner. For example over the past year or so i have become increasingly fascinated in 'survival' so to say. How to survive situations in extreme enviroments. This is what lead me to watch bear grylls and ray mears. Not to mention cast away, one of the best films ever. I do this with a lot of things and my behaviour is the same on people to. I will tend to analize poeples body language ALOT and analize the way they say what they are sayin and in my brain i then determine why they are doing it and what effect it will have. This often helps me a lot to determine wether someone is lying. And all at the same time i am still havin a perfectly normal conversation with that person while my thoughts are processing. Its strange really, i cant help it. i dont know wether to take phycology for a level because i dont know wether to develop it further or cut it out completely even though i am very interested in it. What do you think? If anyone experiences the same thing please give some feedback. Im rele interested in pholosophy and space'astronamy because i want to know more answers. People often say i think to much but it is something that i cannot control and do it self conciously. eg Im talking in a group of friends i will often pick up on the deeper reason why someone is sayin something. For example, someone says i hate football. On the surface this would seem like a genuine comment but using my knowlegde of the friend i am able to link that sentance to a deeper reason as to why he is sayin it and i will tend not to mention it because normally it would cause embrassment to thtat person. Sometimes the person is sayin a particular comment to change the views of their friends on that person because he or she is asshamed. Most people whne im there will not notice that they are being manipulated by their views on someone being changed without them even knowing. i tend to pick up on these occasions not only when someone is doing it on others but to myself aswell. Ive noticed i have been rambling on for a while so if you have no clue what im talking about neva mind but if u do please leave a comment. Anyone know what im experiencing? i could go into more detail but i will only bore u. thanks for ur time. I am aslo VERY creative.
You also don’t pick up on your frequent typos. Unlikely that you have LLI…
despite the fact that most of the comments posted were interesting i found it hard to cotinue reading every comment from the beggining and i eventually gave up 3/4 of the way down thus i didnt read the last posts.The typo before mine was a statement rather than a question and didnt really beg for feedback.
i think i speak for most when i say the level of want for lli is far greater than the level of possesion on this blog.
Hey Guys.
My personal experience:
I have spent spent over 20 hours being accessed by a team of psychologists.
Generally for 3 hrs a day I would sit at a table, head to head with a different psychologist on each session, while being administered a battery of tests.
I sought this counseling because I felt that I had a learning disability, or just wasn't smart enough to succeed at the prestigious university I was attending. I was very stressed and anxious, but not necessarily depressed.
The assessments were quite exhausting, especially because I was extremely driven to do my best on every test while having a lack of confidence.
I originally thought that I had adult add, because of some of the similar symptoms I experienced. After many many tests they rules out adhd because my executive functioning was well developed. Meaning that I was able to affecting control impulses and had the ability to devise and carry out complex plans in order to complete tasks that were assigned. Subsequent tests were administered which led them to suggest that I had Low latent inhibition. LLI can and often co-exists with a learning disability.
The term 'learning disability is not indicative of low intelligence. In fact, ones I.Q score can be quite high in some cases.
With a learning disability one often has a significant area of weakness but yet a normal
overall I.Q score. In my case, my overall I.Q score was in the 83 percentile. This by no means indicates genius, but rather indicates that my overall combined score was higher then 83 % of University students. It is important to note that there were 2 areas in which I scored quite low. I think one was word recall (a list of words presented, than asked to continue with subsequent unrelated testing and later asked to recall as many words as possible). It would seem that in this case my memory of the word list has been overwritten by the mass amount of information that I absorbed in the tasks that followed. The aforementioned is just one example of a shortcoming that may be present in someone with LLI. Personally, it has been a struggle, but it is getting better and better now that I have gained understanding.
Learning in the typical academic environment can be quite difficult.
The biggest accomplishment here, is learning how to learn. It is tough for others to help you hone this ability, and trying to learn the way everybody else does can be very frustrating ultimately leading to a depleting self-confidence.
Something that I have found that is extremely helpful is work memory exercises.
Working memory seems to be key. A greater working memory allows you to hold more of the incoming information enabling you to organize it quickly then store.
Even though I scored high-average on working memory it was not enough to prevent the negative aspects of LLI. My score for working memory is actually misleading. The key is that these working memory tasks were administered in a silent room with one other person sitting still and very little distractive stimuli. This does not reflect the typical academic learning environment. For example, I guarantee that if the psychologist walked around the room or even if the window was open and I could here birds chirping, my performance on the test would greatly be reduced. Often there are many many more distractions in the lecture hall, or even in your living room when you are alone.
Currently I study for an exam by going through all my notes, line by line, creating questions and answers. I make a table with 2 columns on several dozen sheets of paper. Questions in one column and the respective answers in the opposite column.
I fold it down the center so only the questions are showing. Then I go through them, over, and over. The act of making up the questions helps by forcing me to elaborate.
Studying from this table format is ideal because I am not distracted by fancy textbooks, notes, etc. I sit in an absolutely silent room with no distractive stimuli, and focus on one question at a time. Then for example, when I am comfortable with the ten to 15 questions on the page I move on to the next page. When I am comfortable with that page I go back to the start and quickly go through the 2 pages before moving on to the third and so-on.
Tasks that I naturally excel at, and find very easy often relate to tasks requiring visual spacial abilities. It often seems as though no thought is even taking place due to the fact that I am not as reliant on my working memory because the info is available for me to see. For example, tasks like solving a Rubix's Cube or Building complex architectural structures are relatively easy for me.
On the other hand, if I am given a topic that I am must write an essay about, it can be very frustrating to try and get all of my thoughts on paper in an organized fashion that I am pleased with. Now, I do feel that LLI has it's advantages even in essay writing, but I think that it lends to a much more labor intensive project. I must admit, the struggle of getting my thoughts on paper often creates a lot of inner turmoil, and can drain you and lead to burn out. But, like with anything else, the more you practice the better you will become. Work ethic and determination is a must! The end product can be very very rewarding.
Anyways, I hope this helps people understand LLI.
Keep in mind, I can only speak from my personal experience.
LLI can affect people in very different ways and is not so simple to quantify.
LLI can be very cognitively detrimental, but can also lead to very rewarding life experiences.
I do not know whether I would be happier in life without LLI because I have never experienced such a life. It is like wondering if you would be happier with you friends brain. Most learning environments are not designed for those with rare conditions such as LLI. This is the toughest part. If anything I would say that if you have LLI, you probably have to work harder to understand concepts in your own way, and the more knowledge you attain the less hard it becomes.
LLI is just part of who I am, and in itself is neither bad or good.
It is what you choose to do with what you have regardless of what it is……..
Cheers!
Sphinx, these tests of yours sound pretty interesting but you’ve not really detailed what they entailed.
Could you humor me with specifics?
Bernard,
Their were an abundance of tests within the cumulative assessment.
Unfortunately I do not necessarily remember them all in sufficient detail that would lead to an accurate enough description.
I'll have a look at the report they provided me. I have it filed away somewhere.
I can probably give you a list of the specific tests that were mentioned in the report.
You might then be able to google them and get a proper description.
I believe people with LLI like myself must establish their own community to support each other, share ideas and knoweledge for best of humanity and ours. We are the genious of this world, but there is no institution that will support us only for creativity and mind we have, there is no institutions that benefits from our great minds.
I suggest us to create our own institution email me at makaronnn33@yahoo.com to recieve contact details of others LLI persons i found so far and way we can connect together.
There is a test people i have been through it.
what i just can’t understand is why you guys keep hinting at these cryptic test but i don’t see no one actually saying what the tests involve.
forgive my skepticism but i find your lack of information somewhat suspicious. anyone can be vague. it doesn’t give you any credibility.
Sheila’s posting is a call to level-headed posting, I feel.
There seems to be a lot of self-diagnosis going on here and most of the people posting are clearly adolescent. Can we try and keep it scientific? Or at least honest?
This is bad place to chat we need out community of genious or smart people who care more than just drink, sleep and f*ck like 99% of population who don’t want to know anything after they finish school/college. Contact me makaronnn33@yahoo.com
I believe that someone I am very close to could have LLI. Can I ask anyone here if they get a sudden overload of external stimuli or if it is constant. And if you do get an ‘overload’ of information all at once does this produce a feeling of panic or nausea?
I quote the Low Latent Inhibition pages written in 2001 by the tai chi master whose site is mentioned earlier:
“Simultaneity:
For most people, reality is experienced piecemeal.
They concentrate on one task at the exclusion of other things. Whilst typing on the computer, hearing diminishes, smell diminishes – the awareness is narrowed.
With LLI this is not the case at all. The input is constant. Your awareness does not fluctuate much at all.
It only oscillates between hyper-awareness and extreme-awareness – with the latter being something to be concerned about.
LLI puts you in touch with the raw immediacy of reality.
The overwhelming sensory input means that you experience everything simultaneously: the humming of the computer, the flickering of the monitor, the feel of the clothing you wear, your emotions, the bird in your garden, the smell of coffee… Every miniscule detail happening around you is felt in its entirety.
This does not mean that you read every word, remember every facet, but you do see it, smell it, hear it, taste it and feel it. The information is absorbed. Your mind is sponge-like in its capacity to pick things up. You learn from them, and demonstrate new insights and understanding.”
Does this answer your question, Joannie?
Yes. I think that was a ‘no’.
Thanks for responding though.
I got diagnosed with LLI when I was 18. I went to my psycologist for answers after being in two car wrecks that had to do with me paying more attention to certain things on the road, than my driving itself. At first he just told me I was seeing things in more perspective and I had nothing wrong and should actually be happy that my mind sees in such ways. A week later he called me back in and said he found something on the internet called LLI and i was showing most symptoms of it. The next meeting with him he diagnosed me. I now have regular meetings with him just to make sure im staying mentally stable. Which I am. It is just a hassle to see him all the time. I could understand how LLI and OCD could be an extremly bad mix. If you were looking at an object and studying all the parts to it and then had to turn away and couldn’t look back at the object, you would become very anxious because you didn’t get to finish looking at the object. This could get extremly stressful. But lucky for me, I dont have OCD and was just diagnosed with LLI. This Prison Break show sounds great though. I’ll need to look iinto it.
You want science on this page, and I totally agree.
But the main problem is that science doesn’t know much about LLI. Over the internet, we can find some poor articles relating a relation between LLI, IQ, schizophrenia and creativity, but it sounds more like a guess than a proven statement.
When you read Brandon’s psychologist learned about LLI on the internet, and that he probably knows as much about it as me, why would his diagnosis be more accurate than mine, or anyone’s?
The website of the Taichi Master is very interesting, but it is not science in any way. Anyone having understood that “LLI makes you receive more stimulii from the surrounding that other people” could have imagined some consequences. Yet, its description is pretty interesting.
We don’t know what causes LLI, what are the real consequences, what are the physiological processes of latent inhibition and the place of low latent inhibition in these processes. We don’t know what can modify latent inhibition. I remember reading here a guy saying that smoking weed makes him feeling better (that is to say, increasing latent inhibition). And I’ve read on another website that cannabis could decrease latent inhibition. With such a poor understanding of LLI, no wonder it is hard to find anything about a LLI test.
The brain and its functioning is such a mystery, the only thing we (scientists) can do for now is guessing some relationships between elements and try to “prove” them with statistics, by observing a large amount of people. But its far from being a proof! (remembering the article giving a relationship between high IQ and the fact of liking metal music…:D)
So as we can’t really talk science on this subject, what is left is only feelings. So, well, maybe this page is meant to keep testimony of self-diagnosed LLI cases, but at least, if it can help people understandong, or having a reason (even if its not THE reason) why they feel different from other people…
If some psychologist or knowing people come through this page and has knowledge about LLI, it would be interesting to have his word about current state of LLI in science. We could probably find more about LLI in psychology books than on the internet.
I e-mailed the Taiji Master (mentioned above)in 2005 and talked with his representative. Apparently, as a child the master was diagnosed (by a neurologist) as having “mutated neurons” in his brain.
This led to LLI, hemiplegic migraine, photophobia, osmophobia, heightened sensory awareness… along with symptoms associated with autism, dyslexia and OCD.
LLI was just one of a handful of conditions arising from the root cause.
A genetic anomaly may account for LLI in the Taiji man but I’m not sure if this is the case with everyone else.
Shall i tell you something?
you lot are all crazy. low latent inhibition has to be coupled with other factors to be truley beneficial to the person. My understanding, is that it is “judgement” that is needed to pick the most relevant information to solve the problem that is seen by LLI
judgement is mostly a frontal brain activity and related to dopamine production also implicated in psychosis and schizophrenia….
hence one possible avenue of “genuis” for a person with low LLI could be increased dopamine production and stronger judgement that may also lead to mental disorder
im sure someone else can prove everything else to see if that makes sense
am i making the point that low LLI and “genius” are two completely different things? the potential to achieve and the actual achievement, will always be based on other factors aside from LLI
“its just a personality characteristic”
time to write this: 3mins
I like his way of putting things. Intensely comical I feel. It sometimes feel good to rant, to let off the steam. And he write it all in 3 mins. Good for you, fellow!
Charlotta
Hi,
It was very interesting to read all of these comments and the origional thread. Please forgive me, my spelling may be a little distraught as im missing my glasses. You can’t define genious or LLI in one string of words. Or a full paragraph. Either way being genious has many levels from Workings and inventions, art to the extreme of mental illness. Some of you were right and some of you were wrong in all there is no right and wrong. There is no real FACTS of the human minds working which is the source of the way we do things, LLI and mental illness’s. There is along string of dots over time where a % of genius’s have been linked to bipolar1/2 (manic depressive) and LLI artists past and presant, lawyers that have made huge difference in the world as we speek, But there is one fact or looked upon fact that is very important, it is not good nor is it bad to have LLI or bipolar, IQ has alot to do with it. Having a very high IQ can make thigs difficult with both but having a low IQ can make events uncontrolable, Imagine looking at a wallpaper and seeing a pattern or looking at everyday life and seeing every detai, like walking through life in slow motion. If you have a low IQ then you cant understand or your battleling this input of information against not understaning it or your inteligance not being able to handle it, If you have a high IQ this can solve this but at either end there is still that chance that you can suffer a depression, a supreshion, because imagine going through 20 years of life and having to deal with 1million times the input as a every day nothing different or what is thought to be a “normal” person. Yes Prison break was engeneered very well but also there was a small basis to support the mind and the workings of the operation to support all that happened and was to happen! 🙂 There is no self diagnosis of LLI but there is also the saying that “if you belive to have LLI your self then you havent” But at the end of the day no matter what you have you can see things your self and there isnt the pressent technology or findings to support a high prognosis. There are alot of traits that come with LLI and manic…..
(i had some free time here and liked this post) It is a very interesting subject but needs to be researched some more!
I was told once that I am very lucky to be inteligent, have the world at my hands. But i always felt not so right. Then i was miss diagnosed as bipolar 2, medication wasnt the way for me as i would get bad spells every so often 3 times in 4 years but extremely bad. Then it was advised to go see some one about LLI which i havent yet.
I don’t like to have to read of a soft (looking/appearance) website about conditions. i would rather get the information and diagnosis first hand. Because you can put your self in a brand by your self which can make you act differently and think differently seperating you from what was (mentally/physically/socially) I do beleive its best to know about your self and try and learn more and help your self. There is one website i found (do not rely on this) http://www.dynamicbalancingtaichi.co.uk/LLI6.htm
But there is something i feel is missing the input around you, acuteness to the emotions in every day life, from films, books, phone calls is detroying.
Hi everybody,
You know, i did what most people here did, i saw the chapter and think to my self: ” wow man, i have the same thing”, you know i can always see things deeper than others, i found this ability preety useful in both sports and school. For example, i play rugby, and i always know what my rivals are going to do by the expressions on there faces or their body language, and can easily see where all of them are and analyse the posibilites. IMm 14 years old, regarding school i’ve always been able to pay attention at several things succesfully, for example, i memorise a whole class about christianity while playing with my cellphone and i’ve always been given the highest avarage prise in both english and spanish since i left kindergarden.it seems like i can focus my mind in several things seccesfuly. I can also tell every time someone lies to me, and it seems my mind works in a faster way than the other ones, I really think i got LLI and i also researched that LLI in a person with low IQ may lead to a mental illness but i guess this is a blessing for me as i got an IQ above avrage. Also heard that most people have a vertical thinking, something people like us don’t have as everythings branches out into many option and posibilities wich will lead to both dailure and success.
i just wanted to make a question
DO WE SUFFER OF A MENTAL ILLNESS OR SOME KIND OF MENTAL PROBLEM, OR THIS IS FINE?
Gomez, many of the bloggers posting on this site are not suffering from anything except for teen angst. It is quite normal and healthy to want to be special, to stand out and be noticed. From what I’ve read, people with LLI don’t want to be noticed, they have no desire for fame and fortune.
A number of people have referred to the Taiji Master who wrote about LLI back in 2001… now you don’t see him posting here, do you? And have you actually read his site? Wow!! It blew my mind. I read the bit on Zen Koan and that guy is so so deep. I mean, for Christ’s sake he quotes Krishnamurti and Einstein.
Now compare what he writes with what the bloggers on this site are writing? There’s some kinbd of difference isn’t there? Has Taiji Master got LLI? It sure looks like it. Have the bloggers on this site got LLI? Doubtful.
I think LLI is what I’ve been calling a right-brained or global state. I’m a lefty. I noticed when driving, if I’m calm, I see and process everything. If I’m in a negative mood, it’s as if I switch into a more left-brained state and get tunnel vision. Anyone else have this?
Now that I’m aware of this, I do my best to stay in a global processing mode, but at the same time, I can concentrate at the blink of an eye. I naturally switch between global and integrated processing. The integrated state is being aware globally (right-brain) while processing logically and focused (left-brain).
I’ve been following this for 1.5 years and find it funny these folks are still at it with their teen angst.
I agree entirely!
Having read a lot of the things the Taiji Master wrote about LLI, I am amazed that anyone would wish such a condition upon themselves.
When I re-read his final page, it says in tiny, tiny writing how his LLI pages were originally a letter written in the 1980’s to one of his students. I also read a blog entry that said he has a major crack in his skull – pre-natal trauma or from very early childhood, and that this is what led to LLI etc. Its somewhat more serious than the daft stuff you read on this site. Who would really want a condition like that?
I would require to keep some distance from the Taiji Master’s stuff. Not that I don’t believe what is written there, I found the site very interesting, but looking back to the previous message from Jeff talking about the different conditions the master was suffering, I’m not sure he would be the best person to talk about it. What I mean is that, if he had so much different conditions, how would he be able to differenciate which “feelings” come from LLI and which come from other conditions ( I quote “hemiplegic migraine, photophobia, osmophobia, heightened sensory awareness… “)?
There is not much really scientific things in his site, it seems only based on what he felt. It is “just” really accurate and convincing, but it doesn’t make it true nor scientific.
Hi there,
I must agree with Alex in that the Taiji Master sounds to potentially have a far more complex condition than just LLI, and as such can we consider him to be representative of LLI at all? He’s been diagnosed with LLI (unlike the teenagers posting on this site) and that’s a plus: he sure sounds authentic and may well be a genius.
But he doesn’t claim to be an authority on LLI. He also writes about migraines and arthritis and self defence and Taiji and Zen. There’s no science or even an attempt, its all subjective – which is pretty informative but he’s not a scientist.
Ironically, I looked on the site and saw what the man used to do for a living – much of its high-pressure IBM stuff – $190K a year jobs. The teenagers posting on this site take note: this is a smart man. He’s put his skills to good use. Why is he teaching Taiji? Who knows? I think he got sick of the rat race. And now he sounds like he’s trying to dismantle reality and really see it. Maybe he’ll go crazy now???
Hyun-Shik