Neurodiversity and Creative Cognition: Thinking Differently

By Kevin Rebecchi

This book offers a rigorous interdisciplinary examination of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie creativity in individuals with neuroatypical profiles, drawing on contemporary research in psychology, neuroscience, genetics, and the philosophy of mind to clarify how atypical attentional, perceptual, and motivational patterns can contribute to creative cognition.

Building on extensive historical, conceptual, and empirical analysis, the book traces how notions of neurodiversity, cognitive diversity, autism, and ADHD emerged and evolved, situating current debates within longer scientific and philosophical traditions. It synthesises key findings on neural hyperconnectivity, cognitive disinhibition, attention regulation, hemispheric asymmetry, and neurotransmitter systems, and demonstrates how these mechanisms, long framed in deficit-based clinical terms, also support originality, associative richness, hyperfocus, and divergent thinking. Through its analysis of genetic, evolutionary, and sociocultural perspectives, the book proposes an integrated theoretical framework in which autistic, hyperactive, and other cognitively distinct profiles are understood as expressions of population-level cognitive variability that can foster creativity under the right developmental and environmental conditions. This short volume also interrogates how social norms, psychiatric classifications, and educational practices shape the recognition, suppression, or cultivation of creative potential in neuroatypical individuals.
A valuable resource for scholars and students in psychology, neuroscience, creativity research, disability studies, critical neurodiversity studies, and the humanities, this book will also interest professionals in education, therapy, and creative industries seeking a scientifically grounded account of how cognitive diversity contributes to innovative thinking and problem-solving across domains.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3032228913
• ISBN13: 9783032228918
• Release Date: June 2026
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan