This is interesting from a number of perspectives. Knowing many top-notch programmers, they manifest the ability to see the big picture and the detailed view a

This is interesting from a number of perspectives. Knowing many top-notch programmers, they manifest the ability to see the big picture and the detailed view at the same time. Quite a feat because ordinarily one view distracts from the other. Being able to take in the noise without being overwhelmed by it goes to their creative talent. OTOH, decreased "filtering" of extraneous stimuli is common in attentional disorders where the diminished gating becomes a liability. Indeed, people will complain that it's overwhelming their ability to "focus" and task performance suffers. So the distinction between "creativity" and "distracted" may be determined by particular circumstance, differences fuzzy at best. I haven't yet taken the time to look it up, would have been ideal if the article had mentioned where the research was published, at least I didn't see that information in the article. Edit: I should have also said something about synesthesia, another form of sensory "crosstalk", also associated with creativity, e.g., artists like Kandinsky. Not the same of course as the semi-random phenomena alluded to in the article, but an interesting variation on the theme.