If you believe that great scientists are most creative when they're young, you are missing part of the story.

你要是認(rèn)為偉大的科學(xué)家年輕時最具有創(chuàng)造力，那么你可能只說對了一部分。

A new study of winners of the Nobel Prize in economics finds that there are two different life cycles of creativity, one that hits some people early in their career and another that more often strikes later in life.

一項關(guān)于歷屆諾貝爾經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)獎得主的新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們有兩段不同的創(chuàng)作生命周期：一段出現(xiàn)在職業(yè)發(fā)展早期，而另一段往往出現(xiàn)在生命的后期。

In this study, the early peak was found for laureates in their mid-20s and the later peak for those in their mid-50s.

這項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，獲獎?wù)叩哪挲g分布存在兩個高峰值，即25歲左右和55歲左右。

The research supports previous work by the authors that found similar patterns in the arts and other sciences.

此前在藝術(shù)和其它科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的研究結(jié)果，與此次研究結(jié)論相似。

"We believe what we found in this study isn't limited to economics, but could apply to creativity more generally," said Bruce Weinberg, lead author of the study and professor of economics at The Ohio State University.

“我們認(rèn)為，研究成果不僅僅局限于經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)領(lǐng)域，還可以適用于普遍的創(chuàng)新活動，”該研究的主要作者，俄亥俄州立大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授布魯斯·溫伯格說。

"Many people believe that creativity is exclusively associated with youth, but it really depends on what kind of creativity you're talking about."

“很多人以為，創(chuàng)造力只與年輕人有關(guān)。實際上，這取決于何種創(chuàng)造力?！?/p>

Weinberg did the study with David Galenson, professor of economics at the University of Chicago. In the study, the Nobel Prize winners who did their most groundbreaking work early in their career tended to be "conceptual" innovators.

溫伯格與芝加哥大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授戴維·加倫森合作完成了這項研究。在職業(yè)生涯早期階段實現(xiàn)領(lǐng)域突破的諾貝爾獎得主往往是“概念式”創(chuàng)新者。

These type of innovators "think outside the box," challenging conventional wisdom and tend to come up with new ideas suddenly. Conceptual innovators tend to peak early in their careers, before they become immersed in the already accepted theories of the field, Weinberg said.

這一類型的創(chuàng)新者往往不拘一格，靈光乍現(xiàn)。溫伯格說，在職業(yè)生涯早期實現(xiàn)巔峰的概念式創(chuàng)新者通常會在完全接受現(xiàn)有理論之前，挑戰(zhàn)傳統(tǒng)智慧。

But there is another kind of creativity, he said, which is found among "experimental" innovators.

但是溫伯格認(rèn)為，還有另一種創(chuàng)新路徑，適用于“經(jīng)驗式”創(chuàng)新者。

These innovators accumulate knowledge through their careers and find groundbreaking ways to analyze, interpret and synthesize that information into new ways of understanding.

這類創(chuàng)新者會不斷在自己的職業(yè)生涯中積累知識，綜合過往信息找到全新的角度分析、解釋問題。

The long periods of trial and error required for important experimental innovations make them tend to occur late in a Nobel laureate's career.

重要的實驗創(chuàng)新突破往往需要長期反復(fù)試錯。這一類創(chuàng)新往往出現(xiàn)在諾貝爾獎得主職業(yè)生涯的后期。

"Whether you hit your creative peak early or late in your career depends on whether you have a conceptual or experimental approach," Weinberg said.

“你在職業(yè)生涯中達(dá)到創(chuàng)造力巔峰的早晚取決于你習(xí)慣于哪一種研究路徑，概念式還是經(jīng)驗式，”溫伯格稱。

The researchers took a novel, empirical approach to the study, which involved 31 laureates. They arranged the laureates on a list from the most experimental to most conceptual.

研究人員采用了一種新穎的經(jīng)驗性研究方法。他們將31位諾貝爾獎得主按照從最“經(jīng)驗式”到最“概念式”的規(guī)則進(jìn)行排序。

This ranking was based on specific, objective characteristics of the laureates' single most important work that are indicative of a conceptual or experimental approach.

該排序是基于獲獎?wù)叩拇碜鳎▋H限一個）的具體客觀特征，表明了其概念式或經(jīng)驗式研究路徑。

For example, conceptual economists tend to use assumptions, proofs and equations and have a mathematical appendix or introduction to their papers.

例如，概念式經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家往往傾向于在論文中使用假設(shè)、證明和方程，并附有數(shù)學(xué)附錄或介紹。

Experimental economists rely on direct inference from facts, so their papers tended to have more references to specific items, such as places, time periods and industries or commodities.

經(jīng)驗式經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家則依賴于事實的直接推論，因此他們的論文往往更多提及特定項目，例如地點(diǎn)、時間、行業(yè)或商品。

After classifying the laureates, the researchers determined the age at which each laureate made his most important contribution to economics and could be considered at his creative peak.

在對諾貝爾獎得主進(jìn)行分類后，研究人員確定了每位獲獎?wù)邔?jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)做出最卓越貢獻(xiàn)的年齡。這一時期可被認(rèn)為是他的創(chuàng)造巔峰。

Weinberg and Galenson used two different methods to calculate at which age the laureates were cited most often and thus were at the height of their creativity.

溫伯格和加倫森使用兩種方法計算獲獎?wù)呶墨I(xiàn)最多被引用的年齡，即他們的創(chuàng)造力巔峰期。

The two methods found that conceptual laureates peaked at about either 29 or 25 years of age. Experimental laureates peaked when they were roughly twice as old — at about 57 in one method or the mid-50s in the other.

兩種方法得出的結(jié)果是：概念式諾貝爾獎得主在29歲或25歲左右達(dá)到創(chuàng)造力巔峰，而經(jīng)驗式獲獎?wù)咴谀挲g是兩倍左右的時期達(dá)到創(chuàng)造力巔峰（57歲或55歲左右）。

——才20多歲就感覺自己已經(jīng)大腦遲鈍、靈感枯竭了，怎么辦？

——別慌，說不定你的創(chuàng)作巔峰期在57歲。

Source: Science Daily

Intern: Zhong Wenxing

Editor: Zhang Xi