If The Sound Of Chewing Annoys You, You're Basically A Genius
Have you ever been really aggravated when dining with a loud chewer? Or wished the person next to you on the bus would stop smacking their gum? Well, there's a scientific reason behind it—and it might just mean you're smart. A study from Northwestern University found that people who tested high in creative cognition tended to have an inability to filter out irrelevant sensory information—they have "leaky sensory gating." This means you're taking it all in, sometimes to a fault. "Leaky sensory gating may help people integrate ideas that are outside of focus of attention, leading to creativity in the real world," the study authors wrote.
