Many previous studies have reported the phenomenon that people with less expertise show better performance.Even in actual product development, there are cases where general users generate new ideas rather than developers of companies and research institutes with abundant expertise, but the reason was unknown.

　This time, we analyzed online experiment data and product review data on Amazon.com for ideas about new features of speakers such as stereo and PC.We measured the amount of expertise of the participants in the creative activities regarding the speakers, the attention distribution pattern * when taking pictures of their own speakers, and the quality of new ideas regarding the speakers, and analyzed the relationship between the three.

　As a result, people with a lot of specialized knowledge tended to focus their attention on the speaker and shoot the speaker up.This tendency is called the "intensive attention distribution pattern" and has been found to have a negative impact on the quality of ideas.On the other hand, people with little specialized knowledge tended to disperse their attention to the surrounding environment and pull the speaker to make a small image.This tendency is called the "distributed attention distribution pattern" and has been shown to have a positive impact on the quality of ideas.

　The results of this research will provide new insights into innovation activities in the real world.In the future, it is expected that the relationship between attention distribution patterns and creativity will be examined and the whole mechanism of user innovation will be elucidated.

* It is said that there are two types of concentration and dispersion depending on how attention is distributed to the target.

Paper information:[Scientific Reports] More knowledge causes a focused attention deployment pattern leading to lower creative performances