If You're Open Minded, Research Says You Might Do This…

Many entrepreneurs have a unique point of view that allows them to problem-solve and see potential where others may not think to look.

But according to a recent study from the University of Melbourne, people who are open-minded actually perceive the world around them physically differently than those who don’t have that personality trait.

The researchers gave 123 participants a personality test that measured five elements — agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience.

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The idea behind the study was to better understand how being open relates to something called binocular rivalry — basically, when people are presented with two images at the same time to each eye, they can only perceive one.

In the experiment, the researchers showed contrasting images to the participants simultaneously — the color red to one eye and the color green to the other.

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So while many people’s brains go back and forth between the two, only able to register one color at a time, the researchers actually found that those who scored high on the openness to experience part of their personality tests were more likely to be able to perceive both colors at the same time in one image.

It would seem that if you are more open to the possibilities, your physical ability to see can reflect that.

Nina Zipkin

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

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