Although this article’s author and Ellen Winner completed their graduate training at Harvard’s now extinct Department of Psychology and Social Relations in the 1970s, they pursued divergent paths that only intersected on a few critical occasions, especially two discomfiting events during scientific meetings (the first event for her and the second for the author). Yet these distressing events stimulated this author to produce new publications on two crucial issues: artistic talent and creative life cycles. He much later reciprocated by inviting her to contribute a chapter on child prodigies for his handbook on genius. Without ever having collaborated, a productive relationship still emerged, albeit almost entirely at a distance.

尽管本文的作者和艾伦·温纳（Ellen Winner）于1970年代在哈佛大学现已绝种的心理学和社会关系系完成了研究生培训，但他们所走的道路各不相同，仅在几个关键时刻相交，尤其是在科学会议期间发生了两次令人不适的事件（她和作者的第二个）。然而，这些令人沮丧的事件刺激了作者在两个关键问题上发表了新出版物：艺术才能和创造生命周期。后来，他邀请她为他的天才手册撰写关于儿童神童的一章，作为回报。从来没有合作过，尽管几乎是遥不可及，但仍然建立了一种生产性关系。