“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.” ~Albert Einstein

ABSORBI CREATE: Neuroscience of Creativity 1.2

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to

keep. – Scott AdamsA creative person is a person who does

things that have never been done before.

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

How do I communicate?

• Just think: chemical electrical chemical electrical chemical electrical chemical electrical chemical electrical chemical electrical zzzzzzzzzzz…..

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

REVIEW

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CREATIVITY?WAYS TO STUDY?

NEURON?RLF?

FPTO?COMMUNICATION?

• Metaphors/Analogies• Brainstorm – associations and connections– “grass are french fries!” trick

• Hands on! – Food– Hands on head

• Real-life application

How do we measure brain stuff?

EEG: Electroencephalography

MRI: magnetic resonance imaging

Gray Matter vs. White Matter

fMRI: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

NOW WE BEGINCREATIVITY & NEUROSCIENCE

Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain

Spontaneous vs Deliberate Pathway

Deliberate Pathway

- Lateral areas, frontal part of prefrontal cortex (activated compared to resting state)

- When attention is highly focused

Spontaneous Pathway

• Resting state, Default Mode Network• Areas of medial (middle) PFC and other

midline areas in frontal and parietal lobes, association areas in the rear of the brain

• Daydreaming, automatic task• Imagination, reverie, envisioning the future

Spontaneous Pathway

Reason Evaluate

Consciously manipulate information in your working memory to solve a problem

Purposeful planning

“Thinking about something”

Decision making, goals, abstract reasoning

Executive Functions

Consciously judge the value of ideas concepts, prodcuts, behaviors, or individuals

“Critical eye” of mental activity

Opinions

Rapid, accurate

Deliberate Pathways

ABSORB

ABSORB

1. Everything is fascinating – curiosity2. Open mind to new experiences and ideas 3. High levels of awareness internally and externally4. Uncritically view your world and take in

knowledge – nonjudgmental

“Genius in truth means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” – William James, 1890

CURIOSITY

CURIOSITY• Alexander Fleming: penicillin• Van Gough: sublime, hidden

poetry• Issac Newton: apple

How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way,

Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?

—William Blake, “A Memorable Fancy,” The Prophetic Books

Cognitive Disinhibition

• Not behavioral disinhibition• The failure to gate out

information from your conscious awareness that is irrelevant to your current goals or to your survival

• Memories, mental images, and thoughts (looking for parked car…)

Cognitive Disinhibition

Latent Inhibition: cognitive filtering system the ability to screen out previously irrelevant stimuli

Carson et. al. 2003 (high IQ and low LI)

ADD/ADHD• Low latent inhibition

Show decreases in naming speed and attention (reactive processing), but not long-term cognitive abilities like working memory, planning, problem solving etc.

ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Trouble paying attention, finishing tasks, following directionsCan be slow/sluggish to process informationDaydreamy/spacey

No significant attention problemsRestless, fidgety, overactive, impulsive“Act Before Thinking”

ADD/ADHD

• Stimulant drugs given• Decrease in Creativity scores after giving

Aderrall/Ritalin• Made of amphetamines METH!• Increases norepinephrine (increases metabolic

processes) and dopamine (necessary for communication, general sense of energy, paying attention, learning)

PARADOX

Creative people are easily distracted by novelty in most situations, yet are capable of intense absorption

Absorption scale: associated with openness, suggestibility, hypnotizability, and gullibility

OPENNESS

5-trait Personality Scale

• Paul Costa & Robert McCrae and Warren Norman & Lewis Goldberg

• Five dimensions emerged from analyses of data

• Heritability ~ 50%• YOU CAN TAKE THESE ON THE WEBSITE

ICREATE

5-trait Personality Scale

1. Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. easy-going/careless)

2. Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. cold) 3. Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-

going/careless)4. Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs.

secure/confident)5. Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs.

consistent/cautious)

5-trait Personality Scale

1. Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. easy-going/careless) LI

2. Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. cold) 3. Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-

going/careless)4. Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs.

secure/confident)5. Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs.

consistent/cautious) LI

Meta-Analysis

• Gregory Feist in 1998:– Openness, unconventionality, intelligence,

intellectual curiosity, preference for complexity, novelty seeking, independence, ego strength, assertive, forceful, self-assuredness, involvement in work, perseverance, preference for big picture and details, drive and ambition, aloofness, aggressiveness/hostility, introversion, need for solitude

5 Trait Personality Scale• Self-report• Missing?• Women: neuroticism, agreeableness, warmth

(measure of extraversion)• Men: openness, assertiveness (measure of

extraversion)• First borns: conscientious, socially dominanant, less

agreeable, less open to new ideas• Country values individualism extraversion;

accepting of large inequalities in power structures conscientiousness

HIGH AWARENESS

Open to Information Internally and Externally

• Hypnotists, Buddhist monks, yoga enthusiast, creative luminaries, autohypnosis, trance, alpha state, absorption, mindfulness, primary process thinking, dissociation, and transliminality

JUDGMENT

PREMATURE COGNITIVE COMMITMENT

WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

JUDGEMENT

Alcoholism

• Latent inhibition – reductions associated with a mild increase of NT dopamine in a region of the brain called the mesolimbic pathway

• Alcohol has an effect on this• Torsten Norlander and Gustafson: mild dose of

alcohol used in incubation/insight stages of the creative process higher scores on a measure of creativity (cognitive and behavioral)

The Reward Center

• Dopamine in mesolimbic pathway also linked to novelty seeking, another aspect of absorb brainset – primary brain chemical linked to our internal reward circuit

• Prosocial behaviors: get a shot of dopamine to the nucleus accumbens (mild euphoria – repeat behaviors)

“No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.” – Roman Poet Horace

Alcohol Facts

• Fermentation distillation• Abuse leads all treatment admissions• Alcohol-related deaths outnumber all others

combined by 4:1• Drunk driving is the leading cause of death of

teenagers• Developing brain much more sensitive• People who start drinking at age of 15 are 4x more

likely to develop dependence• Judgment is impaired far below legal levels

Alcoholism and Creativity

• 5/8 American winners of the Nobel Prize of literature have been alcoholics

• ELIZABETH GILBERT• “My heart is both drunk and a kid”• Ludwig reported that a mean level of alcoholism in

artists, musicians, fiction writers, and poets at between 19% and 41%, but low rates (1-2%) among natural scientists

• Biographies from Hemingway, Poe, Fitzgerald have shown how detrimental alcoholism can be

STORYTIME

GRATITUDE AND CREATIVITYw/ Roy Horan

1. Watch a video: “Stroke of Insight”

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

2. Practice any meditation for 2-10 minutes a day

• Walking meditation• Body Scan• Mindfulness meditation• Breathing meditation• Mindful Eating

3. More absorb tasks

High aerobic activity increase in dopamine fixate on creative problem before then forget and (enhances alpha and theta activity) recovery for 2 hours

Brainset and REM sleep associative information formed in the unconscious mind more likely to be accessed by conscious immediately following REM sleep (early morning)

Mild disinhibition – (triggers, pavlovian coniditioning): start small talk with your TOP!

4. Quotes

• I STILL LOVE CREATIVITY QUOTES• New topics: judgment, letting go, absorbing,

sublime, awareness, openness

“As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance” ~Calvin and Hobbes

5. PHOTO TIME!

Let’s go for a walk!