The brain swing called 'creativity'

Can you teach your brain to be creative? We have, for the most part, largely thought that you are creative or you are not — that it is a talent. But creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas, new ways of doing things and actually carrying them out. Creativity has always defined our humanity and it is the one thing that has moved us forward. It is the accompanying spirit of the explorer. Without creativity, with its inherent riskiness, we would still be afraid to come down from the trees. If creativity is all that, then creativity is an ability that anyone would want to have, whatever you are doing in life.   

Scientists have begun to map what happens to your brain when you are being creative. This is the cover story of Scientific American Mind June-July 2012 entitled “Fire Up Your Creativity” by Evangelia G. Chryslkou, who teaches cognitive neuroscience and creative cognition in the University of Kansas where she is an assistant professor. Reading that and reviewing what I have written and come across over the years on the topic, I have to conclude that in order to be creative, you have to be a swinger.

Yes, a swinger — a swinger because you have to sway between opposite sides of your brain at the right time to think of a new idea and to carry it through. Scientists found that when people used their frontal lobe less, they were able to come up with new ideas. The frontal lobe is that part of your brain directly behind your forehead. This is the part responsible for logic, evaluation and decision-making. Scientists said that the frontal lobe, particularly the left side, is quieter in moments of exploration, relative to when it is being critical. Being critical comes from your previous knowledge of how things are done so it make sense that in order to arrive at novelty, you have to break free from a known pattern. In contrast, the posterior brain part, specifically for visuo-spatial skills was found to be more active at this initial stage of creativity. 

But coming up with a new idea is not the end-all, be-all of being creative. The idea has to be carried out. It has to be created AND made to work in the world. So after the exploratory idea generation stage, your prefrontal cortex has to be activated and made to work harder so that you can filter what will work or not in the environment where it is going to be unleashed. Thus, the creative mind is the mind that could swing action in her brain parts from low to high as it comes up with a new idea and put these ideas to work. This “swing” I refer to is also described by a technical term, “cognitive flexibility,” which you may find useful when you want to impress your friends. Just make sure they are not cognitive scientists.    

The article also came up with nine pointers to creativity. They are: become an expert, observe, know your audience, step out of your comfort zone, be willing to work alone, talk to outsiders about your work, have fun, take a nap and let your mind wander, take a break and challenge yourself. Most are self-explanatory I think except for two which I think need elaboration: become an expert and be willing to work alone. I also think it lacks one important pointer.

Being an expert means that you have to have a well-stocked library “up there” when it comes to certain things. This means you cannot just blurt out bits and pieces of what you have Googled and heard. You would have had to be able to have pursued topics and carried them to their end in terms of your quest. Only when you have enough dots can you play “connect the dots.” But I think expertise can also be a threat to creativity. People who consider themselves experts are already used to doing their thing a certain way and may find it harder to get out of that usual way. So I guess the trick is to be a “transient expert” if there is ever such a thing — to know and to have experienced enough to let loose and let the cards fall another way.

The other is to be willing to work alone. This I find to be so essential when I need to come up with a new idea. I have to have started something on my own already before I consult others in a brainstorming atmosphere. If I don’t work on my own first, I just feel so dry and empty, incapable of powering a storm with others.

What was missing in the list is what is first on my list although I have not proven this scientifically: loving what I am pursuing. I do not think I can be creative if I am not the least bit in love with what I am doing. That is the fire within. I cannot create; I cannot sculpt from pure thought without the fire within.

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