Secrets of
CREATIVITY
Bidisha Sengupta
CREATIVITY: A Neuroscientist’s View





The ability to produce work that is novel (original & unexpected) and
appropriate (useful, adaptive considering task constrainst)
Ability to break conventional pattern of thinking, adapt new or higher
order of combinations and think conceptually and abstractly
Not a mysterious concept, integrated with normal mental process and
hence, explainable by Neuroscience
Assumption: Neural circuits involved in creative thinking, same as that of
noncreative thinking
Prefrontal cortex: Central structure for creative thinking
BRAIN STRUCTURE
PARIETAL LOBE
FRONTAL LOBE
OCCIPITAL
TEMPORAL LOBE
LOBE



TOP (Temporal-Occipital-Parietal) Lobe: Responsible for processing
information and storing them for long term
Frontal Lobe: Integrates highly processed information, processes to still
higher cognitive functions ( self-consciousness, social behavior, planning,
abstract thinking etc.), not directly connected to sensors
Two parts of Frontal Lobe functional in Creativity:
• Prefrontal cortex: Anterior half of frontal lobe, stores short term memory
(working memory), supports sustained attention, processing of information
• Attentional system: Search Engine, selectively filters content in working
memory according to person’s values and culture
Creativity Process


Creativity occurs in two ways:
• Through Deliberate thinking
• Spontaneously
DELIBERATE CREATIVE THINKING
• Attentional system of Prefrontal cortex ‘pulls’ task relevant information
consistent with the person’s own values, culture and experience, from long
term storage in TOP
• Working memory temporarily stores the information
• Prefrontal cortex uses its cognitive flexibity and abilities to superimpose
the online information to form new combinations
• More nimble the prefrontal cortex, more capable it is of playing with new
combinations

SPONTANEOUS CREATIVE THINKING
• More often, creative thinking occurs during diminished mental arousal(ex:
Sleep)
• Not initiated by prefrontal database searches, thoughts unguided by
societal norms and conventional rationality
• Loosely connected association of thoughts due to unsystematic drifting
and gathering of thoughts
• Entails and element of chance
• Underlying mechanism for creative thoughts occuring during sleep
• Explains intuition


Dreaming: Extreme form of Spontaneous creativity
• Involves flow of unregulated, unlimited combination formations
unassociated to conventional wisdom
• Can give out insights, otherwise difficult to come by
Knowledge: Mainly not related to creativity. Primarily stored in TOP
areas, creativity in Frontal area
• Doesn’t constitute creativity
• Person with encyclopedic memory might not be creative enough to
use it
Creativity: Sudden Flash? Or Chain of Thoughts?


3Bs (Bath-tub, Bed, Bus): Places where ideas suddenly and famously
emerge!!
In 1990, a team of NASA scientists was trying to fix the distorted lenses
in the Hubble telescope
• Already in orbit. An expert in optics suggested that tiny inversely
distorted mirrors could correct the images, but nobody could figure
out how to fit them into the hard-to-reach space inside. Engineer
Jim Crocker, while taking a shower, noticed the European-style
showerhead mounted on adjustable rods.
• Realized the Hubble's little mirrors could be extended into the
telescope by mounting them on similar folding arms. And this flash
was the key to fixing the problem





On Dec. 8, 1903, Samuel Pierpont Langley, a leading government-funded
scientist, launched flying machine which plummeted into the river
Nine days later, Orville and Wilbur Wright got the first plane off the
ground
Langley failed because he hired other people to execute his concept
Studying the Wrights' diaries, it can be observed that insight and
execution are inextricably woven together
Over years, problem solving like wing shape and wing twisting, each
adjustment involved a small spark of insight that led to others
Does Brain activity differ for Creative and NonCreative?


Study led by John Kounios, professor of Psychology at Drexel University
and Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern University compared the brain
activity of creative and noncreative problem solvers
Results:
• Creative thinkers use right side of the brain more actively, during
problem solving and rest also
• Creative thinkers showed diffused visual attention while methodical
thinkers showed focused visual attention
Tell me the color of the words rapidly!!
GREEN YELLOW BLUE ORANGE
WHITE RED GREEN BLUE ORANGE
YELLOW WHITE GREEN RED BLUE
WHITE GREEN ORANGE YELLOW
ORANGE BLUE GREEN RED WHITE
YELLOW RED BLUE YELLOW
ORANGE RED WHITE BROWN WHITE
“ Take risks, and expect to make lots of mistakes, because creativity is a
numbers game. Work hard, and take frequent breaks, but stay with it over
time. Do what you love, because creative breakthroughs take years of hard
work. Develop a network of colleagues, and schedule time for freewheeling,
unstructured discussions. Most of all, forget those romantic myths that
creativity is all about being artsy and gifted and not about hard work. They
discourage us because we're waiting for that one full-blown moment of
inspiration. And while we're waiting, we may never start working on what we
might someday create”
-Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer
THANK YOU