November 27, 2013

Creativity in the Brain

What’s going on in the brain when we reason, create, and imagine? A group of thoughtful cognitive neuroscientists have been unraveling some of creativity’s mysterious origins (see “The Real Neuroscience of Creativity” or the recent edited volume “Neuroscience of Creativity”).

By Scott Barry Kaufman

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

What's going on in the brain when we reason, create, and imagine?

A group of thoughtful cognitive neuroscientists have been unraveling some of creativity's mysterious origins (see "The Real Neuroscience of Creativity" or the recent edited volume "Neuroscience of Creativity").

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What has become clear is that the left brain/right brain distinction is an oversimplification, and depending on what you are creating -- the stimulus, the content-- and what stage of the creative process you are in-- preparation, incubation, illumination, or verification-- different brain areas work together to help solve the task.

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a talk at PopTech 2013 on some of the latest emerging themes on the neuroscience of creativity:

I also recently had a fun conversation with Video Scientist Boonsri Dickinson:

She even convinced me to sing musical theatre in Washington Square Park. View at your own risk!:

It's an exciting time for the neuroscience of creativity, but we still have a very long way to go to come to a complete understanding of one of humanity's most important resources.

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