How creative people think. The structure of the brain prevents creative people from earning money; it does not respond to money. Brain cells in the process of creative activity.

For a long time it was believed that creativity was a gift, and insights appeared as if by magic. But recent neuroscience research has shown that we can all become creative. It is enough to direct your brain in the right direction and exercise a little.

A creative approach is needed not only by artists, poets and musicians. It works in every area: helping you solve problems, resolve conflicts, impress colleagues and enjoy a fuller life. Neuroscientist Estanislao Bachrach, in his book The Flexible Mind, explains where ideas come from and how to train the brain to think creatively.

Neural Lanterns

Let’s imagine for a moment: we are on the top floor of a skyscraper, with the city at night stretched out in front of us. There are lights in the windows here and there. Cars scurry along the streets, illuminating the way with their headlights, and lanterns flicker along the roads. Our brain is like a city in the dark, in which individual avenues, streets and houses are always illuminated. “Lanterns” are neural connections. Some “streets” (nerve pathways) are illuminated throughout. This is the data we know and proven ways to solve problems.

Creativity lives where it is dark - on unbeaten paths, where unusual ideas and solutions await the traveler. If we need unconventional forms or ideas, if we crave inspiration or revelation, we will have to make an effort and light new “lanterns”. In other words, to form new neural micronetworks.

How ideas are born

Creativity is fueled by ideas, and ideas are born in the brain.

Imagine that your brain has many boxes. Every incident from life is stored in one of them. Sometimes boxes begin to open and close in a chaotic manner, and memories are connected at random. The more relaxed we are, the more often they open and close and the more memories get mixed up. When this happens, we have more ideas than at other times. This is individual for everyone: for some - in the shower, for others - while jogging, playing sports, driving a car, on the subway or bus, while playing or swinging your daughter on a swing in the park. These are moments of mental clarity.

To make ideas come more often, relax your brain.

(source:)

When the brain is relaxed, we have more thoughts. They may be ordinary, familiar, or seemingly unimportant, but sometimes ideas that we call creative seep through their ranks. The more ideas there are, the more likely it is that one of them will be non-standard.

In other words, ideas are a random combination of concepts, experiences, examples, thoughts and stories that are sorted into mental memory boxes. We are not inventing anything new. The novelty is in how we combine the known. Suddenly these combinations of concepts collide and we “see” an idea. It dawned on us. The higher the level of mental clarity, the greater the opportunity for discovery. The less extraneous noise in our heads, the calmer we become, enjoying what we love, the more insights appear.

The power of the environment

Innovative companies understand how important it is to create a creative atmosphere. They house their employees in bright, spacious, pleasant premises.

In a calm environment, when there is no need to put out the fires of everyday life, people become more inventive. In the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi is the same person with the same brain as in Barcelona. But in Barcelona he is more productive: he can carry out 10-15 attacks per match, two or three of which end in goals. At the same time, in the national team he manages to carry out two or three attacks per game, therefore, there is less chance that they will be non-standard and lead to a goal. How he uses his skills and creativity depends very much on the environment, the atmosphere in training, the team and how he feels. Creativity is not some magic light bulb that can be turned on anywhere, it is closely related to the environment. It requires a stimulating environment.

Ecology of life: Creative thinking can be trained like muscles in the gym. Try it and you will be surprised how creative your brain can be...

Neuroscientist Estanislao Bachrach, in his book The Flexible Mind, explains where ideas come from and how to train the brain to think creatively.

For a long time it was believed that creativity was a gift, and insights appeared as if by magic. But recent neuroscience research has shown: we can all get creative. It is enough to direct your brain in the right direction and exercise a little.

A creative approach is needed not only by artists, poets and musicians. It works in every area: helping you solve problems, resolve conflicts, impress colleagues and enjoy a fuller life.

Neural Lanterns

Creativity lives where it is dark - on unbeaten paths, where unusual ideas and solutions await the traveler. If we need unconventional forms or ideas, if we crave inspiration or revelation, we will have to make an effort and light new “lanterns”. In other words, to form new neural micronetworks.

How ideas are born

Creativity is fueled by ideas, and ideas are born in the brain.

In other words, ideas are a random combination of concepts, experiences, examples, thoughts and stories that are arranged in mental memory boxes. We are not inventing anything new. The novelty is in how we combine the known. Suddenly these combinations of concepts collide and we “see” an idea. It dawned on us. The higher the level of mental clarity, the greater the opportunity for discovery. The less extraneous noise in our heads, the calmer we become, enjoying what we love, the more insights appear.

The power of the environment

Innovative companies understand how important it is to create a creative atmosphere. They house their employees in bright, spacious, pleasant premises.

Creativity is not some magic light bulb that can be turned on anywhere, it is closely related to the environment. It requires a stimulating environment.

Dead ends and insights

Creative block is known in neuroscience as impasse. This is a situation where the mind works at a conscious level (moves along an illuminated avenue and cannot turn off). It's the connection you want to make but can't: it happens when you're trying to remember an old friend's name, come up with a name for your new baby, or just don't know what to write about a project.

We all hit these blocks sometimes. When it comes to being creative, it is very important to overcome or avoid it.

To overcome the block and allow inspiration to come, you need to dampen the activity of the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for conscious thoughts.

When you find yourself at a dead end, do the opposite of what your intuition tells you - don't try to increase your concentration on the problem for a long time. We need to do something completely different, interesting, entertaining. This is the best way to spark inspiration. When you take a break from a problem, active and conscious forms of thinking subside, and you give the floor to the subconscious. The distant boxes begin to open and close, spilling out ideas, and these ideas are combined into new concepts in the anterior part of the right temporal lobe.

Association game

Creativity in any field - art, science, technology and even everyday life - involves the mind's ability to mix very different concepts and topics.

When you are faced with a problem, try to look at it from different angles. How would a five-year-old child look at her? What would a primitive woman think? What would your great-grandfather say? How would you solve it if you were in Africa?

Various things help light new lights and mix ideas. associative thinking techniques . For example, we need to improve the bank deposit system. What is the essence of the contribution? Let's say it's "safely saving money for the future." What is involved in storage? Squirrels hide food for the winter, parking attendants look after the cars of restaurant guests, goods are stored in port containers, airplanes are parked in hangars...

Let's try to connect these phenomena in search of new ideas for improving the bank deposit system. For example, in winter (by association with the squirrel), a bank may pay higher interest rates to encourage people to make deposits more often during the cold season.

The brain is characterized by neuroplasticity - the ability to change its own neural structure. The more creative problems you solve, the more new connections are formed, the wider the picture of interneuron interactions (the more illuminated streets you can walk on).

So creative thinking can be trained like a muscle in the gym. Try it and you will be surprised how creative your brain can be.published

If you have any questions about this topic, ask them to the experts and readers of our project .

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consciousness, we are changing the world together! © econet

I'll debunk some myths about the brain and creativity.

Recently, literature and the Internet are filled with a variety of information. about human creativity and the functioning of his brain.
But, unfortunately, there are many misconceptions and myths that have not found sufficient scientific confirmation.

Here are some of them:

Development of creativity and brain.
It all depends on the formulation of the question, because the development of creativity and creativity training have completely different meanings.
Let me explain: with age develop creativity and brain power becomes more and more difficult, you have to be content with what is inherent in nature and obtained during education in the first 20 years of life.
Nature contains almost limitless possibilities in humans - we need to learn how to use them.
The brain is a very capacious and elastic substance; in order for it to be in good shape all the time, you need to force it to work constantly, and it will not let you down. Brain training can be treated the same way as muscle training: if you train, they work, if not, they fade.
As for creativity, don’t develop it, but do real creative work, because even in everyday life you can be creative. To make your brain perform creative work more efficiently, give it the tools - creative methods and techniques.
Creativity depends on the level of intelligence.
I’ll be brief - no, it doesn’t depend, and sometimes too powerful an intellect and an exorbitant amount of knowledge can hinder flight of creative imagination.
However, one should not confuse intelligence with erudition. A set of basic knowledge is often necessary for the correct formulation of a problem and its solution in specific conditions.
Creativity is needed only by creative people.
In fact Everyone needs creativity and in all areas of human activity, not only artists, designers, not only in advertising.
For example, creative business– in our time, people’s need for beautiful (creative) solutions has greatly increased.
Employee creativity is spurred by money and competition.
No, only to a small extent, and sometimes they interfere. A creative person is stimulated by public recognition of his creative merits.
Left and right hemispheres of the brain.
There is no absolutely accurate and reliable data that mental activity human brain is strictly distributed between the left and right halves of the brain.
The human brain only works at 10%.
This misconception has been around for almost a century. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, this is not the case.
Data from magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brain clearly demonstrate that most of the cerebral cortex is actively involved in whatever a person does.
This is why knowledge workers are very tired at the end of the day.
In addition, the brain consumes a lot of energy, craving it more during sleep.
Subconscious.
The most beautiful the myth of creative work brain.
This term is convenient to use to describe the work of the brain that is not clearly felt, occurring in parallel with the main thought or in a dream.
For myself I call it parallel thinking , this is clearer to me and I feel it with intense creative work when, seemingly out of nowhere, an interesting thought (or even several) appears and moves next to the main one, and when they converge at one point, a creative idea is born.
The same applies to sleep: when you sleep, the brain continues to work, especially if it is “loaded” with a creative task being solved during the day.
A striking example of such literature is the book J. Kehoe “The subconscious can do anything”. The book will undoubtedly be informative for anyone interested in the creative functioning of the brain, but an untrained reader will find it difficult to distinguish between useful information and the author’s speculation.

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide how to use this or that information. The main thing is that it would benefit you in your desire become creative person.
And don't forget about suggestion and self-hypnosis. If you convince yourself that the different hemispheres of your brain perform different functions, and “the subconscious can do anything,” then it will be so.

A creative person is a person who is able to process the information at hand in a new way - ordinary sensory data available to all of us. A writer needs words, a musician needs notes, an artist needs visual images, and they all need some knowledge of the techniques of their craft. But a creative person intuitively sees opportunities to transform ordinary data into a new creation, far superior to the original raw material.

Creative individuals have always noticed the difference between the process of collecting data and its creative transformation. Recent discoveries in brain function are beginning to shed light on this dual process. Getting to know both sides of your brain is an important step in unlocking your creativity.

This chapter will review some new research on the human brain that has significantly expanded current understanding of the nature of human consciousness. These new discoveries are directly applicable to the task of unleashing human creativity.

Understanding how both sides of the brain work

When viewed from above, the human brain is like two halves of a walnut - two similar, convoluted, rounded halves connected at the center. These two halves are called the left and right hemispheres. The human nervous system is connected to the brain in a cross-linked manner. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and the right hemisphere controls the left side. If, for example, you suffer a stroke or injury to the left side of your brain, the right side of your body is most severely affected, and vice versa. Because of this crossing of neural pathways, the left hand is connected to the right hemisphere, and the right hand is connected to the left hemisphere.

Double brain

The cerebral hemispheres of animals are generally similar, or symmetrical, in their functions. The hemispheres of the human brain, however, develop asymmetrically in terms of functioning. The most noticeable external manifestation of the asymmetry of the human brain is the greater development of one (right or left) hand.

Scientists have known for a century and a half that language function and related abilities in most people, about 98% of right-handers and two-thirds of left-handers, are located primarily in the left hemisphere. The knowledge that the left half of the brain is responsible for language functions has been obtained mainly from analysis of the results of brain damage. It was clear, for example, that damage to the left side of the brain was more likely to cause loss of speech than equally severe damage to the right side.

Since speech and language are closely related to thinking, reason and higher mental functions that distinguish a person from a number of other living beings, scientists of the 19th century called the left hemisphere the main, or large, hemisphere, and the right hemisphere - the subordinate, or small. Until very recently, the prevailing view was that the right half of the brain was less developed than the left, a mute twin endowed with lower-level abilities, controlled and supported by the verbal left hemisphere.

The attention of neurologists has long been drawn, among other things, to the functions of the thick nerve plexus, consisting of millions of fibers, which cross-connects the two hemispheres of the brain, unknown until very recently. This cable connection, called the corpus callosum, is shown in a schematic drawing of half of the human body.

Journalist Maya Pines writes that theologians and other people interested in the problem of human personality follow with great interest scientific research into the functions of the cerebral hemispheres. As Pines notes, it becomes clear to them that “all roads lead to Dr. Roger Sperry, a professor of psychobiology at the California Institute of Technology, who has a gift for making - or stimulating - important discoveries.”

Maya Pines “Brain Switches”

Sectional view of the human brain (Fig. 3-3). Due to its large size, enormous number of nerve fibers and strategic position as the connector of the two hemispheres, the corpus callosum has all the hallmarks of an important structure. But here's the mystery - the available evidence indicated that the corpus callosum could be completely removed without noticeable consequences. In a series of animal experiments conducted in the 1950s, mainly at the California Institute of Technology by Roger W. Sperry and his students Ronald Myers, Colvin Trevarthen and others, it was established that the main function of the corpus callosum is to provide communication between the two hemispheres and transfer of memory and acquired knowledge. In addition, it was found that if this connecting cable is cut, both halves of the brain continue to function independently of each other, which partly explains the apparent lack of effect of such an operation on human behavior and brain function.

In the 1960s, similar studies began to be carried out on human neurosurgical patients, which provided additional information regarding the functions of the corpus callosum and prompted scientists to postulate a revised view of the relative capabilities of the two halves of the human brain: both hemispheres are involved in higher cognitive activities, with each They specialize in complementary ways of thinking, and both are highly complex.

Because this new understanding of the brain has important implications for education in general and for learning to draw in particular, I will briefly discuss some of the studies often called “split-brain studies.” Most of these experiments were carried out at Caltech by Sperry and his students Michael Ganzaniga, Jerry Levy, Colvin Trevarthen, Robert Nebes and others.

The studies focused on a small group of commissurotomy patients, or “split-brain” patients, as they were called. These people had suffered extremely in the past from epileptic seizures involving both hemispheres of the brain. The last rescue remedy, applied after all other measures had failed, was the operation to eliminate the spread of seizures to both hemispheres, performed by Phillip Vogel and Joseph Bogep, who cut the corpus callosum and its associated adhesions, thereby isolating one hemisphere from the other. The operation brought the desired result: it became possible to control the seizures, and the patients’ health was restored. Despite the radical nature of the surgery, the patients' appearance, behavior, and coordination of movements were virtually unaffected, and upon superficial examination, their daily behavior did not appear to have undergone any significant changes.

A team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology subsequently worked with these patients and, in a series of ingenious and cleverly designed experiments, discovered that the two hemispheres had different functions. The experiments revealed a new amazing feature, which was that each hemisphere perceives, in a sense, its own reality, or, better said, each perceives reality in its own way. In both healthy-brain people and split-brain patients, the verbal - left - half of the brain dominates most of the time. However, using sophisticated procedures and a series of tests, scientists at the California Institute of Technology found confirmation that the dumb right half of the brain also processes independently.

“The main issue that comes to the surface is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and non-verbal, represented separately by the left and right hemispheres respectively, and that our educational system, like science in general, tends to neglect the non-verbal form of intelligence. It turns out that modern society discriminates against the right hemisphere.”

Roger W. Sperry

“Lateral specialization of brain functions

In surgically separated hemispheres”,

“ Data indicate that the mute minor hemisphere specializes in Gestalt perception, being primarily a synthesizer in relation to incoming information. The verbal hemisphere, on the other hand, appears to operate primarily in a logical, analytical mode, like a computer. His language is not adequate for the rapid and complex synthesis carried out by the small hemisphere.”

Jerry Levy, R. W. Sperry, 1968

Gradually, based on extensive scientific evidence, a view emerged that both hemispheres use high-level cognitive modes that, although distinct, involve thinking, reasoning, and complex mental activity. In the decades since Levy and Sperry's first report in 1968, scientists have found a wealth of evidence to support this view, not only in patients with brain injuries but also in people with normal, intact brains.

Eats information, experiences and reacts emotionally to it. If the corpus callosum is intact, the connection between the hemispheres combines or harmonizes both types of perception, thereby maintaining the person's sense of being one person, one being.

In addition to studying internal mental experiences, surgically divided into left and right parts, scientists examined the different modes in which the two hemispheres process information. Accumulated evidence suggests that the left hemisphere mode is verbal and analytical, while the right hemisphere mode is nonverbal and complex. New evidence found by Jerry Levy in her doctoral dissertation shows that the processing mode used by the right hemisphere of the brain is fast, complex, holistic, spatial, perceptual based and that it is quite comparable in complexity to the verbal-analytic mode of the left hemisphere. Levy found indications that the two processing modes tend to interfere with each other, preventing peak performance from being achieved, and suggested that this may explain the evolutionary development of asymmetry in the human brain - as a means of separating two different modes of information processing across two different hemispheres .

Several examples of tests specifically designed for split-brain patients can illustrate the phenomenon of each hemisphere perceiving a separate reality and the use of special modes of information processing. In one experiment, two different pictures were flashed on a screen for one instant, and the eyes of a split-brain patient were fixed at a midpoint so that it was impossible to see both images with one eye. The hemispheres perceived different pictures. The image of a spoon on the left side of the screen went to the right side of the brain, and the image of a knife on the right side of the screen went to the verbal left side of the brain. When the patient was asked, he gave different answers. If asked to name what was displayed on the screen, the confidently expressing left hemisphere forced the patient to say “knife.” The patient was then asked to reach behind the curtain with his left hand (right hemisphere) and select what was displayed on the screen. Then the patient chose a spoon from a group of objects, among which were a spoon and a knife. If the experimenter asked the patient to name what he was holding in his hand behind the curtain, the patient was momentarily confused and then responded “knife.”

We now know that the two hemispheres can work with each other differently. Sometimes they cooperate, with each part contributing its own special abilities and dealing with that part of the task that is most suitable for its information processing mode. In other cases, the hemispheres may work separately - one half of the brain is “on” and the other is more or less “off”. In addition, the hemispheres, it seems, can also conflict with each other - one half is trying to do what the other half considers its domain. On top of that, it is quite possible that each hemisphere is able to hide knowledge from the other hemisphere. It may turn out that, as the proverb goes, the right hand really doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.

The right hemisphere, knowing that the answer was wrong, but not having enough words to correct the clearly expressive left hemisphere, continued the dialogue, causing the patient to silently shake his head. And then the verbal left hemisphere asked out loud: “Why am I shaking my head?”

In another experiment that showed that the right hemisphere is better at solving spatial problems, a male patient was given several wooden shapes to arrange in a specific pattern. His attempts to do this with his right hand (left hemisphere) invariably failed. The right hemisphere tried to help. The right hand pushed away the left, so that the person had to sit on his left hand to keep it away from the puzzle. When scientists suggested that he use both hands, the spatially “smart” left hand had to push away the spatially “dumb” right hand so that it would not interfere.

Thanks to these extraordinary discoveries over the past fifteen years, we now know that, despite our normal sense of unity and integrity as a single being, our brains are divided into two, with each half having its own way of knowing, its own special perception of the surrounding reality. Figuratively speaking, each of us has two minds, two consciousnesses that communicate and cooperate through a connecting “cable” of nerve fibers stretching between the hemispheres.

What happens in the brain of an artist who creates a brilliant painting? Or a poet who writes immortal lines that will touch people's hearts a century later? No matter how mysterious and incomprehensible the gift of God that overshadows a genius may be, he guides his hand through the activity of the brain. There is no other option. But creativity to one degree or another is inherent in every person. A child composes fables, a schoolchild works on an essay, a student completes his first independent research - all these are creative processes. Today, creativity is welcomed, and sometimes required, in any job - this word, borrowed from English, is increasingly used to denote creative abilities.

When defining creativity, different experts ultimately come to the same conclusion. Creativity is understood as the ability to generate something new, for example, unusual ideas, to deviate in thinking from stereotypes and traditional patterns, and to quickly resolve problem situations. Of course, the ability to create, or creativity, is a useful quality for a person, since it is what allows him to adapt to the world around him.

The first person to undertake an objective study of the phenomenon of creativity was the American psychologist John Guilford. At the end of the 50s of the last century, he formulated several criteria for creativity that can be assessed in psychological tests. The main criteria are: fluency - the ease of generating ideas, flexibility - the ease of forming associations between distant concepts, and originality - the ability to move away from stereotypes. Thanks to the work of Guilford and then Torrens, it became possible to measure creativity quantitatively and statistically. American psychologist E. Torrance is the author of the most widely used test for determining creativity.

It is believed that the basis of creativity is divergent thinking, that is, thinking that diverges along many paths. Divergent thinking occurs when one problem is solved in different ways, each of which can be correct. Apparently, it is the multiplicity of solution options that creates the opportunity to find original ideas.

Rex E. Jung, an assistant professor in the department of neurology, psychology and neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico, emphasizes the main feature of creative thinking: the solution comes in the form of “insight” (the English word “insight” is already widely used without translation). Eureka! yeah! - these words convey the state that occurs when a sudden guess appears in the brain like a flash.

The task of studying the brain organization and brain mechanisms of the creative process seems elusive. The possibility of “verifying harmony with algebra” and, in general, the ability of the brain to know itself are doubtful. But scientists are trying to approach this difficult task. It turned out that even for studying such subtle matter there are objective psychophysiological methods.

How creativity is studied

One of the first, and until recently, the main method of studying brain activity was electroencephalography - recording the electrical activity of the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp. Rhythmic fluctuations of electrical potentials in order of increasing frequency are divided into several ranges: delta (0.5-3.5 Hz), theta (4-7.5 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), beta (13.5-30 Hz) and gamma (above 30 Hz). An electroencephalogram (EEG) is the total electrical activity of millions of neurons, each of which discharges to do its job. That is, figuratively speaking, this is the noise from millions of operating electric generators. But depending on the functional state, this noise may vary. Important indicators of EEG are powers in different frequency ranges, or, what is the same, local synchronization. This means that at a given point in the brain, neural ensembles begin to discharge synchronously. Spatial synchronization, or coherence, in a particular rhythm shows the degree of connectivity and coordination of neural ensembles of different parts of the cortex of one or different hemispheres. Coherence can be intrahemispheric and interhemispheric. The outstanding neurophysiologist A. M. Ivanitsky called the areas of greatest spatial synchronization the foci of maximum interaction. They indicate which areas of the brain are most involved in performing certain activities.

Then other methods appeared that made it possible to assess the functioning of various areas of the brain based on changes in local cerebral blood flow. The more active the brain neurons are, the more energy resources they require—primarily glucose and oxygen. Therefore, an increase in blood flow allows us to judge the increase in the activity of some areas of the brain during a particular activity.

Using the method of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI - from English. functional magnetic resonance imaging), which is based on the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance, can study the degree of blood oxygenation in a specific area of the brain. The scanner measures the electromagnetic response of the nuclei of hydrogen atoms to excitation in a high-intensity constant magnetic field. As blood flows through the brain, it gives oxygen to nerve cells.

Since hemoglobin bound and not bound with oxygen behaves differently in a magnetic field, one can judge how intensely the blood delivers oxygen to neurons in different parts of the brain. Today, it is with the help of fMRI that most studies related to the organization of higher brain functions are carried out in the world.

Local cerebral blood flow is also studied using positron emission tomography (PET). Using PET, gamma quanta are recorded that arise from the annihilation of positrons formed during the positron beta decay of a short-lived radioisotope. Before the study, water labeled with a radioactive oxygen isotope 0-15 is injected into the patient’s blood. A PET scanner tracks the movement of an oxygen isotope in the blood throughout the brain and thus estimates the speed of local cerebral blood flow during a particular activity.

The creative process is an energy-consuming phenomenon, and based on this, we can expect that it is accompanied by activation of the cerebral cortex, especially its frontal lobes, associated with integrative processes (that is, with the collection and processing of information). But already the results of the first electrophysiological studies turned out to be contradictory: some saw an increase in the activity of the frontal lobes of the cortex during solving a creative task, others saw a decrease. The same applies to assessing cerebral blood flow. Some researchers demonstrated the involvement of the frontal lobes of both hemispheres in the process of performing a fluency task, while in other studies the opposite was true: only one was activated.

But the complexity of the problem does not mean that it cannot be approached. At the end of the 90s, at the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the leadership of N.P. Bekhtereva, work began on studying the brain organization of creativity. They were distinguished by their careful experimental design. To date, Natalya Petrovna’s students and colleagues have obtained statistically reliable and, most importantly, reproducible data.

At the IV World Congress on Psychophysiology recently held in St. Petersburg, an entire symposium was devoted to the brain mechanisms of creativity. Scientists from different countries presented different methodological approaches and varied results.

Alpha rhythm - peace or creativity?

Electrophysiologists do not have a clear idea of which EEG rhythms are primarily associated with creative activity, for example, how the basic rhythm of the human brain, the alpha rhythm (8-13 Hz), changes. It dominates in the human cerebral cortex in a state of rest with eyes closed and is characteristic of this particular state. Any external stimuli lead to desynchronization - suppression of the alpha rhythm. It would seem that the creative efforts of the brain should act on it in the same way. But Andreas Fink (Institute of Psychology at the University of Graz, France) presented the results of measuring alpha rhythm indicators when subjects solved a creative problem. The task was to invent an unusual use for ordinary objects, and the control task consisted of a simple characterization of the properties of objects. The researcher notes that more original, compared to less original, ideas were accompanied by an increase in the alpha rhythm in the frontal areas of the cerebral cortex. At the same time, in the occipital areas of the cortex, the alpha rhythm, on the contrary, weakened. Coming up with an alternative use for an object causes significantly greater changes in the alpha rhythm than characterizing its properties.

The scientist offers an explanation for why the alpha rhythm increases when solving a creative problem. Its strengthening means that the brain switches off from normal external stimuli coming from the environment and its own body, and focuses on internal processes. This state is favorable for the emergence of associations, development of imagination, and generation of ideas. And desynchronization of the alpha rhythm in the occipital areas may reflect the retrieval from memory of visual images needed to solve a problem. In general, an attempt to accurately localize “creativity zones” led the scientist to the conclusion that creativity is not tied to certain parts of the brain. Rather, it is accompanied by coordination and interaction between the anterior and posterior cortical regions.

Changes in the alpha rhythm when solving creative problems were also assessed in the work of O. M. Razumnikova (Institute of Physiology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk). It turned out that a more successful solution corresponds to an increase in the initial power of the alpha rhythm, reflecting the preparation of the brain for work. When performing a creative task, on the contrary, desynchronization of the alpha rhythm occurs - its structure is disrupted and replaced by faster activity.

In the experiments of M. G. Starchenko and S. G. Danko in the laboratory of the Institute of Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the direction of N. P. Bekhtereva, the subjects performed a creative task and a control task, which consisted of a similar activity, but without creative elements. In the most difficult creative task, scientists asked subjects to come up with a story from a set of words, and from different semantic fields that were not related to each other in meaning. For example, from the words: start, glass, want, roof, mountain, be silent, book, leave, sea, night, open, cow, throw, notice, disappear, mushroom. The control task was to come up with a story from words of one semantic field, for example: school, understand, task, study, lesson, answer, receive, write, assessment, ask, class, answer, question, solve, teacher, listen. The third task was to reconstruct a coherent text from ready-made words. The fourth is in memorizing and naming words starting with one letter from the presented set of words. Without going into details, we can say that the creative task, unlike the control task, caused an activation reaction - desynchronization of the alpha rhythm.

In other experiments in the same laboratory, nonverbal, figurative creativity was examined in the following tests. Volunteers received two creative tasks: draw any picture using a given set of geometric shapes (circle, semicircle, triangle and rectangle) or draw given objects in an original way (face, house, clown). In the control tasks, you had to draw your own picture from memory and simply draw geometric figures. The results obtained by Zh.V. Nagornova indicate that an imaginative creative task, compared to a non-creative one, reduced the power of the alpha rhythm in the temporal zones. And according to data presented by Doctor of Biological Sciences O. M. Bazanova (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk), creative thinking is accompanied by an increase in the power of the alpha rhythm and synchronization in the alpha 1 range (8-10 Hz) in the right hemisphere . She examined whether individual alpha scores could be used as a measure of nonverbal creativity in the Torrance Complete Drawing Test. It turned out that the individual average frequency of the alpha rhythm was associated with fluency, variations in the amplitude of the alpha rhythm were correlated with flexibility, and individual frequency was associated with originality in the opposite way in the group of high- and low-frequency subjects. Therefore, the author concludes, these two groups use different strategies when solving a nonverbal creativity task.

Is a fast brain a creative brain?

The largest number of results indicate a connection with creative activity by fast electrical activity of the cerebral cortex. This refers to the beta rhythm, especially the beta 2 rhythm (18-30 Hz) and the gamma rhythm (more than 30 Hz). N.V. Shemyakina worked with a test for verbal creativity - subjects came up with endings for well-known proverbs and sayings. And in her experiments, the creative task was accompanied by a change in the power of the high-frequency gamma rhythm. The figurative creativity task, according to Zh.V. Nagornova, increased the power of beta-2 and gamma activity in the temporal lobes.

Similar results were obtained in the experiments of S. G. Danko, candidate of technical sciences. He showed that creative thinking is not always associated with complexity of thinking. The creative task was to come up with your own ending to a well-known proverb (for example, “Better late than ...”) so that its meaning would completely change. In the control task, it was necessary to remember the existing ending. A complicated control task was also given, in which the text of the proverb was written in the form of anagrams (words with rearranged letters). The results of EEG recordings confirmed the hypothesis that creativity and task complexity are manifested differently. An indicator of creative thinking—an increase in gamma rhythm power—was observed when a creative element appeared in a task, but was not observed when the task became more complex.

No neighbor's help needed

The extent to which brain regions distant from each other can be involved in joint creative activity can be judged by analyzing the spatial synchronization of neural ensembles in a range of different rhythms.

In the experiments of M. G. Starchenko in a creative task - composing a story from words of different semantic fields - spatial synchronization in the anterior areas of the cortex increased within each hemisphere and between the hemispheres. But the synchronization of the front areas with the back ones, on the contrary, was weakened.

In the task of nonverbal creativity (experiments by Zh.V. Nagornova), spatial synchronization in the creative task changed across all EEG rhythms. In the slow and medium ranges, intrahemispheric and interhemispheric synchronization increased. Perhaps this reflects the functional state of the brain, against the background of which creative work occurs. The interaction of the frontal and occipital regions in the slow delta rhythm, the researchers say, may reflect the process of retrieving figurative visual information from memory. To the greatest extent, figurative memory was involved in creating one’s own picture. And increased spatial synchronization in the theta rhythm range may be associated with emotional reactions during creative tasks. In fast beta and gamma rhythms, intrahemispheric synchronization is enhanced, and interhemispheric synchronization is weakened. This may indicate less interconnected work of the hemispheres in the process of nonverbal creativity, more independent processing of figurative information. Perhaps, experts say, interhemispheric synchronization in the frontal lobes decreases when searching for distant figurative associations and creating an idea for a drawing. It is possible that the frontal lobes may have an inhibitory effect on the process of nonverbal creativity. And the fact that the largest number of connections occurs in the left hemisphere can be associated with the specifics of the drawing using geometric shapes.

In the work of D. V. Zakharchenko and N. E. Sviderskaya (Institute of Higher Nervous Activity of the Russian Academy of Sciences), EEG indicators of the effectiveness of performing the Torrens test - completing an unfinished drawing - were assessed. It turned out that high levels of flexibility and originality are associated with a decrease in the degree of spatial synchronization. The better the creative test is performed, the more pronounced these processes are. The explanation for this non-obvious result is that the brain needs to minimize external influences, including from other parts of the brain, in order to focus on solving a creative problem.

It turns out that neurons in different parts of the brain do not always need to unite to solve a creative problem. In the first stages, synchronizing work at a slower rhythm helps the brain reach the desired functional state. But during the creative process itself, it is necessary to get rid of some connections in order not to be distracted by external influences and to avoid excessive control from other parts of the brain. Neurons engaged in a creative task seem to say: “Don’t interfere, let me concentrate.”

Creativity zones: myth or reality?

Researchers received the first information about the localization of creative abilities in the brain not in an experiment, but in the clinic. Observations of patients with various brain injuries showed which areas of the cortex play a role in visual creativity. Thus, the parieto-occipital regions of the left hemisphere are responsible for the visual representation of an object. Other zones connect this representation with verbal description. Therefore, if, for example, the posterior parts of the left temporal cortex are damaged, a person can copy a picture, but is not able to draw it according to the instructions. The frontal lobes are responsible for thinking (extracting the semantic content of the picture) and drawing up a program of actions for the picture.

This is how academician N.P. Bekhtereva described the state of the problem of mapping higher brain functions: “The study of the brain organization of various types of mental activity and states has led to the accumulation of material indicating that physiological correlates of different types of mental activity can be found in almost every point of the brain. Since the middle of the 20th century, debates about the equipotentiality of the brain and localization—the idea of the brain as a patchwork quilt woven from a variety of centers, including the highest functions—have not subsided. Today it is clear that the truth is in the middle, and a third, systemic approach has been adopted: the higher functions of the brain are ensured by a structural and functional organization with rigid and flexible links.”

The most information about the spatial organization of creative activity in the brain at the Human Brain Institute was obtained using the PET method. In the experiments of M. G. Starchenko et al. (N. P. Bekhtereva, S. V. Pakhomov, S. V. Medvedev), when the subjects were asked to compose a story from words (see above), the local speed of cerebral blood flow was studied. To make a conclusion about the involvement of certain areas of the brain in the creative process, scientists compared PET images obtained during creative and control tasks. The difference in the image indicated the contribution of cortical areas to creativity.

The results obtained led the authors to the conclusion that “creative activity is ensured by a system of a large number of links distributed in space, with each link playing a special role and demonstrating a certain activation pattern.” However, they identified areas that seemed to be more involved in creative activity than others. This is the prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal cortex) of both hemispheres. Researchers believe that this area is associated with the search for necessary associations, extracting semantic information from memory, and maintaining attention. The combination of these forms of activity likely leads to the birth of a new idea. Of course, the frontal cortex is involved in creativity, and PET has demonstrated activation of the frontal lobes of both hemispheres. According to previous studies, the frontal cortex is the center of semantics, and the right frontal lobe is considered responsible for the ability to formulate a concept. And the anterior cingulate cortex is believed to be involved in the process of information selection.

Summarizing the data from various experiments, N.P. Bekhtereva names several areas of the cerebral cortex that are more involved in the creative process. To navigate the topography of the cerebral cortex, they use the numbering of fields identified by the German anatomist Korbinian Brodmann (in total there are 53 Brodmann fields - PB). PET data illustrate a connection with the creative component of tasks in the middle temporal gyrus (PB 39). Perhaps this zone provides flexibility of thinking and the connection of fantasy and imagination. A connection was also found with the creative process of the left supramarginal gyrus (PB 40) and the cingulate gyrus (PB 32). It is believed that PB 40 provides flexibility of thinking to the maximum extent, and PB 32 provides selection of information.

Here is the data provided by Rex Jung, associate professor in the department of neurology, psychology and neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico. In his experiments, he used tests for inventing multiple uses of objects and for complex associations. The results identified three anatomical regions related to creativity: the temporal lobe, the cingulate gyrus, and the anterior callosum. In more creative subjects, an increase in the thickness of the anterior temporal lobes was found.

Right and left

Ideas about which hemisphere of the brain is more important for creativity vary widely. Traditionally, many experts share the opinion that the right hemisphere is more involved in the creative process. There is a completely logical explanation for this, since the right hemisphere is more associated with concrete, imaginative thinking. This idea is confirmed by experimental evidence. In most of the results obtained, during creative thinking, the right hemisphere is activated to a greater extent than the left.

Scientists have obtained some information about brain symmetry or asymmetry of creative activity from clinical cases. Although these results are mixed. Cases have been described where, when the corpus callosum (the structure that provides communication between the hemispheres) was excised for medical reasons, patients' ability to perform creative activity decreased. On the other hand, there are examples when suppression of the left hemisphere released the artistic creative activity of patients, their drawings became more original and expressive. And when the right hemisphere was suppressed, the originality of artistic creativity in the same patients sharply decreased. This supports the idea that the controlling left hemisphere inhibits the creativity of the right.

From this perspective, one can consider the creative capabilities of patients suffering from schizophrenia, in whose brain interhemispheric connections are weakened. Apparently, mental illness, transporting people into a special existentiality, removes some restrictions and releases the unconscious, which can be expressed in a surge of creative activity. However, modern experts are not inclined to exaggerate the importance of schizophrenia in creativity. Indeed, among brilliant artists and musicians, many suffered from mental illness, for example Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, but among patients in psychiatric clinics, truly gifted people are still rare.

With verbal creativity the situation is apparently even more complicated. Employees of the laboratory of N.P. Bekhtereva noted activation of both the right and left frontal lobes when performing a difficult creative task of composing a story from words (see above). Thus, complex verbal creativity requires the participation of both hemispheres.

Based on the results of his study, Andreas Fink notes that in more creative individuals, when performing a verbal creative task, large changes in the alpha range occurred in the right hemisphere. There were no such differences among less creative people.

Creativity, intelligence and personality

The problem of the relationship between creative abilities and the level of intelligence and psychological characteristics of the individual was studied by O. M. Razumnikova (Institute of Physiology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk). She emphasizes that creativity is a complex phenomenon that is determined by many psychological traits, such as neuroticism, extroversion, and the search for novelty. First of all, it was interesting to see how the degree of creative ability is related to the IQ indicator of intelligence. In the process of creative thinking, existing knowledge and images must be retrieved from long-term memory to serve as raw material for new ideas. The breadth of this knowledge and the speed of information selection (as measured by IQ) increase the ability to generate unusual ideas through the depth of insight and use of concepts from different semantic categories. The strategy for searching for ideas based on information selection is determined by the interaction of different areas of the cerebral cortex

Personality characteristics from the point of view of psychophysiology depend on specific cortical-subcortical interactions. These are the “reticular formation - thalamus - cortex” connections that provide brain activation - the nature of these connections largely determines the degree of extra-introversion. Interactions between the cortex and the limbic system are responsible for emotional reactions and determine the degree of neuroticism.

The purpose of the work was to test the hypothesis about the influence of intelligence and psychological characteristics on EEG indicators of creative activity. Among the subjects, based on the results of completing a creative task, a group of creative and non-creative ones was identified. But in both groups there were individuals with both high and low IQ, both high and low neurotic, both extroverts and introverts. The relationships between creativity, intelligence, and personality type were mixed.

Subjects with high intelligence and creativity demonstrated increased spatial synchronization between the frontal and temporo-parietal-occipital regions in the beta 2 range. This appears to help them successfully retrieve information from memory and use it to generate original ideas through divergent thinking. Subjects with low intelligence and high creativity did not show such a picture. Perhaps their creative abilities are realized through a different mechanism.

In general, creative individuals are characterized by a wide variety of degrees of intelligence and psychological traits, which, according to the authors, indicates the flexibility of this thinking strategy.

Creativity is emotional

Many studies have shown that performing creative tasks produces stronger emotions than performing control tasks. This is confirmed both by verbal feedback from the subjects themselves and by registration of physiological indicators.

Jan R. Wessel from the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research describes the results of recording electromyograms of facial muscles in subjects who solved a problem in a creative way, in comparison with those who solved it in the usual way - enumeration of options. In creative subjects, at the moment preceding the “insight” (insight), the facial muscles give off a strong emotional reaction. It arises even before realizing the solution and is much stronger than in those who solve the problem in the usual way.

It is not surprising that positive emotions stimulate creativity: they increase the fluency of thinking, speed up the retrieval of information from memory and its selection, facilitate the emergence of associations, that is, they contribute to the flexibility of thinking.

The influence of positive and negative emotions on EEG indicators of creative thinking was studied by N. V. Shemyakina and S. G. Danko. The subjects had to come up with original definitions for emotionally neutral, emotionally positive or negative words from another semantic field. In emotionally neutral creative tasks, they obtained a decrease in spatial synchronization in the high-frequency beta-2 range. The authors view this as evidence of the dispersal of attention during creative thinking. But with positive emotions, the picture changed and the spatial synchronization of the EEG in high frequencies increased.

Creativity and error detector

Another interesting aspect of the study of creative thinking is its interaction with an error detector, the mechanism of which was discovered by N.P. Bekhtereva back in the 60s of the last century. Apparently, in different parts of the brain there are groups of neurons that react to the discrepancy between an event and an action and a certain pattern or matrix. “You leave the house and feel that something is happening wrong - it’s the brain’s error detector that discovered that you violated the stereotyped actions and did not turn off the lights in the apartment,” explains Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences S. V. .Medvedev. The error detector is considered as one of the control mechanisms of the brain. How is it related to creativity?

The hypothesis of N.P. Bekhtereva, which is developed by her students, is as follows. In a healthy brain, an error detector protects a person from thinking in stereotypical, trivial situations in the course of ordinary life. With any learning, necessary restrictions are formed in the brain along with positive ones; they are implemented precisely with the help of an error detector. But sometimes his controlling work can become excessive. The error detector prevents the emergence of novelty, breaking through dogmas and laws, overcoming stereotypes, that is, it fetters creative thinking. After all, one of the main elements of creativity is a departure from stereotypes.

The operation of the error detector can be suppressed in various ways, including alcohol or drugs. It is no coincidence that many creative people have resorted and continue to resort to these methods of disinhibiting their brain. But there may be another way. “In the creator’s brain,” explains N.P. Bekhtereva, “a restructuring takes place, and the error detector begins not to suppress it, but to help it - to protect it from triviality, from “reinventing the wheel.” In this way, creativity not only transforms the world, but also transforms the human brain.”

Creativity can be developed

Not all people are equally talented, it is in their genes. Gifted people can be envied, but - and this is good news - you can develop and train your own creativity. Andreas Fink thinks so. Positive motivation, the use of special techniques such as “brainstorming”, relaxation and meditation exercises, humor and positive emotions and, finally, placing a person in situations that stimulate creative thinking are suitable for this.

A group of subjects were trained for two weeks, asking them to solve creative problems. In particular, they had to come up with names, titles, slogans, etc. Over time, they coped with the tasks better and better, and since the tasks were new each time, it is obvious that this is not the result of training, but of the development of creative abilities . Objective changes also occurred: as creativity was trained, the alpha rhythm in the frontal lobes of the brain increased in the subjects.

We have tried to very superficially outline the current state of the problem of the psychophysiology of creativity. It turned out to be difficult and sometimes contradictory. This is just the beginning of the journey. Obviously, gradually, as knowledge about the brain accumulates, a stage of generalization will begin and the picture of the brain organization of creativity will become clearer. However, the point is not only in the complexity of the subject of research, but also in its nature. “It is possible,” writes N.P. Bekhtereva, “that no high technologies of today or tomorrow will save from some diversity in results due to individual variations in the strategy and tactics of the brain in the “free flight” of creativity.”

The author expresses gratitude to the director of the Institute of Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Corresponding Member of the RAS S. V. Medvedev for comprehensive assistance,
Candidate of Psychological Sciences M. G. Starchenko,
Candidates of Biological Sciences N.V. Shemyakina and Zh.V. Nagornova -
for assistance and provision of materials.