How Neuroscience Relates to Creativity

Onarheim and Friis-Olivarius (2013) present five key concepts based on basic brain processes.

These are not only mental processes, but they relate in some ways to our capacity to be creative, and through understanding these principles we can be more intentional in our creative practices:

• Priming
• Close and remote associations
• Inhibition
• Fixation
• The release of inhibition (referred to as incubation)

These are concepts that can be used to understand why a particular creative exercise may be helpful or when it may not be helpful. Many of us may have been in a workshop where we are asked to participate in a creative exercise, but we are not told anything about how the exercise will help the brain do what we want the brain to do (come up with new ideas for example) or what may hinder our creativity.

If we are aware of these cognitive concepts, we can better understand why we find some creative exercises difficult, when some of them are not useful, and what we can do to make them easier. It can also help us to identify which are more difficult or easier for us personally.

Priming

Priming has been explained as a ‘non-conscious form of memory that involves a change in a person’s ability to identify, produce or classify an item as a result of a previous encounter with that item or a related item’ (Schacter, Dobbins & Schnyer 2004). Stereotypes work like this; we judge something based on our own past experience or information.

It can also be understood as an intervention when you show someone a series of stimuli (pictures or words) and then measure their behaviours towards something afterwards.

Minas and colleagues (2017) explain this in a clear way:

‘Thus, if we prime the idea of popcorn and ask individuals to name celebrities, they would be more likely to name movie stars than rock stars because the semantic network associated with movies is active’

Close and remote associations

Inhibition

Fixation

Incubation

‘Even Albert Einstein would take time off from his laborious mathematical calculations to play his violin, sail a boat, or read a book.’…‘Even a simple walk in the park can stimulate creativity’ (Simonton 2019, p.144)

So why are these 5 principles useful?

Well, if we understand how they influence and impact the creative process, we can better understand what kind of mental processes will help the creative process.

If you are asked to brainstorm ideas and you just sit and will yourself to ‘think, think, think’, you do not actually allow the brain to tap into its creative potential. It is like telling yourself to draw just because there is a pen in your hand and hoping it will turn out great, it is much better to remove the fixation and allow inspiration to come more organically.

In creative classes you can therefore be a bit more targeted and attempt to target one of the brains processes or trigger it. Maybe you need to introduce some playful game or get people to move between different experiences to trigger different associations.

A quick exercise

Take a pen and piece of paper and:

1. Simply draw two items, one that you can see from where you are sitting, and one that you might find or see in a totally different environment like a rainforest or a theme park (kudos if you are completing this course from the Amazon!)
2. Now connect the two things and come up with an unusual combination or a hybrid and decide what kind of use/s this new thing may have.

For example my hybrid idea is a pineapple TV, where the fronds are the aerial.

(This exercise is inspired by Michael Michalko’s book Thinkertoys)

References

Sawyer, R. K. (2011). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. A critical review. Creativity Research Journal.

Onarheim B and Friis-Olivarius (2013) Applying the neuroscience of creativity to creativity training

Schacter, D. Dobbins, I & Schnyer, D. Specificity of priming: a cognitive neuroscience perspective: Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 5 p. 853-862 (2004). Link.

Simonton, D K & Lebuda, I (2019) A golden age for creativity research: interview with Dean Keith Simonton Creative Theories – Research – Applications 6(1), 140-146.

Marko, M. Michalko, D & Riecansky. Remote associates test: An empirical proof of concept. Behav. Res. 51, 2700-2711 (2019) Link.

Minar, R. K. Dennis, A. R. & Kamhawi, R (2017) Triggering Insight: Using neuroscience to understand how priming changes individual cognition during Electronic Brainstorming. Decision Sciences. Vol 49(5), pp. 788-826. [Link.](https://doi.org/10.1111/deci12995

Tiego, J. Testa, R. Bellgrove, M. Pantelis, C. Whittle, S. (2018) A Heirarchical Model of Inhibatory Control. Frontiers In Psychology. 2 August. Link.