This study, along with Carson’s reports from highly creative individuals, suggests that to prime your brain for creativity, you should first wander the world with an open mind. In other words, these findings suggest that people who rely on insight tend to experience diffuse visual attention when not actively engaged in a task. Specifically, the brains in the insight group showed less activity in the so-called alpha-wave range, which reflects neural inhibition, and the beta-1-wave range, which is linked with selective visual attention. Before they even began solving problems, most members of the insight group exhibited less activity in the occipital lobe, a region involved in visual processing, compared with the analytical set.
Kounios found that the brain activity of people who used insight differed significantly from that of people who preferred the analytical approach. After recording these electrical signals, the researchers asked the participants to try to solve 180 anagram problems, which involved reorganizing a word, such as “west,” to form another word, “stew.” Subjects also reported whether they had used an insightful or analytical approach to solve each problem. In 2008 Kounios and his colleagues monitored the brain activity of 26 study participants using electroencephalography (EEG) while they sat quietly in a room. Both methods are useful, but insight is typically seen as the best option for “out of the box” solutions. Answering questions with analysis involves finding solutions through deliberate, methodical trial and error, whereas insight is perceived as an abrupt epiphany. Roughly speaking, people solve problems in one of two ways: they either tend to rely on moments of insight, or they prefer to approach them analytically. Brain research has revealed that we can all get closer to achieving that magical spark of insight with the help of a few simple techniques. These innovative individuals have a distinct style of thinking, and breaking down their approach can allow anyone to re-create the process. And creativity is not restricted to a subset of highly talented artists and thinkers, Carson says. These stages really seem to be universal, whether you are a scientist, artist, writer or musician,” says Harvard University psychologist Shelley Carson, who has interviewed more than 1,000 creative individuals for her research.
For example, preparation now consists of two parts, one involving general learning and the other more focused on skill building. Since then, scientists have broken some of his stages into substages to reveal distinct cognitive processes. In 1926 political scientist Graham Wallas defined the creative process as four distinct stages: preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. What researchers are finding is that the contemporary science of creativity largely bolsters an almost century-old theory. “A story is emerging about all the factors that lead up to an insight,” says cognitive psychologist John Kounios, who studies creativity at Drexel University. Scientists view these flashes of insight as markers of the creative process-and observing them in the laboratory elucidates what happens in the brain during problem-solving. Using this piece, along with other hidden-object images, I investigated how an individual’s focus and attention change when experiencing an unexpected revelation.įor centuries creative individuals have described their sudden breakthroughs, instances when they are able to recombine information in a new and useful way. Enns’s vision laboratory at the University of British Columbia in 2013 that I had my own abrupt realization: I recognized how my art could inform science. It was only after joining psychologist James T.
I had designed the piece to portray the idea that our brain’s neural networks make us who we are. I painted Neurons a few years ago for an art exhibit. These aha! moments occur when your brain spontaneously reinterprets information to reach a novel, nonobvious conclusion. You may have felt a similar jolt when discovering the solution to a math problem, understanding a joke or metaphor, or realizing something unexpected about yourself. If so, you have just had a moment of insight. What do you see? Just a neural network? Perhaps you spotted the hidden figure. Take a moment to look at the image above.
0 kommentar(er)
