Igniting Creativity

A.       Introduction

1.        Archimedes ran nude out of his bath tub to the town once he found out the idea that the amount of water displaced from the tub was equal to the volume of the object immersed. That is an example of an intuitive creativity. Creativity had already been a vital force in science to imagine unthinkable things that revolutionized the perception of universe. One such is the theory of relativity of Einstein which described how the gravity could bend the space-time fabric of cosmos.

2.        Human ability to think creatively is a primary means of technological and cultural progress, yet the neural architecture of the highly creative brain remains largely undefined. It is a common belief that left-brain thinking is logical and analytical while right-brain thinking is creative and innovative. The brain is, unsurprisingly, much more complicated than a simple left/ right binary.

3.        At the behavioral level, there is a strong correlation between creative thinking ability and accomplishment in the arts and sciences. At the neural level, brain connectivity during high-creative thinking activate frontal and parietal regions. New research is illustrating that creative thought can be determined by how effectively the brain can communicate between different regions that usually work separately. People who are more creative can simultaneously engage these brain networks. By simply measuring the strength of connections between these brain regions, it can be estimated, how original their ideas would be.

B.      Neuroscience of Creativity

1.        Creativity is often defined as the ability to come up with new and useful ideas. Like intelligence, it can be considered a trait that everyone, not just creative “geniuses” like Picasso and Steve Jobs, possess in some capacity. Creativity is at work, whether it’s figuring out how to make dinner using leftovers or fashioning a Halloween costume out of clothes in closet. Creative tasks range from what researchers call “little-c” creativity – making a website, crafting a birthday present or coming up with a funny joke, to “Big-C” creativity, which is writing a speech, composing a poem or designing a scientific experiment.

2.        Psychology and neuroscience researchers have started to identify thinking processes and brain regions involved with creativity. Creativity involves a complex interplay between spontaneous and controlled thinking, the ability to both spontaneously brainstorm ideas and deliberately evaluate them to determine whether they’ll actually work.

3.        Creative people have more creative hobbies and achievements. The brain regions within the “high-creative” network belonged to three specific brain systems: the default, salience and executive networks.

a.       The default network is a set of brain regions that activate when people are engaged in spontaneous thinking, such as mind-wandering, daydreaming and imagining. This network may play a key role in idea generation or brainstorming, thinking of several possible solutions to a problem.

b.       The executive control network is a set of regions that activate when people need to focus or control their thought processes. This network may play a key role in idea evaluation or determining whether brainstormed ideas will actually work and modifying them to fit the creative goal.

c.        The salience network is a set of regions that acts as a switching mechanism between the default and executive networks. This network may play a key role in alternating between idea generation and idea evaluation.

4.        The creative brain is better able to engage brain systems that don’t typically work together. During creative activities, dense functional connections get activated in the areas of the brain related to the three networks. The areas are core hubs for different networks, including the left posterior cingulate (for default mode), left anterior insula (for salience), and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (for executive networks). Scientists hypothesize that the “Big Three” operate as a team, influencing one another via other feedback loops.

C.      Experiments in Creativity

1.        Creativity is amazing as it reflects originality. It opens up possibilities, producing the flexibility to be extraordinary, standing out from the crowd and enlivening others with a spell binding display of wit and artistry. When mind is attuned to the environment, humor is working well, the timing is right, then creative ideas flow. Steve Jobs believed that creativity enables people to directly see a solution “as obvious” without the need to go through the process/ steps. It is closely linked to "divergent thinking". Early research indicates that by comparing brain scans of creative individuals, others can be identified from a group of people. Neural networks so modelled identify the “hubs” or “nodes” through which most of the information flows during creativity tasks.

2.        Research findings can be used to identify who is more and who is less creative, just by looking at their fMRI brain scans. These results are of critical importance for anyone seeking to understand, and possibly enhance, creativity.

C.1.  Neuroimaging Techniques

a.       There are lots of different neuroimaging techniques used to measure brain activity.

                                  i.            The first is functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). fMRI measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases.

                                 ii.            The second technique is called diffusion tensor imaging, which looks at water movement in the brain. There are lots of tubes going through the brain like the wires, called axons. They connect different processing modules of the brain. The imaging technique looks at the health of those myelinated axons.

                                iii.            The third technique is Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM). It refers to very high resolution MRI imaging (down to nanometer scale, in some cases comparable with histopathology). It improves the sensitivity issue by introducing microfabricated cantilevers to measure tiny signals that cannot be detected in the other two methods.

C.2.  Innovative Mindset

a.       New businesses are moving from startup buzz to industry disruptor at lightning speed. Companies such as Airbnb and Uber have had a great impact on traditional businesses in their industries. This trend will accelerate as more and more intelligence moves up in the cloud.

b.       Innovation is a question of mindset, and creating that mindset precedes everything else. Some helpers are:

                                  i.            Be open to change. To be open to change means to admit and embrace the notion that the world is in constant transformation and all areas of society are challenged by this change. Accepting the fact that technological transformation is about to impact your business is usually very hard for established organizations. To be innovative, established businesses must learn to shortcut the change curve and go directly from pre-denial to acceptance.

                                 ii.            Embrace creativity. An innovator’s attitude is that creativity is the solution to problems, rather than a traditional scientific method. This argument is predominant among many of those who have successfully practiced innovation. The innovation-as-art perspective in business stems from the concept of design thinking.

                                iii.            Think big. This leads to the point that innovation requires an ability and the courage to think bigger and beyond the current norms and truths in the market. Innovation is about stretching one’s thoughts out of everyday ordinary thinking and analysis.

                                iv.            Show courage. It takes courage to challenge proven strategies and successful products and services before they go into decline. It takes courage to question management and colleagues for doing things the way they have always done.

                                 v.            Think and act fast. Innovation within an organization is a fast-moving process to keep up with the change going on outside of the organization. Today, disruptive business models for auto manufacturing prove that a new car can be dreamt up and launched in the market in 12 to 18 months from earlier timespan requirement of 8 years. With advanced 3D printing technologies and VR-aided design, that timeframe can be cut even shorter in the years to come.

c.        All of the above is necessary to push innovation forward and to create an innovative climate in organizations. In this context, it is critical to adhere to the notion of “failing fast”, as new ideas and concepts have to be tested out quickly and be shut down if they don’t fly. In this way, the organization can move resources to the next concept instead of getting stuck in a dead-end innovation project.

C.3.  Culture and Strategy

a.       Most creative thinkers feel that innovation is essentially about understanding human beings. The problems that are supposed to be solved by innovation are ultimately human, not corporate. Innovation is about solving real-life problems for people and digging deep into what these problems actually mean. A good long problematization phase is the heart of all innovation. If you get the problem right the solution presents itself.

b.       Innovation fosters in open, flat and decentralized organizations with a creative and playful organizational culture with visionary leadership. Culture plays a key role in addressing the challenge of gluing teams together and making them committed to the company mission. Creating a strong community is prioritized as a strategic way of attracting the best employees and to motivate them to spend time in the office. Companies that are able to create a certain kind of organizational culture will see innovation emerge from within the organization with much less effort.

c.        A structure for creativity can be best achieved from an organizational perspective, as a structured process for collecting, evaluating and implementing new ideas. Without the process in place, the understanding of end users and the world they live in, the visionary leadership and the culture of innovation will not succeed in creating strong and meaningful innovation. When ideas are not acted upon, the creative force will eventually fade and the culture or vision will not be enough to encourage continuous innovation.

C.4.  The Google Experiment

a.       In 2019, market capitalization of Google breached a record high of 279 billion USD. Since its IPO in 2004, its shares have soared over 900%. The company's success stems from its continuous innovation and extraordinary management practices.

b.       Google has free food and colorful, playroom-like environment. It has endeavored to create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world. Google offices are strategically located near convenient transportation, housing, and entertainment hubs. It has internal coffee bars and numerous open kitchens. Employees can bring their dogs to work. The office exudes an overarching sense of play (there are Legos to tinker with and ladders to climb, and workday scavenger hunts to join). Employees can design their own desks from oversize Tinker-Toy-like components. Scribbling on walls is encouraged. Healthy food is highlighted in free-food areas. The recreational areas include a room for video games, an aquarium with napping pods, and space for athletics, as well as a range of unconventional workspaces. New York perks include personal health consultations and free classes in business related topics such as "advanced negotiation".

c.        The main idea behind Google's approach is to keep its staff happy. The enjoyable environment gives employees a lot to talk about, prompting them to bond. The childlike wonder that Google employees have is felt acutely by those who don't work there. It's enduring public relations fodder, and a source of envy. And an effective recruiting strategy.

d.       Google Moderator is an innovation management tool designed by Google's engineers. When people have tech talks or company-wide meetings, the tool lets anyone ask a question. Then people can vote up the questions that they’d like answered. Through Moderator, people can discover existing ideas, questions or suggestions, vote for ideas and see the aggregate votes, create a new series asking for ideas organized by topic, event or meeting. By allowing its engineers to spend 20% of their work week on projects that interest them, Google is able to tap into the many talents of its employees.

e.       But what happens when such funhouse offices become copied by other companies, to the point of being generic? How will Google raise the bar to outdo others? If anything, it will be fun for both Googlers and non-Googlers to find out.

D.      Triggering Creativity

1.        The brain is a creative muscle. While we may not be able to control exactly what ideas come from those creative sessions, we can encourage creativity to happen more often by understanding the brain. Borrowing a few ideas from neuroscience, we can engage in exercises to foster creativity, build creative habits and build an environment where creativity thrives.

2.        It may be possible to use neuromodulation approaches to target key nodes in the creativity network and enhance the performance of our minds for creativity. Using neuromodulation to convert a non-creative person to a creative person has implications for identity. As changing the brain becomes an option, one which we might be able to switch on and off at will, which has implications for free will and personal identity. It may also be possible to consciously influence ourselves to have greater creativity by using our executive network to invoke the salience network. This will allow scanning actively for more divergent thoughts.

3.        Training the brain to foster creativity requires understand what makes the person different. What is the brain good at? Next step is understanding the obstacles that are preventing development of those special capabilities that will foster creativity. Creativity is often squelched due to the relentless efforts of keeping the brain busy when boredom starts creeping in. Boredom is where creativity happens.

4.        Just like meditation as a cognitive exercise can reduce anxiety, mindfulness promotes creativity. Mindfulness is a sort of mediation that drives interaction with the people and things around you. The ability to have control over the mind is where creativity starts.

D.1.  Creative Dreams

a.       Dreaming is a mystery. Dreams feed into bigger questions, such as why we are conscious and why we experience reality. Religions have sought divine revelations in dreams. Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysts see dreams as an important window into the mind. At the other extreme, some researchers see dreaming as a meaningless “epiphenomenon”, an incidental byproduct of the neural information processing.

b.       There are many famous examples of literature, art, music and scientific ideas inspired by dreams, though some may have been embellished. Scholars, for example, have challenged the veracity of the best-known instance from science — the 19th-century chemist August Kekulé coming up with the ring structure of the compound benzene after dreaming of snakes swallowing their tails.

c.        Important housekeeping functions operate in the sleeping brain during dreaming state. A waste-disposal mechanism is activated that clears the brain of toxic proteins and other cellular rubbish arising from cerebral activity. The glymphatic system, as it is known, pumps cerebrospinal fluid through the brain and flushes waste back into the body’s main circulatory system, which takes it into the liver for eventual disposal. Brain cells called glia contract by as much as 60 per cent during sleep, leaving more space between them for the cerebrospinal fluid to wash through. Inadequate sleep increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It reduces time for toxic molecules involved in the disease, such as amyloid and tau proteins, to be cleared from the brain. Another key operation that takes place during sleep is information-processing and memory consolidation.

d.       In non-REM sleep, memories captured by the brain’s hippocampus are replayed in the cortex. During REM, the cortex is not synchronised with the hippocampus and is free to replay the stored information in different combinations. This is facilitated by special brain waves that appear to activate areas of the cortex almost randomly. This is the time when most of the creative insights appear.

D.2.  Recreating the Creative Spark

a.       Artists show lower activity in part of their frontal lobes called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (located in left brain) during improvisation, and increased activity in medial prefrontal cortex (located in the right brain). The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in language comprehension and production. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in empathy, emotion regulation, and self-consciousness. mPFC distinguishes between self-generated emotions and empathy-generated emotions.

b.       The deactivation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex results in relaxation of ‘executive functions’ and increase in uncensored thoughts that are the hallmarks of creativity. A relaxed state of mind is absolutely important to creativity. When our minds are at ease, the alpha wave production increases and directs the spotlight of attention inward, toward remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere. During this period, there is also increase in release of dopamine. Dopamine release accelerates activation of mPFC. Dopamine increase has also been noted while taking a shower, exercising, driving home, etc. The chances of having great ideas during these activities are a lot higher. After thinking about a problem long and hard all day and then jumping into the shower can turn into an “incubation period” for creative ideas.

D.3.  Converting Creativity to Action using Mantra Power

a.       Triggering the creative spark brings joy in daily lives. Creativity makes our thoughts to naturally gravitate towards creative energy instead of logic-based reason. It gives greater control over our lives. The next step, is to focus energy to make those thoughts a reality. The mind is a super high-functioning organic system. It is always evolving, growing, expanding, and changing. Use of mantras consciously expands the mind. Mantras work like self-hypnosis. Any word or phrase that is repeated with the intention to believe the words, creates focus by reducing distracting chatter in the brain. It creates a trance-like state. fMRI scan of the brain during mantras recitation shows that repetition brings calmness to the mind. The calmness provides an entry point into the creative realm of our intuition.

b.       Many people recite a mantra during meditation not simply for the benefit of feeling calm, but also to create a new thought pattern. Once in meditation, adding a mantra or intention creates new synapses and neural pathways that change the habitual thoughts. Once the mantra has been consistently thought, said, or written for about a month, the mind accepts it as truth.

c.        Neuroscientists claim that memorizing Vedic mantras enhances the brain regions associated with cognitive functions such as memory. "Sanskrit Effect" creates ability to think clearly and has profound impact on mind and memory. In India's ancient learning methods textual memorization was standard. Memorizing and reciting the ancient words and phrases, known as mantras, have been found to enhance both verbal memory and thinking. This was perhaps the reason that for thousands of years the Hindus practices “Smriti” (memorizing), whole religious tretises were memorized and not written down, “Shruti” (writing down).

d.       Mantra recitation also creates affirmations or self-hypnosis. It allows us to perceive new opportunities and can even change the way we carry our self and communicate. Constant mantra recitation makes us realize the abundance of energy available to us when the brain is focused. We need to learn to use the tools available to us to harness, direct, and focus it towards our creative goals so we can achieve more.

D.4.  Creativity Pills

a.       Over the last 60 years, scientists have been reacting to anecdotal evidence coming from artists and musicians claiming that psychedelics may play some role in enhancing creativity. Artists like Adrian Piper and Yoko Ono are known to have used some form of LSD or psilocybin mushrooms and the resulting experiences influenced their work. Research on psychedelics has focused on the therapeutic potential of mescaline (peyote), psilocybin mushrooms, and LSD. Psychedelics have been used within palliative care and in treating depression, anxiety, and PTSD. New findings on “micro dosing” have emerged. Micro dosing is the practice of taking a fractional dose of a psychedelic (small enough to avoid tripping) in order to increase brain function and creativity.

b.       In June 2018, researchers at the Imperial College London published a study examining the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression. Most of them experienced significant increase in “openness,” which, is at the crux of imagination, aesthetic appreciation, non-conformity, and creativity. Psilocybin, DMT and LSD were associated with increased openness, cognitive flexibility, and creative thinking. In another research, users showed increased creative by “promoting cognitive flexibility, crucial to creative thinking.

c.        Use of these drugs, however, remains a controversial practice due to their habit-forming tendency.

E.      Conclusion

1.        When it comes to being successful and enjoying life, one of the most important things is how to turn on our creativity. Everyone can access creativity at any point in their life. Once creativity is opened up, we can find new perspectives and set new goals. This will align us closer to the joy and fulfillment that everybody is searching for.

2.        Creativity uses abductive reasoning to find answers without knowing the ideas and laws of the topic. It is an integral part of study in understanding the subjective experiences of consciousness. Creative people tend to have more interlinked neurons between the left and right hemisphere of the frontal brain. These neuronal connections are enhanced through repetitive engagement in creative pursuits through a process called neuroplasticity.

3.        Constantly using creativity in situations of helplessness often increases neuronal interconnectedness between two hemispheres of brain. As a consequence of it, an increased grey matter thickness and myelination of white matter results. Divergent thinking boosts creativity and generates more physical neural interconnected circuits.

4.        Three distinct brain networks are key to the most creative thinking. These are known as the default network (related to brainstorming and daydreaming), the executive control network (which activates when a person needs to focus) and the salience network (known for detecting environmental stimuli and switching between executive and default brain networks). It is the synchrony between these systems that is important for creativity.

5.        Dreaming and daydreaming (or “mind wandering”) seem to have had an enormous influence on human civilization through the ages. They are alleged to have inspired René Descartes's revolutionary view of the mathematical unity of nature and major scientific breakthroughs including discovery of the Benzene ring by Kekulé, formulation of the periodic table by Mendeleev, and Nobel prize-winning research on the chemical basis of neurotransmission by Loewi, to cite a few examples. Dreaming and mind wandering are a complex integration of sensorimotor imagery, emotions, memories, and future planning, in which creative problem-solving can occur. These exceptional mental states are “spontaneous” in nature: undirected, unpredictable, and poorly characterized from both the personal and scientific perspectives.

6.        Creativity is being harnessed by corporate community to stay abreast in technology field. They are creating great physical spaces to enhance creativity. Offices are becoming fun, where people want to be, facilitate idea exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas.