Exploring Creativity
Creativity is a fundamental human
ability based on cognitive processes that we are all wired for from birth
(assuming health); whether it’s writing a symphony, building a Lego castle, or
coming up with a new excuse for missing the dreaded dentist appointment,
everyone has creative abilities. Essentially,
creativity is defined as the ability to generate (and bring to fruition) novel
ideas. However, some people are clearly
more creative than others and it is the highly creative types that have
captured the fascination of the scientific community; scientists are hard at
work trying to understand what aspects of brain function and behavior are
responsible for higher creativity and whether creative cognition and actions
can be deliberately enhanced or increased.
A team of researchers, led by Dr. Darya
Zabelina of Northwestern University, is looking into how attention is involved with
creativity. In their 2013 study, they
found that higher levels of creativity are associated with increased ability to
sustain attention, but also with decreased attentional flexibility (or
perseveration, a trait also associated with OCD). This makes sense because, obviously, maintaining
attention on the task at hand is important for success in any endeavor. It also makes sense for creativity to be
linked to decreased attentional flexibility because this would coincide with
lowered distractibility and higher efficiency.
The people we think of as being most successful in any field are also
often highly creative. And these successful
creative minds tend to take a highly focused or even obsessive approach to their
work. Think of Charles Darwin, Marie
Curie, Beethoven, Einstein, Michael Jackson, Ada Lovelace, David Beckham, Steve
Jobs . . . all legends in their area of expertise, all operating with high
levels of creativity, and all characterized by rare focus and persistence. It’s no wonder people want to understand
creativity and, if they can, learn to be more creative.
Zabelina’s study shows evidence for
a link between sustained attention and creativity, a valuable piece of the
puzzle, but does not give any further insight into if or how it might be
possible to manipulate creativity. For
this, the study points to attention as one of the next topics of investigation. If sustained attention is an important aspect
of creativity, perhaps researchers can gain further understanding by shifting
their focus to the mechanisms of attention in creative people.
Thus, in the scientific community,
the jury is not officially in on whether or not it is actually possible to learn
creativity. But the evidence so far does
strongly suggest that it is possible to enhance one’s innate creativity. This is partly just common sense, because, we
know that the brain remains plastic into old age and is therefore capable of
learning. And how is learning different
from creativity? I’m not sure that
science has answered this question specifically, but we do know that both
learning and creativity are comprised of the forming of new neural connections
in the brain. What is responsible for
the innovation that occurs in the creative process, which differentiates it
from regular learning? I don’t know of
any research that answers this question either, but I would like to make a
hypothesis based on my own experience as both an artist and a scientist. I spent the majority of my life as an artist,
working professionally for several years.
So, not only was I thinking creatively on a regular basis, but was
constantly exposed to other creative minds and their methods. Based on my experience, when in the midst of
the creative process, a person is both the artist and the teacher. So, at the cellular level, this would mean
that novel connections in the brain are formed not in response to specific directions,
say from a textbook or lecture, but in response to the brain’s own internal
resources - these internal resources being memories and impressions gathered
throughout one’s life.
Nick Skillicorn, CEO and founder of
Improvides, a company that aims to help individuals and companies increase
innovation, gave a TED talk in which he presented the current state of
creativity science. In it, he compiles
both classic research and the latest studies on creativity. He emphasizes that everyone can improve their
creativity, regardless of their current level of creativity. One of the classic studies that Skillicorn
references has been used over the years as a hallmark piece of evidence in
support of the hypothesis that creativity can be learned or enhanced. This 1973 study by Dr. Marvin Reznikoff found
that only 30% of a person’s creativity is determined by genetics, leaving the
majority up to environmental influences.
If the overall goal of creativity
research is to improve the creativity of individuals and teams, it may also be
useful to explore how creativity could be being stifled unnecessarily in
childhood and early adulthood. In his
talk, Skillicorn raises this concern and cites a study that asked kids of
different ages, “are you creative?” 90%
of second-graders said “yes”, in stark contrast to only 10% of highschoolers. Skillicorn believes that this is reflective
of a problem in the education system in which too much emphasis is placed on
having the “right” answer and not enough on creative, open-ended thinking.
Skillicorn goes on to point out
that creativity is not as straight forward as it seems. He stresses that not all artists are
creative; some, although highly skilled, are better at replicating the ideas of
others than actually coming up with new ideas.
This means that a person could apply exceptional focus and sustained attention
to practicing an artistic craft, say painting or dancing, but still have very
little creativity. True creativity is
elusive and can be found at work in any field of expertise, whether it be music,
business, or even science. The science
of creativity is in its infancy and only a few pieces of the puzzle have been
assembled, but, so far, the horizon is bright for those who want to improve
their creativity.
Zabelina,
D. L., & Beeman, M. (2013). Short-Term Attentional Perseveration Associated
with Real-Life Creative Achievement. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 191. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00191
Skillicorn,
N. (2014, September 3). Nick Skillicorn: The Science of Improving Your Brain’s
Creativity [Video file]. Retrieved from:
http://www.improvides.com/2014/09/04/tedx-talk-science-improving-brains-creativity/
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