What is creativity, and can creativity be improved in a safe way in a person who needs to awaken their imagination? Experts from Georgetown University are discussing the promise of using electrical devices that stimulate brain tissue and conclude that this technology has great potential. However, the use of devices also raises ethical, legal and social issues that need to be addressed.
In an article published in the journal Research Creativity, Georgetown researchers say the biggest challenges to using transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) to enhance various forms of creativity are with the procedure on a child's brain. This scenario is becoming increasingly likely because the devices are not only being used clinically to treat certain neurological disorders, but are already being widely marketed directly to consumers and even being manufactured in a DIY fashion, the researchers say.
This suggests that tES professionals should consider regulating tES as soon as possible.
A pragmatic approach could be to educate people and make the safest tools available, says senior study author James Giordano.
“However, it is important to note that the nature of home-made devices can also provide an environment for the avant-garde cycles of science, technology, methods and applications. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, as it can actually push horizons to broaden,”adds Giordano.
The authors also state that another problem is that increased use of tES may precipitate some new and medically recognized “disorder” that will then require treatment with tES.
There is growing interest in the use of tES to treat a range of neuropsychiatric conditions, such as certain signs and symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders, to improve memory in certain neurodegenerative disorders, to reduce some cognitive manifestations of Parkinson's disease and some forms of chronic pain, and to help patients with stroke-induced speech disorder.
The results of a study published in 2017 in Cerebral Cortex do show that creativity can be enhanced by careful and controlled application of this sophisticated “thinking machine” in the form of tES.
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