It turns out that the idea generator can be calculated using the MRI scan method.
Creativity is not only the ability to write "I remember a wonderful moment" or the painting "The Cossacks are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan." And in everyday life there is a place for creativity. Why would one hostess easily make a gorgeous dinner out of leftover food in the refrigerator, while another will leave unexpected guests hungry? Some parents are able to build a superhero costume for their child for a New Year's party in five minutes from old things found in the closet, while others from year to year, except for a "bunny" with tights on his head, nothing comes out. What determines the ability to gush with ideas?
A study on this topic was conducted by a group of American scientists led by Roger Beaty from Harvard University. The neuroscientists recruited 163 volunteers and offered them a test for divergent thinking. This is when the same problem must be solved in several ways. In particular, the participants in the experiment had to come up with the most unexpected ways to use completely ordinary objects. For example, what can you do with a regular sock? Put it on your leg? For this trivial answer, the volunteer received minimum points. But the entertainer, who proposed to build a water filter from it, was awarded the "Nobel Prize" from the organizers of the experiment …
This is how the brain of a creative person works.
During the tests, all participants underwent an MRI scan of the brain to measure blood flow to certain areas. It turned out that creative thinking is not turned on by pressing one "switch". It involves complex interactions between the three major brain networks. The greatest activity during creative tests was demonstrated by:
1.the left anterior insular lobe (its function is perception, self-awareness);
2. the right dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (her area of responsibility is self-control, the choice of optimal motives and thoughts);
3. the cortex of the posterior cingulate gyrus (it is responsible for switching attention).
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“In a simplified way, the work of the brain of a creative person can be represented as follows,” says Biti. - Firstly, he has a high performance brain area responsible for spontaneous thinking, the ability to think, dream, imagine something. This network is number 1, it plays a key role in the birth of original ideas, it is used during brainstorming. Network No. 2 specializes in conscious thinking, its task is to control intellectual activity, to assess how adequate and rational new ideas are. And network # 3 is a mechanism for switching the brain from the mode of spontaneous thinking (generation of ideas) to the mode of evaluation.
Scientists point out that creative thinking has one thing: these three networks cannot work at the same time. For example, when the mode of evaluating ideas is activated, the brain can no longer invent anything new. And vice versa.
This is probably why talented people are often brought in. When they are in a state of searching for brilliant thoughts, they are unable to control themselves. It is worth remembering at least the story of Archimedes, who, while taking a bath, discovered the law of hydrostatics and with shouts of "Eureka!" ran out naked into the street.
By the way, determining the type of neural architecture of the brain using MRI scans, Beaty and his colleagues have learned to predict quite accurately whether this or that person has high creative abilities or not. On the one hand, this method gives fascinating prospects: after all, you can easily distinguish a slow-witted from an "Einstein". But would people want to open this Pandora's box?
YAROSLAV KOROBATOV
