How Creativity Happens in the Brain

239 Pages·2015·1.538 MB·English

by  Arne Dietrich (auth.)

How Creativity Happens in the Brain
AlsobyArneDietrich
INTRODUCTIONTOCONSCIOUSNESS
How Creativity Happens
in the Brain
Arne Dietrich
ProfessorofPsychology,AmericanUniversityofBeirut,Lebanon
©ArneDietrich2015
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Firstpublished2015by
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ISBN 978-1-349-56292-3 ISBN 978-1-137-50180-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137501806
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Dietrich,Arne.
Howcreativityhappensinthebrain/ArneDietrich,Ph.D.,Professorof
Psychology,AmericanUniversityofBeirut,Lebanon.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Creativeability. 2. Brain. 3. Cognition. I. Title.
BF408.D5342015
153.3(cid:2)5—dc23 2015013978
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables vii
AbouttheAuthor viii
1 ASneakPreviewoftheJourneyAhead 1
Thefountainheadofcivilization 2
SeparatingtheSchadenfromtheFreude 3
Whatweshouldexpecttosee,basedonwhatweknow 6
2 ADisciplinedDemolitionProject 13
Tryingtonailjellytothewall 15
Thebriefandfrighteningreignoftherighthemisphere 18
Theriseofdivergentthinkingandthefallofeverythingelse 24
WeirdmentaltestXgivesprettybrainimageY 30
Therockyhorrorpixelshow 35
3 You’reGonnaNeedaBiggerBoat 40
Exorcisingtheghostinthemachine 41
Linearizingpandemonium 44
Thebrain’smultiplesystemlevels 52
Mindsetsandtheiraftershocks 57
4 TheCogwheelsofCulture 66
Historyofalogjam 68
Patternsofchange 76
Theunitsofmentalese 78
Thesmallmatterofblindness 85
Areyoualumperorasplitter? 88
5 TheMind’sNewTricks 93
Unifieddesignspace 95
Themagicwandtheory 100
Bringoutyerdead 103
Fourupgradestobiologicalcreativity 107
Theforesightfallacy 112
v
vi Contents
6 ProphetsofDesignSpace 116
Thepredictionmachine 118
IdeationalRPGs 124
Imaginaryfitnesslandscapes 127
Cognitivescaffolding 129
Foresightandintention 132
7 TheBrain’sDesignStudio 139
Thehardwareofthoughttrials 140
Insightsintoinsights 147
Avisittothecreativeunderworld 152
Thebrain’sglobalhighways 158
8 FlowExperiences:FromMysterytoMechanism 163
Theefficiency-flexibilitytradeoff 165
Flowandtheeffortlessnessofbeing 169
Whydoesflowflow? 172
Emulationversussimulation 175
Atrinityofcreativitymodes 181
9 InSearchoftheArtificer 184
Riseofthemachines 186
Andtheywillneverbecreative 193
Therobotartist 200
Agentsofcreativity 205
References 208
Index 215
Figures and Tables
Figures
3.1 Heavyiceberg 54
4.1 Thesightednesscontinuum 90
9.1 Curiousrobots 203
Tables
8.1 Predictioninteraction 180
8.2 Summarytable 181
vii
About the Author
Born,forobscurereasons,inNorthernEurope,ArneDietrichgaveearly
promiseofbeingnothingspecialwhatsoever.Asachild,hewasannoy-
inglyhyperactiveandexceptionallystubborn,sosomepeoplepredicted
a career as a clown while others foresaw an early death. To everyone’s
intensedisbelief,hefinishedschoolandlefthisancestralhomejustin
timetoavoidyetanotherrainyandovercastsummer.
After an entirely uneventful time in college, he spent several years
globetrotting, climbing little known mountains, and bushwhacking
through the jungle; a lifestyle interrupted only by the occasional date
andafewphonecallstohismother.Duringthistime,healsoembarked
onextendeddo-it-yourselfintrospectivevoyagesintothehinterlandof
the mind. On these trips through inner space, he realized that soul
searchingistootreacherouswithoutadetailedmapofneuroland.
For equally obscure reasons, he spent his graduate years at the Uni-
versity of Georgia, where he, over a hectic period of a few years,
learned the nuts and bolts of neuroscience, including the ‘how to’ of
publishingentirelyuselessstuffaboutthebrain.Hesurprisedhisdisser-
tationcommitteewithathesisthatconcernedsuchanopaquetopicof
neuroscience that no one even bothered to read it. But the committee
refusedtoflunkhiminutterfearhewouldn’tleaveaspromised.
ArneDietrichisnowatourguideintothebizarreworldofbraincells
andhumanbehaviorat,ofallplaces,theAmericanUniversityofBeirut
inLebanon.Heisstillsurfingthestreamofconsciousnesseverychance
he gets. He prefers to work on, and spend his time in, various altered
states of consciousness. His favorite one is daydreaming but he also
enjoystheexercise-inducedstateoftransienthypofrontalitythatcomes
fromswimming,biking,running,orhikingformilesonend.Hisother
interests are just as opaque as his work but somewhat more suitable to
hisrestlessandobstinatenature.
viii
1
A Sneak Preview of the Journey
Ahead
This is a book about creativity. Specifically, it’s about the brain
mechanismsofcreativity,howagrapefruit-sizedheapofmeatcrackling
with electricity conceives of mathematical theorems, creates beautiful
art,discoversthelawsofnature,thinksofspacerockets,inventskitesurf-
ing,anddesignsbuildingsthatlooklikeseashells.Togetagriponthis
thorny issue, I will take you on a little trip into the hinterland of the
mindtoseehow,exactly,itmanagestobesooutrageouslycreative.
Creativityisatopicwhererespectablepeople,eventhoseofthehigh-
est scholarly standing, regularly rise to levels of speculation that can
safely be called imprudent. Everyone, it seems, is an expert on creativ-
ity, what counts as creative (and what doesn’t), what makes a person
creative,andhowbesttobringitout.Wholeshelvesofbooksexistthat
veneratethecreativegenius,tellyoutheseventraitsofhighlycreative
people,orlistteneasystepstotapintoyourunusedcreativepotential.
Ifyouarelookingforsucharead,thisisn’tit.Iwillneitherattemptan
exerciseinadvancedhindsightnorgoforaproofbyverbosity.Thebook
you have started to read is a concise affair with a sharp focus: to con-
veywhatwecan,andcannot,sayabouthowbrainsgiverisetocreative
ideas.Theplanistostickexclusivelytosound,mechanisticexplanations
ofhowideationalcombinationsofinformationhappeninthemind.
In the general spirit of truth in advertising, allow me to follow this
up with one caveat and one reassurance. What you are about to read
will almost certainly challenge some of your deepest intuitions about
how the mind works. But the reward will be a better understanding
of creativity, grounded in solid neuroscience thinking. One thing you
shouldn’t fret over, though, is the neurolingo. I will make a concerted
effort to decrypt the often impenetrable thickness of brainspeak that
makesmodernneuroscienceseemsoinaccessibletopeople.
1