http://creativethumbl.jpg

Professor Billy O’ConnorWilliam.OConnor@UL.ie

Head of Teaching and Research in Physiology

Graduate Entry Medical School

University of Limerick

Ireland

Inside the Creative Brain

http://Inside-the-brain.com/

Number of synapsesAbout 100 trillion

THE BRAIN’S VITAL STATISTICS

Adult weight

Adult size

Number of neuronsAbout 100 billion neurons

Certain parts of the brain govern specific functions

HOW DO WE ACQUIRE CREATIVITY?

Enriched enviornment Deprived environment

= Challenge, autonomy, complexity, a connection

between reward and effort.

= Avoidance,dependence, monotony, isolation,

low expectations.

Credit: NYU Langone Medical Center

THE BRAIN IS SHAPED BY ENVIRONMENT

CREATIVE TRAITS

1. Energy & drive yet sleeps a lot

2. Smart yet naïve

3. Playful yet disciplined

4. Imaginative yet rooted in reality

5. Introverted yet extraverted

6. Shy yet assertive

7. Male yet female - tolerance of ambiguity

8. Rebellious yet conservative

9. Willingness to take risks

10.Passionate yet objective

11.Aware of the importance of luck

12.Not interested in past accomplishments

13.A sensitivity to pain & loss

Creativity : The work and lives of 91 eminent people

The orbitofrontal cortex (arrow) responds to mistakes that change behaviour.

The feeling that things have turned out differently than expected.

The feeling that a decision needs to be made.

MATURE

IMMATURE

(UPSIDE DOWN VIEW)

This brain area matures later in humans compared with other brain areas.

Thus education and mentoring is essential for young innovators.

CREATIVITY INVOLVES MAKING DECISIONS

WHY DOES THE BRAIN SEEK CREATIVITY?

Creativity in a crisis – the hallmark of the human condition

Dentrite

Soma

Axon

Terminal

CAN DRUGS ENHANCE CREATIVITY?

Exercise increases ‘neurogenesis’ (growth of neurons) in the hippocampus - a region important for memory and implicated in cognitive aging.

CAN EXERCISE ENHANCE CREATIVITY?

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 104(13):5638-43 (2007). http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=publications_rd_alzheimers

Areas affected by normal aging

Areas affected in AD

Warmer colours indicate higher levels of nerve growth factor in the hippocampus of [A] exercising animals compared to [B] sedentary animals - blue indicates the lowest level.

ATTITUDE

The outstanding feature of human beings

is free will.

‘He who has a why to live can bear with

almost any how.’ Nietzsche.’

Logotherapy = the will to meaning (purpose)

CREATIVITY & MENTAL

HEALTH

The three ways to meaning

1. Creating a work, doing a deed.

2. Experiencing something or encountering

someone, love.

3. Our approach to suffering.

Man’s search for meaning

"I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only

very, very curious."

-Albert Einstein

Discussion & Questions

INSIDE THE CREATIVE BRAIN