Neuroscientists try to unlock the origins of creativity (Globe and Mail)

What an incredibly uncreative way of thinking about this!

"What can you do with a brick?" is a standard creativity question? Well, what about these suggestions?

"Ultimately, their experiments could lead to a better understanding of creativity and help teachers nurture it in the classroom." Why would we want do to that? "Does studying art and music make children more creative in math and problem solving?" Ah, ok. Math and problem solving. Phew. For a minute there I thought we were talking about, you know, art. "Breaking down creativity into different steps is essential if scientists are going to identify the networks or regions involved, says Dr. Vartanian, who also works for Defence Research and Development Canada, an agency of the Department of National Defence." And the Department of National Defence is concerned about creativity.

"He found that a part of the brain that plays a role in self-restraint and evaluation – the inner critic – powered down when the musicians were improvising, while an area associated with self-expression ramped up." So now we have parts of the brain which are related to self-restraint and self-expression. Although it is perhaps helpful to see which parts of the brain fire in these experiments, it may be a bit too hasty to think the parts as associated with self-restraint or self-expression, and all that is implied/hidden in such concepts (e.g. interiority).

Seriously though, this is awesome. I care about this alot.

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