I've been concerned for sometime with expanding the capabilities of the brain to focus it's energies on relevant topics that I'm interested in. Staying on task, not getting bored, exploring new things that are related to already interesting topics, etc. It's been based on the idea that if we could broaden the neural pathways that we use on a day to day basis to include novel paths to accomplish the same tasks, we could increase the creative capacity of the brain. But what if you want to turn parts of the brain off?
I read a study recently that used a special keyboard, an MRI, and some jazz musicians to identify what parts of the brain are activated when the jazz musicians improvise. The results? Turns out that when they play music that's strictly riffed, the players shut down parts of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the parts of the brain that have been identified with self-censorship. “What we think is happening is when you’re telling your own musical
story, you’re shutting down impulses that might impede the flow of novel
ideas," says Dr. Charles Limb of John Hopkins. Makes sense, though, doesn't it? Coming up with creative ideas is all about spontaneity, letting the connections from individual experiences form and be expressed in ways that only an individual can uniquely filter. If we self-criticize, where would we be getting the standards to match our ideas to? How would we apply these standards? How does one determine wheather something is 'good' or 'bad' if not by learned rubrics? Essentially, to create something new, we cannot constantly hold it to something old.
So that brings me back to my original question. If I want to be more creative, how do I turn off the part of my brain that judges what I do? If I think about the neural pathway idea, that we can create new and novel pathways to existing behaviors, it might be possible to reroute my behavior patterns to avoid self judging. But that's always the question, yeah? How do I do something I don't know how to do? Out with the old and in with the new. I'll keep you updated.
I read a study recently that used a special keyboard, an MRI, and some jazz musicians to identify what parts of the brain are activated when the jazz musicians improvise. The results? Turns out that when they play music that's strictly riffed, the players shut down parts of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the parts of the brain that have been identified with self-censorship. “What we think is happening is when you’re telling your own musical
story, you’re shutting down impulses that might impede the flow of novel
ideas," says Dr. Charles Limb of John Hopkins. Makes sense, though, doesn't it? Coming up with creative ideas is all about spontaneity, letting the connections from individual experiences form and be expressed in ways that only an individual can uniquely filter. If we self-criticize, where would we be getting the standards to match our ideas to? How would we apply these standards? How does one determine wheather something is 'good' or 'bad' if not by learned rubrics? Essentially, to create something new, we cannot constantly hold it to something old.
So that brings me back to my original question. If I want to be more creative, how do I turn off the part of my brain that judges what I do? If I think about the neural pathway idea, that we can create new and novel pathways to existing behaviors, it might be possible to reroute my behavior patterns to avoid self judging. But that's always the question, yeah? How do I do something I don't know how to do? Out with the old and in with the new. I'll keep you updated.
