We now know that the brain rewires itself daily … ... and that you can help it...based on what you do that day.… 
John Kounios of Drexel, and Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern found from brain scans … that insightful thinking increased the brain’s activity in the temporal lobe areas. That’s where you process concepts to understand and compare or contrast them…. Creativity also lights up the brain’s frontal lobe areas which enable facts to be applied or improved.
When you use a routine or methodological approach … the brain’s activity increases in and lights up the visual cortex which is located at the back of the brain.
Researchers are increasingly asking… “How can we make ourselves more creative...? Is there anything we can do to make our brains more creative, in ways that award winners rewire for competitions?
Not surprisingly they found evidence that control of creative aspects are somewhat under a person's control. What do you do to rewire your brain for creative capability at work?
Here are three places to start:
1. Drive along a new route to work and take in the new shapes…colors… nature… and sizes along the way.
2. Ask …”what if…” as a guide that will help you to improve one project ...and then add an improvement ...as if you were competing for an award for excellence today…
3. Read a paper, or magazine that is outside your interest and tell a friend about one new discovery you made … in the content.
What creative addition would you add to rewire your brain for a new insight?
Ellen, I'm curious. Would this have a lot to do with your socialization as a child? My mother was in the home and I saw her marvelous problem solving abilities in action constantly -- you see, she had to make much of very little. She also read amazing stories to me and I can remember conjuring up fantastic images in my mind to go along with her reading. We had to devise our own games. Wouldn't similar experiences over a lifetime build this capacity in the brain to a high degree? How much can one make up for this capacity in later life?
Posted by: Robyn McMaster | July 22, 2006 7:02 AM | Permalink to Comment