Your Amazing Creative Brain
Presenter:
Brain Facts
Time:
3:56
Summary
Creativity is an innate human trait: The flexibility in our brains, or plasticity, gives us the ability to adapt, learn, and see multiple solutions to a problem. Research suggests that some people have a natural propensity for creativity, and expressing it depends on a person’s interests and environment. But the good news is, because of our brain’s plasticity, creativity can be learned.
Transcript
Can you imagine a world without creativity? There would be no buildings, no cars, no books, no clothes, no internet.
Your amazing creative brain. Creativity is very important, but what exactly is it? From neuroscience? Creativity is defined as a brain process that produces something original, new or different, and that is considered useful or attractive for society. But what makes the human brain special that differentiates us from other species? Why don't we see frogs composing music, or penguins, designing space rockets? The human brain has an average of 86 billion neurons. These neurons communicate with each other through connections called synapses. Information travels through the axons that are the elongated part of the neurons, connecting them with each other as cables.
In most animals, these connections are fixed, leading them to behave in a more automated way. However, in our brain, we have more flexible connections, which allows us to adapt, learn and consider more possibilities between a stimulus and an action. This flexibility is called plasticity, the expansion of our prefrontal cortex, which is behind the forehead, has also contributed to this greater neuronal flexibility. Thus, this human ability to imagine alternative paths enhances creativity.