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I outlined here how recent research has shown that the brains of highly creative individuals use different networks, and this also reminded me of separate piece of research from a few years ago that shows that creative brains have intriguing brain wave patterns.
In this study researchers around Caroline Di Bernardi Luft of the Queen Mary University of London found different brainwave patterns during creative thinking tasks in those who were more successful in these tasks.
What they found is that those who came up with more ideas in a creative thinking task “how many uses can you think of for a brick” or more distant relationships in associative chains e.g. cat > dog > animal > pet > human > people > family. So what was happening in the brain?
Well, first off, it is known that when doing these tasks that obvious associations are the ones that jump to mind first. The brain is designed to build associations. In the case of the brick the most obvious is to build a wall or house. But creative people seem to suppress the obvious ideas searching and enabling more creative solutions.
And indeed, the researchers found that certain brainwaves, specifically alpha oscillations, in the right temporal area of the brain, increase when individuals need to suppress obvious or…
