Slow Mind More Creative

By Devaki

Thursday, April 1, 2010, 15:10

A new American study reminds us that a slow brain can nurture more creative ideas.

Creativity is associated with the low levels of the chemical N-Acetylasparate, found in neurons. Creativity promotes neural health and metabolism. But the neurons constitute brain's grey matter, the tissue long thought to be linked with thinking power, rather than creativity. The white matter in the brain largely comprises the fatty myelin sheaths that wrap around neurons. Less myelin signifies the white matter has a lower 'integrity' and transmits information more slowly. The white matter of high integrity in the cortex is linked to higher mental function which means increased intelligence.

The scientists analyzed the connection between the white matter and creativity and came across something very different. They used the diffusion tensor imaging, which measures the direction in which water diffuses through white matter as it can indicate the integrity. They involved 72 volunteers in this study.

Divergent thinking is a factor in creativity that includes coming up with the new ideas. The people who participated had been tested, with their capacity for divergent thinking.

The scientists could find that most creative people had lower white-matter integrity, in a region connecting the per-frontal cortex to a deeper structure called the thalamus, compared with their less creative peers.
The slower communication between some areas will make people more creative as it allow the linkage of more disparate ideas, more novelty and more creativity.

Creativity and intelligence goes hand in hand as both of them are controlled with in a different region. But there is no relation between these two as they function relatively independently.

The study has appeared in the open access journal, Plus One.