Nancy C. Andreasen’ s book, The Creating Brain, is an
interesting and insightful hypothesis about the nature of creativity.  Her style
is fluid and engaging, and she presents both her hypothesis and her research in
equally effective and accessible ways.  Andreasen is, to be sure, an
interesting character: she started her career as a professor of Renaissance
literature before going on to study as a neuroscientist, and she is now the
Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry and Director of Mental Health Clinical
Research Centre at the University of Iowa.  This rare mixing of disciplines has
left Andreasen in the somewhat extraordinary position to approach the notion of
creativity from both a scientific perceptive (as a neuroscientist) and from an
inherently creative background (as a literary professor).  This meld not only
gives Andreasen ‘ s book an engaging
and readable style, but motivates her project, and provides her with a strong
insight into both a) the creative process and b) the creative psyche.

Andreasen’ s research is multifaceted, but the main
goal of the project is to ‘ drill
down to the deepest level possible and attempt to find the neural basis of creativity’ (p. 50).  However, what is especially
significant is Andreasen ‘ s
presentation of introspective accounts of the creative process prior to the introduction
of her own project.  What this does is ground the reader firmly in the topic,
and gives an insight into the creative process from the perspective of the
deeply creative mind, examples of which include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Peter
Ilych Tchaikovsky, Henri Poincare, Fredrich Kekule and Stephen Spender.  Once
the topic is grounded, and the reader engaged, Andreasen is careful to inform
the intelligent lay reader of all the relevant terminology.  The journey starts
with a short excursion into How Does the Brain Think?, followed by A Primer for
Brain Anatomy, The Complexity of Brain Networks, The Human Brain as a
Self-organizing System and What is Human Thought?, before we reach what becomes
a key section on Unconscious Thought: The Edge of the Mind’ s Precipice.  It is important to stress
that as engaging and interesting as Andreasen ‘s work is she is a pioneer of the field, and as such much of her
research is, in fact, the only research on the market.  What this means is that
as intuitive and encouraging as any of the results may be they are, at this
stage, inconclusive, but as long as we, the readers, bear this in mind
Andreasen ‘ s research and hypotheses
remain highly informative.  That being said, the author is clear that this is
new, uncharted territory, and as an ‘adventurer ‘ she has
decided ‘ to take the plunge
over the precipice and to study the neural basis of free association using
neuroimaging technology to obtain measurements of cerebral blood flow to
determine which regions of the brain became activated ‘ (p. 70).  But what is the relevance of free association to
creativity?

Well, free
association is an instance of episodic memory — a type of autobiographical
memory which recollects the information linked to a person’ s experience – but, in this particular case,
it is, according to Andreasen, ‘more mysterious ‘
because it ‘ is clearly less
sequential and time-linked [and]…may be the repository of information that is
stored deeply and is therefore sometimes less consciously accessible’ (p. 71).  What Andreasen’ s experiment reveals is that the area of
the brain which registers activity during free association is the association
cortex.  This cortex is what gathers and links information from various other
areas in the brain, and here is the interesting part, ‘in potentially novel ways ‘ (p. 71).  So, the claim is that the genesis of new ideas and
concepts is attributable to this neural process, which links information in the
subject’s brain in novel ways.  However, what makes these discoveries fascinating
in the study of creativity is that i) much of this linking process occurs in
what we refer to as ‘ the
unconscious mind ‘ and ii) this
capacity uses the parts of the brain which are it’s ‘most human and complex parts ‘ (p. 71).  According to Andreasen, there is a distinction to be made
between ordinary creativity (creating sentences in conversation) and extraordinary
creativity (composing symphonies), and she connects the empirical evidence back
to the introspective accounts presented to the reader earlier.  What this link,
successfully, demonstrates is that the creative process in the instances of
people like Mozart and Tchaikovsky is extraordinary and characterized by a
unique thought process, which in turn must (although Andreasen is careful to
say presumably) be caused by a unique neural process.  In essence, the claim is
that the type of creativity we are interested in, the type which produces
paintings like the Mona Lisa, is a distinct type of neural activity which can
be distinguished from other types of brain activity.  Furthermore, it appears
to be something which occurs in the unconscious mind, via a process of free
association.  As Andreasen herself puts it:

‘I would hypothesize that during the creative process the brain
begins by disorganizing, making links between shadowy forms of objects or
symbols or words or remembered experiences that have not previously been
linked.  Out of this disorganization, self-organization eventually emerges and
takes over in the brain.  The result is a completely new and original thing: a
mathematical function, a symphony, or a poem…[P]ossessors of extraordinary
creativity are…gifted with unusual brains. ‘ (p. 77/8).

Andreasen goes on
to explore the apparent links between creativity and some malady of the mind. 
Chapter four, Genius and Insanity, opens with some particularly well chosen
quotes, including one from John Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel: Great
Wits are sure to Madness near ally ‘d: And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide (p. 79).  The point of
the chapter is to explore whether there are actually any links between mental
illness and creativity.  Once again Andreasen draws the reader’ s attention to a list of names including
John Nash, Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, Ernest Hemingway and Ludwig von
Beethoven.   The question is are these instances of a direct link between
creativity and mental illness, or is the link simply coincidental?  Andreasen’ s own study reveals some solid correlative
evidence between artistic creativity and mood disorder, but also that there is
no apparent link between creativity and schizophrenia.  She goes to some length
to discuss, rationally, why high levels of creativity can lead to some sorts of
mental disorder, and also points out that although there is no direct
correlation between the occurrence of mental illness and schizophrenia, the
mental or neural processes where the brain becomes ‘momentarily disorganized ‘ in creativity, such as free association, are remarkably similar to
those in ‘ psychotic states of
mania, depression, or schizophrenia ‘ (p. 102).

The fifth chapter
What Creates the Creative Brain is, I think, the best chapter of the book.   Its
use of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti as examples is masterful;
as is Andrease n ’s account of
the climate of creativity in which both artists developed and nurtured their
talents.  This chapter also contains what is perhaps the clearest exposition of
Andreasen ‘ s position:

‘Somehow an innate gift, intrinsically coded in their brains by
genetic influences that we do not as yet understand, was present.  It is
manifested by cognitive and personality traits such as curiosity, openness to
experience, and self-confidence.  These traits can be further enhanced by
environmental influences…because the human brain is ”plastic. ”   That is,
it is intensively shaped throughout life by interaction with the world around
it. ‘ (p. 135)

Although Andreasen
admits that her study has only a limited application to any significant nature
vs. nurture debate her evidence is compelling.  This chapter also sees the
formulation of a series five necessary cultural conditions for creativity,
although I must admit some level of personal scepticism as to their application. 
That being said they are certainly logical, even intuitive, but I find it hard
to believe that the conditions for creativity are so easily exhausted.

Chapter six is
dominated by various pieces of advice and numerous activities to promote
creativity, and includes sections titled Mental Exercises for Adults and Tips
for Teaching Tots.  Again, the advice appears sound, and, given the framework
of Andreasen ‘ s studies and
findings, makes perfect sense.  As compelling and convincing as Andreasen’ s hypotheses and findings are they must be
taken with a pinch of salt, not because they aren’t logical or rational, but
simply because their empirical verification is, at present, immature.  The
studies themselves appear valid, and offer credible results, but there simply
have not been enough of them to demonstrate the veridical nature of the claims. 
That being said Andreasen deserves full credit for an engaging, interesting,
insightful and intuitive book which is not only informative, but leaves
everyone in a position to nurture their own creative talents.  I sincerely hope
to see more research in this area to fortify Andreasen ‘s
position, and to verify her claims.

© 2006 Nigel Leary

Nigel
Leary is currently a student at the University of Kent, writing an M.A.
dissertation on free will.  As a philosopher his interests are in
philosophy of mind, neuroscience, moral psychology, epistemology and
metaphysics.  He hopes to go on to write a PhD thesis, on consciousness,
at the University of York in October.

Categories: Psychology