Creativity

Enhance Creativity and Flow with Mindfulness

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Enhance Creativity and Flow with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

              

“Flexibility of thought is essential to creativity and studies show that mindfulness practice is positively correlated with cognitive flexibility.” – Wendy Ann Greeenhalgh

 

Creative solutions are unusual but appropriate and useful solutions to a problem. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment.

 

Creative solutions often occur after an incubation period where the individual gets away from the problem for a while. This tends to break up repetitive and routine thinking that may interfere with finding a creative solution. Mindfulness practices may provide incubation periods that help to spur creative thought. Indeed, mindfulness has been found to increase creativity. Regardless, there is a need to further investigate the effects of mindfulness on creativity

 

In today’s Research News article “The Effect of Animation-Guided Mindfulness Meditation on the Promotion of Creativity, Flow and Affect.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.894337/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1885330_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220614_arts_A ) Chen and colleagues recruited psychologically healthy employees engaged in creative activities and provide them with either animation-based of audio guided mindfulness training 3 times per week for 8 weeks. Before and after training they completed measures of creativity (Work Creativity Scale), Mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale), flow (Short Dispositional Flow Scale – 2), and emotions (Positive and Negative Affect Scale).

 

They found that after training there were significant improvements in all measures. The animation group, however, had significantly greater improvements in mindfulness, work creativity, and positive emotions. Path analysis revealed that mindfulness and flow were highly elated and both were associated with higher levels of creativity directly and also indirectly y being positively related to positive emotions which were in turn positively related to creativity.

 

The results demonstrate the mindfulness training produce increased creativity and well-being regardless of whether training involves animation or audio guided meditation. But animation guided meditation produced superior results. So, improve creativity and flow with mindfulness training.

 

“mindfulness meditation and other mindfulness practices enhance three essential skills necessary for creative problem solving. First, mindfulness switches on divergent thinking. In other words, meditation opens your mind to new ideas. Second, mindfulness practice improves attention and makes it easier to register the novelty and usefulness of ideas. And finally, mindfulness nurtures courage and resilience in the face of skepticism and setbacks, which is important because failure and setbacks are inextricably linked with any innovation process.” – Emma Schootstra

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Chen H, Liu C, Zhou F, Chiang C-H, Chen Y-L, Wu K, Huang D-H, Liu C-Y and Chiou W-K (2022) The Effect of Animation-Guided Mindfulness Meditation on the Promotion of Creativity, Flow and Affect. Front. Psychol. 13:894337. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.894337

 

Creativity is so important for social and technological development that people are eager to find an easy way to enhance it. Previous studies have shown that mindfulness has significant effects on positive affect (PA), working memory capacity, cognitive flexibility and many other aspects, which are the key to promoting creativity. However, there are few studies on the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. The mechanism between mindfulness and creativity is still uncertain. Meditation is an important method of mindfulness training, but for most people who do not have the basic training, it’s difficult to master how to get into a state of mindfulness. Animation has been shown by many studies to help improve cognition and is often used as a guiding tool. Using animation as the guiding carrier of meditation is more convenient and easier to accept. Therefore, this study adopted the intervention method of animation-guided meditation, aiming to explore: (1) the effect of animation-guided meditation on enhancing creativity; (2) the role of flow and emotion in the influence of mindfulness on creativity. We advertised recruitment through the internal network of a creative industrial park, and the final 95 eligible participants were divided into two groups: animation (n = 48) and audio (n = 47) guided meditation. The animation group was given an animated meditation intervention, and the audio group was given an audio meditation intervention, both interventions were performed 3 times a week and last for 8 weeks. Results: (1) Animation-guided meditation significantly increased participants’ mindfulness and creativity levels; Significantly reduced their cognitive load compared to audio-guided meditation. (2) Mindfulness has a significant direct effect on creativity, and significant indirect effects on creativity; Flow and PA act as the mediating variable. Conclusion: (1) Mindfulness, flow, and PA all helped to improve the subjects’ work creativity. In addition to the direct positive impact of mindfulness on creativity, mindfulness can also have an indirect positive impact on creativity through flow and PA. (2) Compared with audio, animation can significantly reduce cognitive load and help improve users’ cognitive ability, which is more suitable for the guidance materials of mindfulness meditation to enhance the effect of meditation.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.894337/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1885330_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20220614_arts_A

 

Enhance Spatial Cognition in Younger Children with Movement Meditation and Creativity with Sitting Meditation in Older Children

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Enhance Spatial Cognition in Younger Children with Movement Meditation and Creativity with Sitting Meditation in Older Children

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness as a powerful new skill to offer students, not just to manage stress but also to keep them from acting out. Its appeal: one simple, centralized intervention with effects that potentially stretch beyond the classroom.” – Brian Resnick

 

Childhood is a miraculous period during which the child is dynamically absorbing information from every aspect of its environment. This is particularly evident during the elementary school years. Mindfulness training in school has been shown to have very positive effects. These include improvements in the academic, cognitive, psychological, and social domains. Training early in childhood has the potential of jump-starting the child’s academic performance. It is not known, however, what form of meditation training works best for children of different ages.

 

In today’s Research News article “Age-Related Differential Effects of School-Based Sitting and Movement Meditation on Creativity and Spatial Cognition: A Pilot Study.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303844/  ) Marson and colleagues recruited children 10 to 13 years of age in the 5th through 8th grades and had them perform two practices in counterbalanced order for 10 weeks; a 5-minute sensorimotor task (mindful movements) and a 5-monute sitting meditation (Open monitoring). Before and after each training the children were measured for cognitive performance with a hidden figures test and for creativity with an alternative uses test.

 

They found that the younger children were most affected by the meditative movement training while the older children were affected more by the sitting meditation, In particular, younger children had significant increases in spatial cognition (hidden figures task), and the number of uses (fluency) and the number of categories of uses (flexibility) in the alternative uses task after meditative movement training. On the other hand, the older children had significantly greater improvements in creativity (unusual, divergent uses in the alternative uses task) after the sitting meditation.

 

Hence, meditative movement training improved younger children’s’ spatial cognition, fluency, and flexibility while sitting meditation improved older children’s creativity. These are interesting findings that suggest that different kinds of mindfulness trainings are most effective at different ages of children. Movement based training are most effective with younger children while sitting meditation id most effective with older children. It has been shown that mindfulness training has many benefits for children. In the present study, the benefits involve improvements in spatial cognition and creativity. The present research suggests that the type of training that is most effective is age dependent.

 

So, enhance spatial cognition in younger children with movement meditation and creativity with sitting meditation in older children.

 

“The simple act of teaching children how to stop, focus, and just breathe could be one of the greatest gifts you give them.” – Healthy Children

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Marson, F., Fano, A., Pellegrino, M., Pesce, C., Glicksohn, J., & Ben-Soussan, T. D. (2021). Age-Related Differential Effects of School-Based Sitting and Movement Meditation on Creativity and Spatial Cognition: A Pilot Study. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 8(7), 583. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8070583

 

Abstract

Psychophysical well-being can be supported during development by the integration of extra-curricular activities in scholastic settings. These activities can be implemented in different forms, ranging from physical activities to sitting meditation practices. Considering that both such activities are thought to affect children’s psychophysical development, a movement-based meditation that combines the two approaches−in the form of a short daily activity−could represent a powerful tool to promote healthy physical and mental development. Consequently, the current pilot study aimed to examine the effect of short daily school-based sitting and movement meditation trainings on creativity and spatial cognition. Utilizing a crossover design, we evaluated their feasibility and efficacy at different ages among children (n = 50) in 5th to 8th grade. We observed that 5 weeks of daily training in sitting and movement meditation techniques improved children’s cognition differently. Specifically, younger children showed greater creativity and better spatial cognition following the movement-based meditation, while older children showed greater enhancement in these areas following sitting meditation training. This suggests that training can affect children’s cognition differently depending on their developmental stage. We discuss these results within the framework of embodied and grounded cognition theories. Information on feasibility and age-related effect sizes derived from the current study paves the way for future well-powered larger-scale efficacy studies on different forms of school-based interventions to cognitive development promotion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8303844/

 

Mind Wandering is Associated with Poorer Mental Health and Greater Creative Thinking

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Mind Wandering is Associated with Poorer Mental Health and Greater Creative Thinking

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mind-wandering in the sense of the mind moving freely from one idea to another has huge benefits in terms of arriving at new ideas. It’s by virtue of free movement that we generate new ideas, and that’s where creativity lies.” – Kalina Christoff

 

We spend a tremendous amount of waking time with our minds wandering and not on the present environment or the task at hand. We daydream, plan for the future, review the past, ruminate on our failures, exalt in our successes. In fact, we spend almost half of our waking hours off task with our mind wandering. Mindfulness is the antithesis of mind wandering. When we’re mindful, we’re paying attention to what is occurring in the present moment. In fact, the more mindful we are the less the mind wanders and mindfulness training reduces mind wandering.

 

You’d think that if we spend so much time with the mind wandering it must be enjoyable. But, in fact research has shown that when our minds are wandering, we are actually less happy than when we are paying attention to what is at hand. There are times when mind wandering may be useful, especially in regard to planning and creative thinking. But, for the most part, it interferes with our concentration on the present moment and what we’re doing and makes us unhappy. But mind wandering is also associated with creative thinking. So, it makes sense to look at the relationship of mind wandering with creative thought and mental illness.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mind wandering in creative problem-solving: Relationships with divergent thinking and mental health.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7180068/ ) Yamaoka and colleagues recruited college students and had them complete measures of creative (divergent) thinking, including fluency, flexibility, and originality subscales, depression, schizotypal personality, and mind wandering.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mind wandering, the higher the levels of divergent thinking, including fluency, flexibility, and originality subscales, and the higher the levels of depression and schizotypal personality. This was true with both bivariate and multiple linear correlations. People with schizotypal personality tend to be loners, have difficulty with relationships, and can display odd speech and behavior. These people also appear to have high levels of mind wandering. This along with the heightened depression suggests that mind wandering is associated with mental illness.

 

These results are correlational and as such causation cannot be determined. But these findings suggest that mind wandering is good news and bad news. The unusual thinking generated during mind wandering is associated with creativity. But at the same time, it is associated with poorer mental health. Mindfulness training reduces mind wandering and improves depression and mental illness suggesting that mindfulness training may be an antidote to the mental illness associated with mind wandering.

 

So, mind wandering is associated with poorer mental health and greater creative thinking.

 

“A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.” – Matthew A. Killingsworth

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Yamaoka, A., & Yukawa, S. (2020). Mind wandering in creative problem-solving: Relationships with divergent thinking and mental health. PloS one, 15(4), e0231946. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231946

 

Abstract

Previous research has shown that mind wandering has both positive and negative effects. Mind wandering may improve creative problem solving; however, it could also lead to negative moods and poor mental health. It has also been shown that some forms of mental illness are positively related to creativity. However, the three factors of mind wandering, divergent thinking, and mental health have not been examined simultaneously, so it is possible that these relationships are manifested by spurious correlations. Therefore, we examined the relations among the three factors while controlling for each of their confounding effects. We asked 865 participants (458 men, 390 women, 17 unknown; Mage = 18.99 years, SD = 1.16) to complete a questionnaire measuring mind wandering traits, divergent thinking, and mental health measures including depressive symptoms and schizotypal personality. Multiple regression analysis showed that people who reported more depressive symptoms, schizotypal personality, and divergent thinking, were more likely to engage in mind-wandering. Our results indicated that frequency of mind wandering was linked to a risk of poorer mental health as well as to higher divergent thinking ability. In future research, we will examine the features of mind wandering related to divergent thinking and mental health by considering the contents of wandering thoughts and whether they are ruminative or not. We also need to examine whether the same results will be found when studying professionals in creative occupations, and when using different scoring methods in divergent thinking tests.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7180068/

 

Support Creativity with Mindfulness

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Support Creativity with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness meditation and other mindfulness practices enhance three essential skills necessary for creative problem solving. First, mindfulness switches on divergent thinking. In other words, meditation opens your mind to new ideas. Second, mindfulness practice improves attention and makes it easier to register the novelty and usefulness of ideas. And finally, mindfulness nurtures courage and resilience in the face of skepticism and setbacks, which is important because failure and setbacks are inextricably linked with any innovation process.” – Danny Penman

 

Creative solutions are unusual but appropriate and useful solutions to a problem. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less spontaneous mind wandering. This would predict that mindfulness, which increases focused attention, would interfere with creativity. It is possible, however, that mindful attention might promote a purposeful, intentional, deliberate mind wandering that may actually increase creativity.

 

Additionally, creative solutions often occur after an incubation period where the individual gets away from the problem for a while. This tends to break up repetitive and routine thinking that may interfere with finding a creative solution. Mindfulness practices may provide incubation periods that help to spur creative thought. Indeed, mindfulness has been found to increase creativity.

 

The research has been accumulating and it makes sense to pause and take a look at what has been learned. In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness and Creativity: Implications for Thinking and Learning.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395604/) Henriksen and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a thematic analysis of the published research studies on the effects of mindfulness on creativity.

 

They report that the published research found that the practice of mindfulness meditation increases creativity and that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of creativity. They also report that open monitoring meditation appears to be better at promoting divergent thinking (creativity) while focused meditation appears to be better at promoting convergent (logical) thinking. Both divergent and convergent thinking can lead to creative solutions to problems although divergent thinking produces more unusual solutions.

 

The research also found that mind wandering and mindfulness were not necessarily in opposition in promoting creativity. Deliberate purposeful mind wandering is supported by mindfulness and promotes creativity, whereas spontaneous mind wandering is suppressed by mindfulness and it interferes with creativity. Hence, the literature supports the conclusion that mindfulness promotes creativity.

 

So, support creativity with mindfulness.

 

“The kind of mindfulness that brings us into the default mode is the bridge between incubation and illumination. It can be the silence that allows us to find our true voice.” – Michael Formica

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Henriksen, D., Richardson, C., & Shack, K. (2020). Mindfulness and Creativity: Implications for Thinking and Learning. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 100689. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100689

 

Abstract

Mindfulness and creativity have both come to the forefront of interest in educational settings—but a better understanding of their relationship and the implications for education is needed. This article reviews the literature on the intersection of these topics in order to understand where and how these two related but distinctive areas of research connect, and how this pertains to the complexity of educational settings. Our goal is to understand findings from the literature and consider what the implications are for educational practice and research, with an eye to how mindfulness can be supportive to learners’ creativity. This thematic review and qualitative analysis of extant literature identifies four themes that speak to the connection between mindfulness and creativity and its complexity. There is solid evidence to show a generally beneficial and supportive relationship, in that practicing mindfulness can support creativity—but many factors affect this and there are a range of considerations for practice. This article reflects on the key findings of scholarly work on the mindfulness-creativity relationship with interpretative discussion and implications for educational research and practice.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395604/

 

Improve Creativity with Cyclic Meditation

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Improve Creativity with Cyclic Meditation

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.” – Eckhart Tolle

Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. In this case focused attention is the key. The mind wandering off topic interferes with the concentration required for obtaining the solution. But when a solution does not occur and the individual fails to solve the problem a completely different process transpires producing insight. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Perhaps the best method to improve creativity and problem solving is to practice both activating and relaxing mindfulness practices. This occurs in cyclic meditation which involves yoga poses (Activation) and meditative relaxation (calming). It is not known whether cyclic meditation can enhance creative thinking and if so, how it might be affecting brain activity.

 

In today’s Research News article “Association between Cyclic Meditation and Creative Cognition: Optimizing Connectivity between the Frontal and Parietal Lobes.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6329224/ ), Shetkar and colleagues recruited college students and randomly assigned them to receive 7 daily 35 minute sessions of either cyclic meditation or supine rest (Shavasana). Participants were measured before and after treatment for creative (divergent) thinking. During rest, creativity testing and cyclic meditation the participants had their brain activity measured with an electroencephalograph (EEG).

 

They found that after training in comparison to control participants there was a significant increase (18%) in creativity in the cyclic meditation group including large increases in fluency, originality, elaboration, and flexibility. They also found that brain activity in the gamma frequency bands (high frequency, 25 to 100 cycles per second) of the EEG increased in the frontal and parietal lobes after cyclic meditation practice with indications of increased connectivity between these lobes. The frontal lobes have long been associated with higher level thinking including creative thought.

 

These are very interesting results. Cyclic meditation is different from relaxation in its use of yoga postures and guided meditation. It remains for future research to determine which of these components or both are necessary and sufficient for producing the improvements in creativity. The findings suggest that engaging in cyclic meditation enhances activity in the areas of the brain that are responsible for higher level cognitive functions and as a result enhances creative thinking. It also remains for future research to determine if these effects are lasting or are only present in the immediate aftermath of training.

 

So, improve creativity with cyclic meditation.

 

“A state of conscious awareness resulting from living in the moment is not sufficient for creativity to come about. To be creative, you need to have, or be trained in, the ability to observe, notice, and attend to phenomena that pass your mind’s eye.” – Matthijs Baas

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Shetkar, R. M., Hankey, A., Nagendra, H. R., & Pradhan, B. (2019). Association between Cyclic Meditation and Creative Cognition: Optimizing Connectivity between the Frontal and Parietal Lobes. International journal of yoga, 12(1), 29-36.

 

Abstract

Background:

Important stages of creativity include preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Earlier studies have reported that some techniques of meditation promote creativity but have not specified which stage is enhanced. Here, we report the influence of cyclic meditation (CM) on creative cognition measured by a divergent thinking task. Our aim was to determine the degree of association between the two.

Methods:

Twenty-four university students were randomly assigned to an experimental group (CM) and controls (Supine Rest), 35 min/day for 7 days. Creativity performance was assessed pre and post using Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA), while 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure brain activity during both CM/SH and the creativity test.

Results:

Results indicated that CM training improved creativity performance, producing a shift to predominant gamma activity during creativity compared controls who showed delta activity. Furthermore, the experimental group showed more activation of frontal and parietal regions (EEG leads F3, F4 and P3, P4) than controls, i.e., the regions of the executive network responsible for creative cognition, our particular regions of interest where specialized knowledge is being stored.

Conclusion:

Improvement on creativity test performance indicates that CM increases association and strengthens the connectivity between frontal and parietal lobes, the major nodes of default mode network and executive attention network, enhancing the important stages of creativity such as preparation, incubation, and illumination.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6329224/

 

Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

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Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness meditation is a great technique to learn to help improve creativity. There have been studies done specifically to measure the cognitive rigidity of people who meditate and their ability to solve problems in novel ways. The research shows non-meditators had greater cognitive rigidity than regular meditators, and they also had a tendency to apply difficult or outdated solutions to easy problems based on their past experiences, this was not the case for people who meditated.” – Bianca Rothschild

 

The problem solving ability of humans has been a key to their dominance of their environment. So, it’s important that we understand it and discover how to train it and maximize it. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. In this case focused attention is the key. The mind wandering off topic interferes with the concentration required for obtaining the solution. But, when a solution does not occur and the individual fails to solve the problem a completely different process transpires producing insight. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result, mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes. Most of the time these differences are associated with beneficial results, but sometimes they can lead to negative outcomes including a greater tendency to have false memories. So mindfulness should improve problem solving involving logic, reason, and focused attention, while it should interfere with insightful, creative problem solving.

 

These two forms of problem solving are, in general, associated with different neural systems. Focused attention involves a number of brain structures centered in the frontal lobes. Creative, discursive thinking involves a system of structures known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) involving the parietal lobe, cingulate cortex, and insula. One way to investigate the influence of mindfulness on creative problem solving is to look at the activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) during creative problem solving and insight in practitioners with varying amounts of mindfulness training.

 

 

In today’s Research News article “Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity.” (See summary below). Berkovich-Ohana and colleagues recruited non-meditators and meditators with short (180-1430 hours), intermediate (1740-2860 hours), and long-term (3870-23,000 hours) meditation practice. Divergent creative thinking was measured with the alternative uses task which requires participants to generate as many and unusual uses of conventional, everyday objects. While the participants were engaged in the creativity measurements the Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from the scalp.

 

They found that the intermediate and long-term meditators, compared to the non-meditators and short-term meditators, had significantly greater performance on the creative thinking task including a greater number of alternative uses (fluency) and a greater number of categories (flexibility) of alternative uses. Further, they found that the lower the EEG activity in the gamma frequency range between brain hemispheres the greater the creative thinking. These results suggest that meditation practice alters brain processing, changing the interhemispheric connectivity of the DMN to improve creative thinking.

 

The study found that meditation practice improves creative thinking which is related to lower functional connectivity for the Default Mode Network (DMN). This, in turn, suggests that the lower ability of the mind wandering system of the brain to affect other brain regions the better the creative thinking. Hence, suppressing mind wandering while engaged in the alternative uses creative thinking task improves creative thinking.

 

So, improve creativity with mindfulness.

 

“A central aspect of creativity is divergent thinking, which refers to the ability to come up with lots of different ideas. . . .  there is a small influence of mindfulness techniques on divergent thinking. That is, people who engage in mindfulness exercises tend to do a better job of generating more ideas than those who do not. They are better, but not much better.” – Art Markman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., Ben-Soussan, T.D., Goldstein, A. Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 717. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y

 

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly accepted that creative performance, especially divergent thinking, may depend on reduced activity within the default mode network (DMN), related to mind-wandering and autobiographic self-referential processing. However, the relationship between trait (resting-state) DMN activity and divergent thinking is controversial. Here, we test the relationship between resting-state DMN activity and divergent thinking in a group of mindfulness meditation practitioners. We build on our two previous reports, which have shown DMN activity to be related to resting-state log gamma (25–45 Hz) power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. Using the same cohort of participants (three mindfulness groups with increasing expertise, and controls, n = 12 each), we tested (1) divergent thinking scores (Flexibility and Fluency) using the Alternative Uses task and (2) correlation between Alternative Uses scores and DMN activity as measured by resting-state gamma power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. We found that both Fluency and Flexibility (1) were higher in the two long-term mindfulness groups (>1000 h) compared to short-term mindfulness practitioners and control participants and (2) negatively correlated with gamma inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (frontal-midline and posterior-midline connections). In addition, (3) Fluency was significantly correlated with mindfulness expertise. Together, these results show that long-term mindfulness meditators exhibit higher divergent thinking scores in correlation with their expertise and demonstrate a negative divergent thinking—resting-state DMN activity relationship, thus largely support a negative DMN-creativity connection.

Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

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Improve Creativity with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness meditation is a great technique to learn to help improve creativity. There have been studies done specifically to measure the cognitive rigidity of people who meditate and their ability to solve problems in novel ways. The research shows non-meditators had greater cognitive rigidity than regular meditators, and they also had a tendency to apply difficult or outdated solutions to easy problems based on their past experiences, this was not the case for people who meditated.” – Bianca Rothschild

 

The problem solving ability of humans has been a key to their dominance of their environment. So, it’s important that we understand it and discover how to train it and maximize it. Problem solving most frequently involves logic and reasoning, sometimes along with mathematics. In this case focused attention is the key. The mind wandering off topic interferes with the concentration required for obtaining the solution. But, when a solution does not occur and the individual fails to solve the problem a completely different process transpires producing insight. If logic and reason fail, then fanciful and out-of-the box thinking may be needed. In this case mind wandering, taking the thought process away from the failed logical strategy, is superior, often producing a solution in a flash, an “aha” moment. In this case focused attention prevents the individual from seeing an unusual or creative solution. While the mind wandering off topic increases the discursive thinking that is required for obtaining the insightful solution.

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result, mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes. Most of the time these differences are associated with beneficial results, but sometimes they can lead to negative outcomes including a greater tendency to have false memories. So mindfulness should improve problem solving involving logic, reason, and focused attention, while it should interfere with insightful, creative problem solving.

 

These two forms of problem solving are, in general, associated with different neural systems. Focused attention involves a number of brain structures centered in the frontal lobes. Creative, discursive thinking involves a system of structures known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) involving the parietal lobe, cingulate cortex, and insula. One way to investigate the influence of mindfulness on creative problem solving is to look at the activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) during creative problem solving and insight in practitioners with varying amounts of mindfulness training.

 

 

In today’s Research News article “Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity.” (See summary below). Berkovich-Ohana and colleagues recruited non-meditators and meditators with short (180-1430 hours), intermediate (1740-2860 hours), and long-term (3870-23,000 hours) meditation practice. Divergent creative thinking was measured with the alternative uses task which requires participants to generate as many and unusual uses of conventional, everyday objects. While the participants were engaged in the creativity measurements the Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from the scalp.

 

They found that the intermediate and long-term meditators, compared to the non-meditators and short-term meditators, had significantly greater performance on the creative thinking task including a greater number of alternative uses (fluency) and a greater number of categories (flexibility) of alternative uses. Further, they found that the lower the EEG activity in the gamma frequency range between brain hemispheres the greater the creative thinking. These results suggest that meditation practice alters brain processing, changing the interhemispheric connectivity of the DMN to improve creative thinking.

 

The study found that meditation practice improves creative thinking which is related to lower functional connectivity for the Default Mode Network (DMN). This, in turn, suggests that the lower ability of the mind wandering system of the brain to affect other brain regions the better the creative thinking. Hence, suppressing mind wandering while engaged in the alternative uses creative thinking task improves creative thinking.

 

So, improve creativity with mindfulness.

 

“A central aspect of creativity is divergent thinking, which refers to the ability to come up with lots of different ideas. . . .  there is a small influence of mindfulness techniques on divergent thinking. That is, people who engage in mindfulness exercises tend to do a better job of generating more ideas than those who do not. They are better, but not much better.” – Art Markman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., Ben-Soussan, T.D., Goldstein, A. Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity. Mindfulness (2017) 8: 717. doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y

 

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly accepted that creative performance, especially divergent thinking, may depend on reduced activity within the default mode network (DMN), related to mind-wandering and autobiographic self-referential processing. However, the relationship between trait (resting-state) DMN activity and divergent thinking is controversial. Here, we test the relationship between resting-state DMN activity and divergent thinking in a group of mindfulness meditation practitioners. We build on our two previous reports, which have shown DMN activity to be related to resting-state log gamma (25–45 Hz) power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. Using the same cohort of participants (three mindfulness groups with increasing expertise, and controls, n = 12 each), we tested (1) divergent thinking scores (Flexibility and Fluency) using the Alternative Uses task and (2) correlation between Alternative Uses scores and DMN activity as measured by resting-state gamma power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. We found that both Fluency and Flexibility (1) were higher in the two long-term mindfulness groups (>1000 h) compared to short-term mindfulness practitioners and control participants and (2) negatively correlated with gamma inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (frontal-midline and posterior-midline connections). In addition, (3) Fluency was significantly correlated with mindfulness expertise. Together, these results show that long-term mindfulness meditators exhibit higher divergent thinking scores in correlation with their expertise and demonstrate a negative divergent thinking—resting-state DMN activity relationship, thus largely support a negative DMN-creativity connection.