Creativity and the Brain

Neurocognitive approach to higher cognitive functions that bridges the gap between psychological and neural level of description is introduced. Relevant facts about the brain, working memory and representation of symbols in the brain are summarized. Putative brain processes responsible for problem solving, intuition, skill learning and automatization are described. The role of non-dominant brain hemisphere in solving problems requiring insight is conjectured. Two factors seem to be essential for creativity: imagination constrained by experience, and filtering that selects most interesting solutions. Experiments with paired words association are analyzed in details and evidence for stochastic resonance effects is found. Brain activity in the process of invention of novel words is proposed as the simplest way to understand creativity using experimental and computational means. Perspectives on computational models of creativity are discussed.

[1]  S. Mednick.  The associative basis of the creative process. , 1962, Psychological review.

[2]  R. M. Gaze.  Dynamic patterns , 1975, Nature.

[3]  B. Baars.  A cognitive theory of consciousness , 1988 .

[4]  Melanie Mitchell,et al.  Analogy-making as perception - a computer model , 1993, Neural network modeling and connectionism.

[5]  D. Hofstadter.  Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought, Douglas Hofstadter. 1994. Basic Books, New York, NY. 512 pages. ISBN: 0-465-05154-5. $30.00 , 1995 .

[6]  D. Lewkowicz,et al.  A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. , 2007, Journal of cognitive neuroscience.

[7]  Wlodzislaw Duch,et al.  Feature space mapping as a universal adaptive system , 1995 .

[8]  B. Vereijken.  A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action: E. Thelen and L.B. Smith, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994. Pp. 376. ISBN 0-262-20095-3 , 1996 .

[9]  Richard D. Hichwa,et al.  A neural basis for lexical retrieval , 1996, Nature.

[10]  Categorization , prototype theory and neural dynamics , 1996 .

[11]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge , 1996, Nature.

[12]  L. Lapointe.  Aphasia And Related Neurogenic Language Disorders , 1997 .

[13]  A. Gopnik,et al.  Words, thoughts, and theories , 1997 .

[14]  G. Ermentrout.  Dynamic patterns: The self-organization of brain and behavior , 1997 .

[15]  Włodzisław Duch,et al.  Platonic model of mind as an approximation to neurodynamics , 1998 .

[16]  A. Jensen,et al.  The g factor , 1996, Nature.

[17]  M. Gazzaniga.  The Mind's Past , 1998 .

[18]  G. Waters,et al.  Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension , 1999, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[19]  D. Molfese.  Predicting Dyslexia at 8 Years of Age Using Neonatal Brain Responses , 2000, Brain and Language.

[20]  Carolyn Rovee-Collier,et al.  Progress in infancy research , 2000 .

[21]  S. Grossberg.  The complementary brain: unifying brain dynamics and modularity , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  W. Schultz.  Multiple reward signals in the brain , 2000, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[23]  Michelle R. Ellefson,et al.  Language Development during Infancy and Early Childhood: Electrophysiological correlates , 2001 .

[24]  Robert L. Goldstone,et al.  Letter spirit (part two): modeling creativity in a visual domain , 2001 .

[25]  F. Pulvermüller.  Brain reflections of words and their meaning , 2001, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[26]  A. Baddeley.  Is working memory still working? , 2001, The American psychologist.

[27]  A. Gruszka,et al.  Priming and Acceptance of Close and Remote Associations by Creative and Less Creative People , 2002 .

[28]  F. Pulvermüller.  A brain perspective on language mechanisms: from discrete neuronal ensembles to serial order , 2002, Progress in Neurobiology.

[29]  Friedemann Pulvermüller,et al.  The Neuroscience of Language: On Brain Circuits of Words and Serial Order , 2003 .

[30]  J. O'Doherty,et al.  Encoding Predictive Reward Value in Human Amygdala and Orbitofrontal Cortex , 2003, Science.

[31]  R. Berndt,et al.  Working memory retention systems: a state of activated long-term memory. , 2003, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[32]  Stephen Grossberg,et al.  Resonant neural dynamics of speech perception , 2003, J. Phonetics.

[33]  F. Pulvermüller.  The Neuroscience of Language , 2003 .

[34]  R. Macdonald.  Rules , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[35]  Wlodzislaw Duch,et al.  Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems Derived from Similarity to Prototypes , 2004, ICONIP.

[36]  Edward M. Bowden,et al.  Neural Activity When People Solve Verbal Problems with Insight , 2004, PLoS biology.

[37]  A. Gopnik,et al.  Mechanisms of theory formation in young children , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[38]  Stuart G. Shanker,et al.  The nature of insight , 1995, Minds and Machines.

[39]  Maro G. Machizawa,et al.  Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory , 2005, Nature.

[40]  Edward M. Bowden,et al.  New approaches to demystifying insight , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[41]  Gregory S. Berns,et al.  Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment , 2005 .

[42]  Friedemann Pulvermüller,et al.  Brain Signatures of Meaning Access in Action Word Recognition , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[43]  Kevin Gurney,et al.  Action selection in a macroscopic model of the brainstem reticular formation , 2005 .

[44]  Nelson Cowan,et al.  Working Memory Capacity , 2005 .

[45]  James G. Scott,et al.  The relationship between executive functioning and verbal and visual learning and memory. , 2004, Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists.

[46]  Wlodzislaw Duch.  Brain-Inspired Conscious Computing Architecture , 2005 .

[47]  Marcin Peski.  Categorization , 2006, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology.

[48]  Wlodzislaw Duch,et al.  Computational Creativity , 2006, The 2006 IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Network Proceedings.

[49]  Gregoire Nicolis,et al.  Stochastic resonance , 2007, Scholarpedia.