Part of the reason for this blog is the theory of mind that suggests that the more creativity you can build into your thinking, the easier creativity becomes. The research for this comes from the development of FMRI scanning technology where magnetic resonance imaging is used to scan brain function whilst the brain is activated. Using this technology in research into the effect of learning to play a musical instrument it has been found that the process of learning an instrument creates nw neural pathways in the brain, specifically between the left and right hemispheres. This cross hemisphere linking is thought to give enhanced creative and problem solving ability. The research went a stage further and discovered that the process of neural pathway creation was found when people who couldn't play an instrument acted as though they could, pretending to play drums or guitar.
One of the interesting points to come out of this research is that once the neural pathways are created, they tend to remain in place, even if practice is not continued. It leads to interesting thoughts about the current crop of counselling therapies that follow the talking style of counselling such as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). There has been very little qualitative evidence for these therapies being successful, but the idea behind them is that they use techniques that create new neural pathways in the brain to change the way people think. It is clear that the creation of new neural pathways is possible, and that by creating those pathways it is possible to change the way in which one "thinks" and so improve cognitive ability.
My aim, by giving myself more space to be creative, is to become more creative. A self fulfilling prophecy if you wish, in an "if you build it he will come" way. It may work, it may not, but I am determined to enjoy the journey to find out....
No comments:
Post a Comment