Understanding Creativity: Science and Tools for Improvement

Andrew Huberman reveals that creativity combines divergent and convergent thinking, enhanced by meditation and dopamine levels.

### Unleashing Creativity: The Science and Tools for Enhanced Innovation
* 🧠 Creativity is defined as a rearrangement of existing elements into **novel combinations** that reveal something fundamental about how we or the world works, often producing **useful outcomes**.
* Three brain networks are crucial for creativity: the **central executive network**, the **default mode network**, and the **salience network**, which work together to enable **divergent and convergent thinking**.
* 💡 Divergent thinking involves **generating multiple ideas** in response to a stimulus, while convergent thinking involves **selecting the most useful ideas**.
* 🧘 Tools for enhancing creativity include **open monitoring meditation** to improve **divergent thinking** and **focused attention meditation** to enhance **convergent thinking**.
* 😊 Dopamine levels play a significant role in facilitating **divergent thinking**, with **mood elevation** being beneficial for creativity.
* 💊 Natural ways to increase dopamine levels include specific supplements and NSDR (Yoga Nidra), a deep relaxation technique that can **boost dopamine release by 65%**.
* 🚶 Low-attention activities can also enhance creativity by activating the brain's **Nigro-striatal pathways**.
* 🔮 While understanding the science of creativity is valuable, it's important to remember that **creativity is often closer to magic than science**, as expressed by Rick Rubin in an interview with Andrew Huberman.

so if you're as weird as me, the first thing you did after watching Bradley Cooper conquer the world in Limitless was Google real-life Limitless pill. And I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is it doesn't exist. I've looked. Some claim there are nootropics that are the real-life Limitless pill, but trust me, they ain't. You aren't popping a couple of those and smashing out a novel in two days and conquering the stock market. But the good news? I found the next best thing: Andrew Huberman. That's right, the jacked neuroscientist with nearly 6 million subscribers. He has a podcast episode, which I've literally listened to about four times, explaining the science of creativity. And while it isn't NZ, it taught me how creativity actually works and how I can use science to be more creative. So here are the main things I learned, broken down into two parts: firstly, the science of creativity, which honestly I thought would be quite boring but helps a lot, and secondly, the tools

we can use to be more creative ones that I'm actively trying, and before we begin, I'm not a qualified scientist. I'm just a dude on the internet. So, let's start with the science of creativity. Now, I thought the best definition of creativity would come from someone like Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, or William Shakespeare. Turns out, it's Andrew Huberman. Creativity is a rearrangement of existing elements into novel combinations that reveal something fundamental about how we or the world works. And this is very important. It tends to be things that are useful. If we're going to try and be more creative, we've got to know what creativity actually is, and this seems like a fantastic definition. So, that's what we're going to try and improve in this video: get better at combining things in a novel way that reveals something useful about how we or the world works. Now, into the juicy stuff. The first thing Mr. Huberman explains are the three brain networks required for creativity. Now, look, I'm not that concerned about

Knowing the technical scientific names and definitions of these brain networks may be interesting to some, but for me, I'm just interested in broadly understanding what's going on up here to try and become more creative. So, here are the three brain networks, but with my own 10-year-old proof explanation. The first one is the central executive network, which considers all of the things we could do and decides what not to do. The second is the default mode network, which is basically a library of all of our previous experiences that are the ingredients of our imagination. And thirdly, the salience network, which thinks about all of the information available to us at any given moment and decides what's most important. And it's those three networks - the central executive network, the default mode network, and the salience network - that come together to enable us to be creative. So, what? Well, the next thing is the actual components of creativity, and it turns out there are only two: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Here's how Mr. Huberman describes divergent thinking: Divergent thinking involves

taking some starting point in this case a pen and then radiating out from that in a fairly unconstrained what biologists call a random walk just kind of wandering through your thought space and memory space about what could be related to this pen. Basically, it's coming up with lots of different ideas in response to a specific stimulus, regardless of how unexpected or unusual they are, is what we mean when we say thinking outside the box. But going back to our definition of creativity, when we engage in Divergent thinking, not every new idea reveals something fundamental about how the world works; therefore, isn't inherently creative, which is where convergent thinking comes in. And convergent thinking is, as the name suggests, just the opposite of Divergent thinking. Convergent thinking would be, for example, if I give you an image or I tell you the following things: I say Wing, water, and engine. The concept that I happen to have in mind is that of a plane that can land on water. And here, what's really most important is that I'm not asking you to

spool out or to radiate out from these three things; rather, I'm asking you to combine them in some way that makes sense in the real world. And indeed, there are planes that can land on water. Convergent thinking is about taking all of the possible things that could be and selecting the ones that are actually useful. And we need both to be creative. We need Divergent thinking to think of potential ideas in whatever it is we're trying to do, and then after, we need convergent thinking to go through those ideas and pick the best ones. So, that's really everything you need to know in terms of the science. Now, let's get to the tools. So, you're now aware of Divergent and convergent thinking, the two components of creativity. But can we get better at them? Well, it turns out some people are just innately better at them than others, technically born more creative. But Mr. Huberman explains how both can also be improved through training. Divergent thinking can be improved by what's known

as open monitoring meditation, basically sit down, lie down, whatever you want, and for 10 minutes just let your thoughts, ideas, and emotions surface without any judgment. Now, this is supposed to help us get better at tapping into our pre-existing knowledge, which is what we need when we're trying to think of new ideas. Convergent thinking can be improved by what's known as focused attention meditation. Basically, sit or lie down, close your eyes, and try to focus on a specific thing, your breath or part of your body, for example. This is supposed to help us improve our focus and memory, both crucial for getting better at making those creative decisions. Now, Huberman recommends a sort of gel meditation: 5 to 10 minutes of open monitoring meditation, then transition to 5 to 10 minutes of focused attention meditation, which I'm currently trying to see how it goes. But to be honest, now I know what both divergent and convergent thinking actually are, I'm just trying to be more conscious of them when I'm walking around. I try to

think of ideas related to a specific thing, and when I'm doing something like reading, I try to really focus on it and minimize distractions, which will hopefully help improve both, especially when I'm trying to be creative. The next thing Huberman discusses is how divergent thinking is enhanced when levels of dopamine are elevated to a point. What they found is that if people are blinking fairly often, and they measure their mood through subjective tests, and if they were to do brain imaging, which other studies have done, what they find is that those people can engage in divergent thinking very easily. In other words, being in a good mood facilitates divergent thinking. I mean, this makes a lot of sense. I've definitely noticed it in my own life. If I'm feeling slightly down or in a bad mood, those ideas just don't seem to come. But it's useful to know that if I am in a bad mood, it's actually beneficial to try and elevate it first before trying to be creative. He then goes on to explain some

other natural ways to increase our dopamine. Again, I'm not a doctor, but he starts off with some supplements: 500 mg of L-tyrosine, 600 mg of phenylalanine, and 1 to 3 mg per kg of body weight of caffeine, all of which can help and all of which I'm going to experiment with. But he then goes on to explain another method, which I found pretty fascinating. It's called NSDR or Yoga Nidra, which is this sort of deep relaxed state we can get ourselves into. Here's what he had to say about it: People who did this deep relaxation, that is self-directed deep relaxation, lying there, eyes closed, relatively motionless, although small movements of the body or movements of the head are absolutely fine, what they observed was a 65% increase in dopamine release. Now, here it's key dopamine release, and they observed an increase in so-called Theta activity. Theta activity is a pattern of brain wave activity that's commonly associated with creative states and divergent thinking in

particular. He recommends doing it at least once a week, but he actually does it daily for 10 to 30 minutes and even has released an NSDR script on YouTube, which I'm again currently testing pre-creativity to see what it does. And then the last thing he recommends is related to what I'm going to call low attention activities. A lot of my good ideas come to me when I'm on a walk or on a run, and it turns out that isn't a coincidence. It's science. The fact that many people are pacers or runners or come up with their best ideas while in the shower or while engaging in activities that don't require a lot of sensory attention to one specific location, either visual or auditory, etc. That is because it engages these Nigro stal pathways through movement, which then opens up this library of ideas and allows the intersection of different ideas that normally would be constrained to separate categories. Sometimes when I'm really trying to be creative, often on a deadline, I almost become a slave to

my desk. I think just sit down and get it done. The good ideas will come, but what this showed me was that actually doing these low-attention activities like going on a walk can be a great way to be more creative, and it's certainly something I'm going to add to my daily routine, particularly when I'm trying to be more creative. So yeah, that's it. I've spent today completely overthinking the science of creativity, and while it has certainly helped me out, and I'm currently trying a lot of the tools I mentioned, the last thing I want to leave you with is a quote from Rick Rubin when he was interviewed by Andrew Huberman, and he said, Language is insufficient to drill down on creativity. It's closer to magic than it is to science. So yes, let's use the science, but let's not lose the magic. All right, see you tomorrow.

How to be more creative, according to science

Jay Alto

Unlocking Creativity: Insights from Andrew Huberman

Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist with a popular podcast, offers valuable insights into the science of creativity.

He defines creativity as the rearrangement of existing elements into novel combinations that reveal fundamental truths about ourselves or the world.

Huberman identifies three brain networks essential for creativity, emphasizing the importance of combining things in a novel way to foster creative thinking.

Understanding Brain Networks and Creativity

The brain's central executive network decides what actions to take, the default mode network stores past experiences for imagination, and the salience network determines the importance of available information.

Creativity is driven by two components: divergent thinking, which generates multiple ideas from a stimulus, and convergent thinking, which focuses on finding a specific solution.

Together, these brain networks and thinking styles enable us to be creative.

Improving Creativity: Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Divergent and convergent thinking are both essential for creativity, with the former generating potential ideas and the latter selecting the most useful ones.

Both types of thinking can be improved through specific meditation techniques: open monitoring meditation enhances divergent thinking, while focused attention meditation boosts convergent thinking.

A combination of both meditation styles is recommended for optimal creativity.

Enhancing Creativity Through Dopamine and Relaxation

Focusing on tasks and minimizing distractions can improve creativity.

Elevated dopamine levels, indicated by frequent blinking and a good mood, facilitate divergent thinking.

Natural ways to increase dopamine include L-tyrosine, phenylalanine, caffeine, and deep relaxation techniques like NSDR, which can lead to a 65% increase in dopamine release and promote creative brain wave activity.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of low sensory attention activities, like walking or running, in generating creative ideas.

They recommend incorporating these activities into a daily routine, especially when trying to be more creative.

The speaker also shares a quote from Rick Rubin, highlighting the magical nature of creativity.