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The Neuroscience of Creativity and Insight

The Neuroscience of Creativity and Insight
The Internet has a terrible habit of misquoting Einstein on energy and creativity until he sounds like he’s the author of , not the theory of relativity. Here’s something he actually did say . Describing the effect of music on his inner life, he told a friend: “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of imagination has meant more to me than any talent for absorbing absolute knowledge.” Today, what Einstein believed intuitively – that insight was essential to scientific discovery and to the arts – can be observed methodically in the lab. Eric Kandel is a pioneer in the field who worked alongside Harry Grundfest in the very first NYC-based laboratory devoted to the study of the brain. “There are a group of people who have studied aspects of creativity,” he says. The ah-ha phenomenon or Eureka effect is the well-documented flash of insight that occurs when a solution just comes to you. Related Content Megan Erickson Dr. Related:  Neuroscience & Consciousness

Brain Bugs: Hallucinations, Forgotten Faces, and Other Cognitive Quirks | Think Tank What's the Big Idea? If seeing is believing, then how do we come to know? One common misperception holds that vision springs directly from the eyes. True, the eyes, ears, and skin bombard us with a constant stream of information. But sensory input is only the first step in a complex journey towards arriving at our understanding of the world. As neuroscientist V.S. What's the Significance? For neurologists like Ramachandran, "the question of how neurons encode meaning and evoke all the semantic associations of an object is the holy grail of neuroscience, whether you are studying memory, perception, art, or consciousness." This is because brain damage is highly specialized. John developed a blood clot in a vein in his leg, which traveled to his cerebral arteries, causing a stroke. There was nothing wrong with his vision or hearing. In John's case, the "wire between the vision and the amagydala," which regulates emotion, had been cut. Dan Honan contributed to this article.

6 Ways To “Riff” Daily Artists, musicians, comics, speakers, trainers, athletes, performers all do it-they “RIFF”. That “rapid energetic often improvised verbal or non verbal outpouring especially one that is part of a performance”. Most of us remember “Riff’s” of great rock, jazz and yes classical musicians, bands and performers, we listen to and are fans of. What we love about them is the spontaneity, take, variation and interpretation of their passion. Who doesn’t know Deep Purple’s memorable riff “Smoke on the Water” played by Ritchie Blackmore, or Jimmy Hendricks riff in “Foxy Lady“? I don’t know about you, but I love the whole idea of “riffing”! Here’s 6 Ways to “Riff” daily Be Spontaneous Have your daily plan and goals but let things lead you off the beat and path for short busrts that are unexpected or unscheduled. Improvise How many things that we plan simply don’t go as scripted? Experiment Who doesn’t want to be happier? Be Adventuresome Seek Out Inspiration Be an Impresario Author:

An Egg It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. And that's when you met me. "What... what happened?" "You died," I said, matter-of-factly. "There was a... a truck and it was skidding..." "Yup." "I... "Yup. You looked around. "More or less," I said. "Are you God?" "Yup." "My kids... my wife," you said. "What about them?" "Will they be alright?" "That what I like to see," I said. You looked at me with fascination. "Don't worry," I said. "Oh," you said. "Neither," I said. "Ah," you said. "All the religions are right in their own way," I said. You followed along as we strolled in the void. "So what's the point, then?" "Not so!" I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. "You've been a human for the last 34 years, so you haven't stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. "Oh, lots. "Wait, what?" "Oh sure!" "Sure.

From Sci-Fi to Sci-Fact: The New Frontier of Neuroscience | Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa With rendition switcher Question: What is the most exciting part of brain science for you? Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa: I think the most exciting part of what I do right now is exactly the fact that what we are doing is giving patients new hope; that we're looking at a disease, which is brain cancer, that people have looked at for hundreds of years and we have not been able to understand, and we're finally perhaps beginning to scratch the surface, we're beginning to look at an old disease with new eyes. And what new eyes are those is the fact that within brain cancer there may be a small population of cells that have the ability to recreate the same type of cancer, which means that despite the fact that we can actually do a perfect surgical resection and we can take a lot of these tumors out, these patients eventually continue to progress, perhaps because we're leaving those small little cells back there that are able to recreate the whole tumor. Recorded on: July 2, 2008

Nobel Laureate Examines Neuroaesthetics and Broken Relationship with Vienna Editor's note: SPIEGEL ONLINE has also published an interview with Eric Kandel about his new book, which can be read here. When Auguste Rodin visited Vienna in June 1902, art critic Berta Zuckerkandl invited him to spend an afternoon in her famous salon. As the hostess later recalled, the great French sculptor and Austrian artist Gustav Klimt had seated themselves beside two remarkably beautiful young women -- Rodin gazing enchantingly at them. Klimt slowly nodded and responded with a single word: "Austria!" This is the opening scene in New York neuroscientist Eric Kandel's exploration of his native Vienna, a tome entitled "The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present," published this spring in English and this month in German. Sigmund Freud became the quintessential figure of this movement. Exile During Holocaust The Kandels were Jews, and they had to leave their apartment. Brave New World of Neuroaesthetics

List of unsolved problems in philosophy This is a list of some of the major unsolved problems in philosophy. Clearly, unsolved philosophical problems exist in the lay sense (e.g. "What is the meaning of life?", "Where did we come from?" Aesthetics[edit] Essentialism[edit] In art, essentialism is the idea that each medium has its own particular strengths and weaknesses, contingent on its mode of communication. Art objects[edit] This problem originally arose from the practice rather than theory of art. While it is easy to dismiss these assertions, further investigation[who?] Epistemology[edit] Epistemological problems are concerned with the nature, scope and limitations of knowledge. Gettier problem[edit] In 1963, however, Edmund Gettier published an article in the periodical Analysis entitled "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" In response to Gettier's article, numerous philosophers have offered modified criteria for "knowledge." Infinite regression[edit] Molyneux problem[edit] Münchhausen trilemma[edit] Qualia[edit] Ethics[edit]

Why Can Some People Recall Every Day Of Their Lives? Brain Scans Offer Clues : Shots - Health Blog hide captionResearchers are using MRI scans to learn more about the brains of people with extraordinary memory. iStockphoto.com Researchers are using MRI scans to learn more about the brains of people with extraordinary memory. Six years ago, we told you about a woman, identified as A.J., who could remember the details of nearly every day of her life. Bob Petrella, 62, of Los Angeles had to go through a lot of memory testing to qualify as someone with superior autobiographical memory. Petrella scored 55 percent correct on the news events, according to a paper published in July in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. "They asked, 'What day of the week was Jan. 1, 1984?' Petrella is one of 11 individuals who have now been extensively studied by memory researcher James McGaugh at the University of California, Irvine. They don't have photographic memories. "They're reasonably successful in what they do. "People like us, we forget normal things. May 25, 1977. "He's germ-avoidant.

Neuroaesthetics: Discovery and Disappointment with Psychoanalysis Then Kandel discovered an entirely different way of accessing the world of his childhood. He was fascinated by the main psychological theory and model of the day: psychoanalysis, which, like himself, originally came from Vienna. Kandel eagerly devoured everything that Freud had written about sexual instincts, the unconscious and suppression. With the intent of becoming an analyst himself, he studied medicine, subjected himself to analysis and explored the emotional scars that remained from the time he had spent in Vienna. Kandel was dissatisfied, though, with this new approach to gaining knowledge. When a career opened up in a neurobiological laboratory, where demonstrable truths were waiting to be discovered, he immediately seized the opportunity. His mentor told him he was crazy when he announced that he wanted to find the id and the superego in the cerebral cortex. The dream of a new form of psychoanalysis based on neurons has never been fulfilled. Does Neuroscience Enrich Art?

Dear blank, please blank Wenn man nicht aufpasst, kann es passieren, dass man ohne es zu merken gleich mehrere Stunden auf der “Dear blank, please blank” Homepage verbringt. Wenn ich nicht so vorsichtig wär, würde ich wahrscheinlich jetzt noch dasitzen und eine lustige Kurznachricht nach der anderen lesen. Wer von euch ausreichend Zeit hat, sollte sich die Seite nicht entgehen lassen. Es ist jedoch besser die Finger davon zu lassen, wenn man noch bei der Arbeit ist. Für diejenigen habe ich hier eine kurze Light-Version zusammengestellt: Die Karten sind hier im Etsy Shop für jeweils 4,50 Dollar erhältlich.

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