Class Projects

Guest Lecture - Rex Jung

Jason Kimble

Dr. Jung is a neuropsychologist whom looks at the function and structure of young adult brains at the MIND institute at UNM. HIs research focuses on using Diffusion Tensor Imaging to investigate where creativity originates from in the brain. Dr Jung stated that creativity is defined as the production of something novel and useful. One important aspect that he mentioned was that creativity is not associated with intelligence. Also there is a misconception that you have to be an "Einstein" to be creative. One interesting aspect that he touched on was something he referred to as "plebeophobia" . What this refers to is that there is a notion that you have to be crazy to be creative. In society there is a misconception that mental illness is associated with creativity. It has been shown that it is usually between a psychotic episode when creativity happens in individuals with mental disorders. It was noted that a lot of ideas are associated with finally converging on a good idea. Individuals have to realize that there are many types of creativity.

How creativity often works:

1. Preparation

ideas

2. Incubation

the ideas move around in your head
may come to you during a walk through the woods, etc……

3. Illumination

the light that goes off
does not always have to happen

4. Verification

testing hypothesis
may be a good idea and it may not be
if its not a good idea start again

The five P's for creativity

Prepare- collect ideas to put together in novel ways
Practice- that 10 years thing is likely right
Play- unstructured cognitive activity
Produce- put a lot of ideas out into the world
Persevere- Keep trying and failing and trying

Three questions I did not ask:

What direction do you expect this research to be going in 10 years?
Do you expect your research to have any sort of medical applications in the future?
Has there been any progress on increasing comparability across studies or on converging on a common brain nomenclature?