POSITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

The Neuroscience of Creativity

Dr. Rex Jung, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist and research scientist at the Mind Research Network (MRN)

in Albuquerque, NM, has been awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to pursue his pioneering work in the emerging field of Positive Neuroscience,

or the study of what the brain does well.

“Artists are, in a sense, neurologists who unknowingly study the brain with techniques unique to them”
- Semir Zeki

John Templeton Foundation

Three - year study

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Rex E. Jung, Ph.D.

Mind Research Network &
Departments of Neurology, Psychology,

and Neurosurgery

University of New Mexico  -

Health Sciences Center
rjung@mrn.org

http://www.mrn.org/principle-investigators/rex-jung-ph.d.html

Co - PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Danae Falliers, MFA

Adjunct Assistant Professor, IFDM

College of Fine Arts

University of New Mexico

Artist / Designer

VIDA Design / StudioToDo

info@studiotodo.com

www.studiotodo.com

CLINICAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR

Ranee Barrow

rbarrow@mrn.org

 

http://www.templeton.org/

The Neuroscience of Creativity

With a three-year grant for $600,000, Dr. Rex Jung and his colleagues at the Mind Research Network and the University of New Mexico are conducting neuroscientific research on visual artists and other individuals who have exhibited talent in science, technology, and mathematics. Their goal is to discover the link between human creativity and discrete brain regions and modes of neuronal operation. Using a combination of neuro-imaging techniques, they hope to better understand the interplay among brain structure, cognitive function, and behavior associated with the creative process.

Results of their research were recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Describing this work, New Scientist wrote: "There may be more to creativity than simply letting the ideas flow. Brain measurements of a 'creativity chemical' are revealing a complex interplay between ingenuity and intelligence."

 

 

 

FreeSurfer animation of Dr. Jung's brain

 

 

The Mind Research Network  (MRN)

http://www.mrn.org/

The Mind Research Network (MRN) is

basedin Albuquerque, NM, with

collaborators around the world,

MRN is a non-profit scientific research organization dedicated to discovering the

root causes of brain-based diseases and

disorders,and quickly advancing their

prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

 

Resources: 3T and 1.5T MRI

Neuropsychological tests

Research Assistants

Computer analysis

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
Genetics Laboratory
Mobile MRI

Map to MRN

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

• Why do people with low IQs and

autism produce beautiful art?

• Does creativity and/or intelligence

require written language?
e.g. Native Americans; preliterate societies (ancient – Ache)

• Can we really define creativity or intelligence?

• Is creativity constant over the lifespan?

• Is creativity just a social construct –

a fad of a certain era?

• Should we study creative individuals as opposed to measures of creativity?

• How is creativity manifest in the brain?

• Are we all creative or only a special few?

• How can individual creative capacity be

encouraged and developed?

website:www.studiotodo.com