Cracking the creativity code

Why do we get some of our best ideas, or find solutions to a problem that’s been nagging us, when we’re in the shower?

Psychologist John Kounios, who has been using neuroimaging technology to understand creativity, says it’s the right environment for insight.

He has spent years cracking the code of creativity by using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to see what’s going on inside our heads while we problem solve.

On the one hand, we can use an analytical approach, employing logic, strategy, and data from the frontal lobe. Then there’s that feeling of “eureka,” when the idea seems to magically appear out of nowhere, which Kounios discovered is connected to the right temporal lobe.

This week on The Connection…understanding insight, creativity and the brain with John Kounios.

We’ll also hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon about how she approaches her work.