Creative Mindset - The Brain & Creativity
01. Introduction
We have made research about how our imagination and creative skills work and are developed in our brains, and how this has a relation with businesses. We have conducted our investigation using different webs, studies and expert testimonies to build our own knowledge regarding this subject. Our minds are composed of imagination and creativity apart from knowledge, and we wanted to know the importance of this in our day-to-day life. Business-wise, our imagination and creative thinking are very much needed, to keep up growing and evolving.
02. THE CONCEPT OF CREATIVITY
What is creativity? Creativity comes from associating existing ideas, concepts or stories in a new way and at the same time from original ideas. This use of imagination and original ideas create inventiveness. To be able to be creative we have 3 rules to follow. The first one is that you must believe that everything is possible, so you have free-thinking boosts ideas. The second one is to have the appropriate climate and environment that stimulates ideas and creative thinking. And the last one but not less important is that people need to be encouraged to be creative because psychological safety is key. Creativity may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others and entertaining ourselves and others. This makes life interesting and fulfilling.
Creativity can be seen as a way of living life that stimulates originality and makes unique connections between different ideas as we said before. The most creative people find ways around obstacles because they see them not just as roadblocks but also as opportunities.
03 PARTS OF THE BRAIN AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
3. a) THE BRAIN
If you were asked to find the most powerful and mysterious object in the world where would you look? In the human brain. As explained by scientist Michio Kaku "The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10,000 order neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe” For a better understanding let’s take a deeper look into what the brain is made of. What is a neuron? A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. These signals between neurons occur in a synapse, a specialized connection with other cells. Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks. The adult human brain can have up to 100billion neurons wired up through 100trillion connections. The neocortex is involved in higher functions, such as the generation of sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thinking and language. The neocortex is also the place where our imagination and the place of our senses emerge. It is divided into the occipital lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and frontal lobe, which perform different functions. For example, the occipital lobe contains the primary visual cortex and the temporal lobe contains the primary auditory cortex. From our complex system of languages to our ability to understand the environment and create technology, it is the result of evolution, none of this would be possible without this crowning of evolution called the neocortex.
04 PARTS OF THE BRAIN
4. a) THE FRONTAL LOBE
The frontal lobe contains a large number of superstructures including the prefrontal cortex, frontal eye fields, motor and preprimary motor and the drill area. The structures involved in attention, language functions and decisions associated with the frontal lobe include executive processes (decision making, planning, problem-solving and thinking), voluntary motor control, cognition, intelligence, attention, language processing and understanding, and many others. The frontal lobes are the largest structures of the brain and consequently have been associated with a number of disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders associated with damage to the brain.
4. b) THE PARIETAL LOBE
The parietal lobes of the parietal cortex play an important role in the integration of information from different senses to build a coherent image of the world that integrates information from the ventral visual pathways and dorsal visual pathways. This allows us to coordinate our movements in response to objects in our environment, contains a series of different reference maps of the near space body and that makes an instant that is constantly updated as we move and interact with the world. The parietal cortex processes the attentional awareness of the environment and is involved with the manipulation of objects and representation. Numerical functions associated with the parietal lobe include; the integrated perception of somatosensory information, e.g. temperature, contact pressure and pain. Spatial processing, visual, spatial attention, spatial mathematic and numerical representation.
3. c) THE OCCIPITAL LOBE
The occipital lobe is the primary visual area of the brain. It receives projections from the Retina from where different groups of neurons separately encode different visual information such as colour, orientation and movement. Pathways from the occipital lobes reach the temporal and parietal lobes and are eventually processed consciously. Two important pathways of information originating in the occipital lobes are the dorsal and ventral streams. the dorsal stream projects to the parietal lobes and processes where objects are located. the ventral stream projects to structures in the temporal lobes and processes what objects are. Functions associated with the occipital lobe include vision, case study synesthesia.
3. d) THE TEMPORAL LOBE
That temporal lobe contains a large number of substructures. functions include perception, face recognition, object recognition, memory acquisition, understanding language and emotional reactions. Damage to the temporal lobes can result in intriguing neurological deficits called agnosia, which refer to the inability to recognize specific categories (body parts, colours, faces, music, smells). Functions associated with the temporal lobe include recognition, perception hearing, vision, smell), understanding languages, learning and memory.
05. HOW DO OUR BRAINS PRODUCE AN IMAGE THAT YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN?
We are very accustomed to this process, so we do not find it difficult. But it turns out that this is actually a complex problem that requires sophisticated coordination within the brain. Your brain takes known pieces and joins them with others to form new forms as if they were a photo collage. When we look at an object, thousands of neurons in the neocortex turn on, capturing its characteristics and creating connections between neurons in our brain, this link is what we know as a neural set. In neuroscience, this is called the Hebb principle, neurons that are switched on together, are connected.
We have thousands of neural sets each associated with an object we have seen. But how is it possible to imagine anything if this neural set does not exist?
A hypothesis called the theory of mental synthesis says that time is the key. If the neural sets of objects that we have joined together to create a new one are activated at the same time, we can perceive the two separate objects as a single image. A candidate for coordinated activation is the prefrontal cortex, which is in charge of and involved in complex cognitive functions. The theory of mental synthesis says that neurons in the prefrontal cortex send signals through the neural fibres to the posterior cortex. This activates them in unison. If the neuronal clusters are activated at the same time, the composite images are experienced as if you had actually seen them. This synchronization of neural groups is called mental synthesis. For this metal synthesis to work, signals from both neural groups must arrive at the same time. The problem is, there are neurons that are closer to the prefrontal cortex than others, which is why a bad synchronization of these signals by travelling at the same speed would result in the image not being seen.
Our connections have a length, and these cannot be changed, but your brain has a way of changing the speed of driving, this process was developed especially in childhood. The nerve fibres are covered by a fatty substance called myelin. Myelin accelerates the signals that travel along with the nerve fibre while it is an insulator. Some nerve fibres have more than 100 layers of myelin and others have very few, so some travel faster than others, especially those with more layers that travel faster than those with a thinner layer.
The difference in this myelination scientists believe could be the key to driving time in the brain. This myelination largely occurs in our childhood, which is why the construction of our brain during our early years has much to do with our imagination since during this period the connections created with its careful myelination can create creative symphonies throughout our lives.
06. DEBUNKING THE LEFT-BRAINED, RIGHT-BRAIN MYTH’ RELATED TO CREATIVITY AND PERSONALITY - BRAIN SCAN ANALYSIS ON FUNCTIONAL BRAIN LATERALISATION
It’s important to debunk the traditional ongoing myth which classifies people into being ‘right or left-brained depending on their creative ability and personality type. This is proven in a study conducted over a two-year period by neuroscientists from the University of Utah. The study consisted of the analysis of 1011 resting brain scans from people aged 7 to 29, with the purpose of measuring the specific mental processes which occur in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, known as the functional lateralization of the brain.
The results obtained imply that “individual differences don’t favour one hemisphere or the other”. While admitting that specific brain functions such as language and attention are more focused on the right side of the brain and analysis and tridimensional form recognition and interpretation more left-sided, the whole brain is involved in those cognitive systems, proving the fact that people don’t have a stronger network on one of the two hemispheres, being this statement not explanatory for someone being more or less creative. We consider this study to have external validity, as brain scans are objective and comparable amongst participants as well as exempt from researcher subjectiveness, which makes this study generalizable to the whole population.
Additionally, the group of participants studied is big enough and includes a wide range of ages, which means that brain development amongst individuals was not the same, hence making these results representative for a wide part of the population. Hence, we can use this as a myth dismantlement about the idea that creativity is directly linked to the left side of the brain.
07. HOW CREATIVITY IS ‘PRODUCED’ IN OUR BRAIN
Furthermore, creativity is thought to be produced through the joint work of different brain regions which are in charge of specific functions; e.g: the cerebellum controlling thoughts, which by working together with other parts of the brain, multiple connections between emotions and cognitive systems are triggered, through which mutual interactions in both conscious and unconscious levels are formed, trigger creativity in the brain.
08. THE DEFAULT NETWORK
Furthermore, one of the most significant discoveries in neuroscience related to creativity is called the default network, or as neurologists colloquially refer to it, the ‘imagination network’. This is a part of the brain which enables us to create personal significance and meaning from the experiences we live, imagine other perspectives and understand other scenarios and stories which resemble our own emotions or those of others. It activates when we are not engaged in other tasks purposely, e.g: when you are washing the dishes, you can find yourself thinking randomly about what a work colleague may feel about a certain meeting, imagining how he/she may feel about it, how this may infer with their day-to-day life and so on.
This dispersion of our thoughts makes our imagination burst, allowing us to explore thousands of different scenarios and ideas which may come up suddenly off-topic, having a huge impact on our creativity. This is further confirmed by a study done by Stanford University which examined and compared the levels of creativity in a group of 176 college students and other adults. They were given generic creative stars normally used by researchers in similar studies to measure one’s creativity.
Combinations of walking and seated sessions were done, in which participants were placed in different conditions such as: indoors: walking on a treadmill and sitting down, both facing a blank wall and outdoors: walking and sitting down. The walking condition was done on a predetermined path on the Stanford campus. The results showed that those that walked indoors or outdoors had similar creative inspiration boosts, and overall had consistently higher creativity levels than those who completed the creativity test seated. The study concluded that the action of walking was what triggered their creativity, not the environment, being linked to the default network which activates when we are not purposefully engaged in the task we are doing.
09. THE ACQUIRED SAVANT SYNDROME
Subsequently, the Rain Man Concussion technically referred to as the ‘acquired savant syndrome’, conceptually occurs when someone suffers a traumatic brain injury and as a consequence, they are turned into geniuses. It involves dormant savant skills to emerge in some cases at a prodigious level, as a result of a brain concussion or disease in people who had no previous brain disabilities and lacked the skills developed before the injury. An example of this can be seen with Jason Padgett. In 2002 he was brutally assaulted, causing him a severe concussion.
However, this tragic incident suddenly made him experience synesthetic imagery. This means that by hearing a sound, he may instantly visualize a colour as a result, meaning that one type of stimulation evoked in him the sensation of another. He said that suddenly everything in the world seemed to have a mathematical structure, for example seeing the geometrical shape of a rainbow, saying that he sees “shapes angles everywhere”. This raises doubts about what part of his brain was affected as before he didn’t have these abilities, but no concrete evidence of physical changes in his brain structure could be found as his MRI showed that nothing really changed.
Other examples of the acquired savant syndrome are seen in Alonzo Clemons, who had brain damage when he was 3 years old, and had an IQ less than 50, being unable to read or write. However, after the accident, he continued maintaining these features but developed a sudden ability to sculpt heavily detailed animal shapes in clay in just half an hour, having sold sculptures for $45,000.
Additionally, Derek Amato suffered 7 concussions throughout his life, which made him lose 35% of his hearing and develop light sensitivity. However, after the incident he became a piano prodigy, thought to be a result of it. He said, “we all have this area somewhere inside our brain that will allow something beautiful, genius or new”.
10. THE ACQUIRED SAVANT SYNDROME HYPOTHESIS, ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATIVITY AND THE CASE STUDIES
The hypothesis related to the acquired savant syndrome states that those areas related to verbal communication, logic and comprehension, affected by the brain damage, have been inhibiting latent artistic abilities which these people had from the start. So, it is thought that when the brain injury affects the left side of the brain, the ‘networks’ which control the right side are broken, unleashing with no restrictions for the first time the areas in the right side of the brain which are related to creativity, working completely uninhibited. Explaining like this the sudden extraordinary development of previously unknown abilities in those individuals previously mentioned who suffered a brain injury.
11. STUDY ON THE NEURAL MECHANISM OF CREATIVITY CONDUCTED BY THE SOUTHWEST FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY IN CHINA
Additionally, multiple neuroimaging studies have been conducted to explore the neural mechanism of creativity. A study conducted by the Southwest Faculty of Psychology in China in 2019, used dynamic network analysis to investigate the possible relation between verbal creativity and dynamic reorganization of brain networks. A sample of 370 healthy participants was given assessments to complete on creativity and general intelligence.
Creativity was measured using Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking which aim to identify and evaluate an individual’s creative potential using a verbal and a figural test. Undergraduates were asked to list all the interesting and unusual uses they could imagine for a cardboard box in 10 minutes, and with this information, researchers evaluated three types of creative dimensions, being originality, flexibility and fluency.
Functional imaging data were collected through brain scans while participants were asked to close their eyes and rest without falling asleep. The results obtained imply that multiple cognitive processes are linked to the dynamic reorganization of the brain networks, such as memory retrieval, cognitive control and imaginative processes, which are all connected with verbal creativity. This means that they found direct evidence which relates verbal creativity to dynamic variations of brain mechanisms when humans are in a resting state.
12. THEORIES REGARDING THE BRAIN AND CREATIVITY
Following, there are several theories regarding the brain and creativity which need to be noted to improve our comprehension of the existing relationship between these two components.
12. a) CHARLES’S SPEARMAN ‘G-FACTOR’ THEORY
In the first place, the G-factor theory brought by the British psychologist Charles Spearman in 1904, states that humans have one comprehensive general intelligence which compiles all different kinds of specific mental abilities. This is referred to as the G-Factor. He implied that all aptitudes which people may have such as the ability to do crossword puzzles or having hand agility, lie under the “G” factor. With this he wanted to prove the idea of skill clusters being correlated with each other, meaning that a person that tends to succeed in a certain area will also do well in other areas. E.g: someone who obtains high scores in tests regarding spatial skills, might also be good at numbers, showing a correlation between the cluster of skills formed by similar activities, being the ‘factor’, which could be classified as spatial-numeric reasoning.
To prove this, he invented the ‘factor analysis which is a statistical procedure used to determine the possible correlation between certain skills, by using different tests to measure common abilities. The most common intelligence tests used nowadays measure 5 key cognitive factors which are thought to compose what is called ‘general intelligence. These are; visual-spatial processing, quantitative reasoning, knowledge, fluid reasoning and working memory. This theory understands that intelligence can be measured numerically e.g: with IQ scores, defending that one’s underlying general intelligence has an influence on all cognitive tasks and can be objectively measured and compared among individuals.
12. b) L.L THURSTONE’S ‘THEORY OF 7 CLUSTERS OF MENTAL ABILITIES’
However, it is seen as controversial the idea of intelligence being quantifiable. The concept of general intelligence as such has varied across time and amongst researchers. One of the first challengers of Charles Spearman’s G-factor theory was L.L Thurstone. He opposed the idea of intelligence being ranked on a single scale. He conducted a study in which 56 different tests were given to his participants, and used the results obtained to identify seven different clusters of mental abilities.
This approach was done as a way to show that one can be intelligent in different fields and not in others, being less restrictive on the generic type of intelligence linked to numeral abilities. However, when researchers duplicated his experiment, a repetitive pattern was seen in the results obtained, showing that those which obtained good results in one aptitude also had high scores in the other aptitudes, agreeing with Spearman’s G-factor in which one comprehensive general intelligence compiles all different kinds of specific mental abilities.
12. c) HOWARD GARDNER’S ‘THEORY OF THE 8 INTELLIGENCES’
On a different thought track, the American psychologist Howard Gardner saw intelligence as something richer, more than just a single type containing every one of them and instead though there were eight different ones. He came up with the ’theory of the 8 intelligence’, in which intelligence is viewed as multiple abilities that are expressed in different ways. These are; naturalist, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, spatial and naturalistic.
Linking back to the previously mentioned ‘acquired savant syndrome’, Gardner based his theory on savants, which are those who have his syndrome, stating that the brain injuries these people suffered, were inferred with certain mental abilities and destroyed them but left intact the others, even exponentially increasing them. He used this as the ultimate proof to contradict the G-factor theory, suggesting that humans have 8 different intelligences beyond one common one as stated by Spearman’s theory.
12. c. i) USEFULNESS FOR BUSINESSES TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS
In our working life, we need collaboration and ideas. In the workplace, we need creative vision, problem-solving strategies, critical thinking, interpersonal skills, language skills, communication and speech skills. Using Garner's theory can help the company to develop individuals and allocate leadership and team roles by understanding the learning and working attitudes of those involved.
In the case of the self-employed or managers, their own intelligence or attitudes can help to run a company more effectively with a clear idea of strengths and knowing the attitudes of employees can help to work to improve other weaker areas or seek help from them.
In conclusion, the application of the theory of multiple intelligences could help to appreciate in the workplace the different strengths of the workforce and thus encourage teamwork with different learning and working styles.
12. d) STERNBERG’S ‘THEORY OF THE 3 INTELLIGENCES’
Supporting Gardner’s theory, the American psychologist Robert Sternberg grouped Gardner’s 8 intelligences into three main ones. Sternberg’s three intelligences theory states that humans have three main intelligences that group all others, and this is analytical/problem-solving intelligence, creative intelligence or ability to adapt to new situations and practical intelligence used in everyday tasks. Nevertheless, there is still a belief amongst psychologists and researchers that even these 3 different ways of showing one’s intelligence in different fields are all underlying one main general intelligence factor, going back to Spearman’s G-factor theory.
12. d. i) USEFULNESS FOR BUSINESSES TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS
Previously, by applying Garner's eight intelligences to the company, we have seen how these could be applied theoretically in the world of work, but Steinberg makes it even easier for us by grouping it into three intelligences that are totally necessary for the company. Every company has a problem, so it is necessary to have this analytical or resolution intelligence, a creative and adaptive intelligence to evolve at the same speed as the market changes in our day and finally the practical intelligence for all those tasks that we have to carry out successfully. In conclusion, what this psychologist shows us is the presence that these intelligence have in our day and age since they are necessary both in the working and personal world. If one of these intelligence fails in a company, the practice of this company will fail.
12. e.) CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE AND ITS PROBLEM WHEN STANDARDISING
That said, there still lies a type of intelligence that has lots of controversy in its measurement, creative intelligence. One’s capacity to come up with innovative and creative ideas is considered as a less tangible form of intelligence, and while there are some tests that look at creative potential, we don't have a standardized system for quantifying creativity. Traditional intelligence measuring tests such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WAIS/WISC) test are thought to not fairly measure these. Divergent thinking, directly related to one’s ability to come up with creative solutions, is thought to be unable to be measured in tests with a one correct answer policy, ignoring the individual’s ability to account for alternative creative solutions.
12. e. i) USEFULNESS FOR BUSINESSES TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS
Managers and CEOs need to be aware of the existence of creative intelligence and seek ways to enhance it as much as possible among its workers. By being aware that traditional intelligence measuring tests are not objective methods to evaluate an employee’s creative potential, businesses should seek new forms to enable employees to exploit their creativity, using for example the later mentioned 5 main components of creativity mentioned by Sternberg.
Additionally, by being aware that IQ tests exclude creative intelligence as well as ignore its standardization complexity, employees can be contemplated as much more than an IQ number, having more opportunities to show their creative potential instead of being restricted by the results they obtained in linear one-answer policy intelligence tests or traditional forms of measuring what is understood as one’s general intelligence.
This will enable workers to feel more freedom and confidence in their creative abilities. This can be done by assigning tasks that give workers the opportunity to step out of conventionality and show their potential beyond the grade the day to day working abilities they may develop, being really beneficial to catalyze divergent thinking in the workplace. This can be really useful for all types of jobs when seeking solutions or new approaches to everyday situations, and especially even more useful for marketing teams and those jobs based on constant innovation.
12. f) STERNBERG’S ‘5 MAIN COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY’
To improve understanding of what creative intelligence is and its functioning, the psychologist Robert Sternberg came up with the ‘five main components of creativity.
These are:
1) Expertise, referring to well-developed bases of knowledge. When someone acquires expertise, it is able to combine all sorts of data, having the ability to understand and create new data,
2) Imaginative thinking skills; which allows the individual to see things in new ways as well as make connections between already learnt and new data, by identifying patterns in it,
3) Venturesome Personality; When people seek for new experiences, dealing well with risk and uncertainty as well as getting past obstacles which may appear, has risk tolerance and perseveres when obstacles occur,
4) Intrinsic Motivation; being internally motivated by the idea of obtaining satisfaction, overcoming challenges or having interest on the activity you are doing, instead of getting motivation from external sources,
5) A Creative Environment: the environment in which one is surrounded by, needs to be innovative and filled with a stimulus which triggers creative ideas and interaction between its elements to boost creative sparks.
12. f. i) USEFULNESS FOR BUSINESSES TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS
In relation to business, we can use the example of google. This company implements their strategy and objectives with these five points, for example, they require their employees to have a level of expertise in their field while at the same time are able to look outside the box with imaginative skills. They look for the best of the best, and people who stand out from the rest because of their knowledge and skills. Google is known because this company never stops innovating, while at the same time trying to improve their customers' lives.
Their infrastructures and the way they work are definitely venturesome and google is one of the first businesses to lead the way of innovation. As I said before, Google’s environment is definitely uncommon. They have one of the best workplaces in the world because they give their employees a safe workspace with different outcomes where they can develop and freely develop new technologies and ideas.
12. g) SALOVEY AND MAYER’S CONCEPT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATIVITY
Aside from creative intelligence and the ‘traditional’ intelligence, the psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer defined the concept of emotional intelligence being another type of intelligence that defines and characterizes individuals. They defined this as the “ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions.” This recognition is extrapolated to films, songs, stories, etc, not limiting just to facial physical recognition.
Once recognise these emotions, those that are able to understand and relate to them might be able to predict their evolution, being able to know how someone may react or feel regarding a certain situation. Adding to this, having the capacity to manage your own emotions is also a trait of emotional intelligence, as so is behaving adequately and being able to express how you feel suitably in situations that may occur.
Lastly, related to creativity, people who have emotional intelligence are able to apply their creativity to come up with solutions to manage multiple situations such as conflicts, or when comforting others, using adaptive and creative thinking. However, similarly to creative intelligence, emotional intelligence can be measured roughly through tests, moreover, there are no standardized ways to adequately measure it.
12. g. i) USEFULNESS FOR BUSINESSES TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS
It is crucial for firms to be aware of emotional intelligence, inculcating it in their company values as well as taking it into account in their selection process, searching for candidates which have the skills related to emotional intelligence. Firms who apply emotional intelligence through their hierarchical pyramid, are able to work with better connections among employees, more effective communication methods and fewer arguments.
This is because both subordinates and managers are able to empathize with each other, being able to behave adequately and express their emotions according to the situation and to what they think, easing communication and understanding between them. Additionally, developing the ability to manage your own emotions, is highly useful in the workplace as it enables employees and managers to keep work matters as work instead of feeling personally attacked by arguments or disagreements, being able to understand each other and work with much more harmony than by being ignorant of other feelings and reactions towards certain situations.
Additionally, by knowing that emotional intelligence is difficult to be adequately measured, companies could give courses on this, strengthening these competencies among their whole organization. This can be highly beneficial as by knowing that those who have emotional intelligence are able to come up with new solutions to manage certain situations, creativity is also fueled, increasing employees’ ability to adapt to uncertainty which is highly crescent in today’s economic situation and workplace environment.
13. METACOGNITIVE PROCESSES AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS OF THE BRAIN
13. a) WHAT IS METACOGNITION
Throughout this question, we are going to explore the executive functions of the brain. These are the parts of the brain that have a higher level of cognitive skills. These skills are used to control and coordinate our other cognitive abilities and behavioural abilities. In this case, we are going to study metacognition and put metacognition into practice using various scientific studies.
13. a. i) KEY VOCABULARY FOR METACOGNITION
Cognition: The mental process of obtaining and understanding the knowledge through experiences and senses
Meta: refers to beyond, so in terms of metacognition, it refers to higher level of cognition
Metacognition: means having control of your own mental process.
Metacognitive knowledge: how individuals monitor and control their cognitive processes.
13. b) THE METACOGNITION CYCLE
Metacognition: We could define metacognition somehow as the process of thinking about one's thinking. In other words, it attributes the processes used to plan, monitor and evaluate once understanding and performance. Metacognition phases:
13. b. i.) PLANNING
The first phase is the planning, in this stage, people create an idea and their objectives and plan of how they are going to achieve it and what strategies they are going to use for being able to achieve this goal. During this phase they should ask themselves these questions:
13. b. ii) MONITORING
The second stage is monitoring, in this step the learners will carry out and follow their plan. Using their strategies and monitoring the progress they achieved towards their final success. These are some questions they can use to automonitorise:
13. b. iii) EVALUATION
Finally, we get to the evaluation process. Here we need to come up to a conclusion to know if our strategy was successful or if not, what could be done differently to help the success of the goal. Here are some questions to help:
13. b. iv) REFLECTION
Last but not least, we have the reflection. It is a fundamental part of the diagram process. It motivates the learners to self-question themselves throughout the whole cycle .
13. c) METACOGNITIVE LEVELS
David Perkins in 1992 recognized and classified 3 types of metacognitive levels of learners:
13. c. i) TACIT LEARNERS
1. Tacit learners are the people that do not realize the potential of metacognition knowledge. They do not think of any strategy when learning and do not care if they learned something or not at the end of the task.
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13. c. ii) AWARE LEARNERS:
2. Aware learners, they are people that organize their thinking when constructing ideas or in their findings but when they are thinking they do not plan at all.
13. c. iii) STRATEGIC LEARNERS:
3. Strategic learners usually organize their thinking when problem solving and know how and when to apply it so that it helps him to learn and improve.
13. c. iv) REFLECTIVE LEARNERS:
4. Reflective learners are not just individuals that are strategic when thinking, but also more about applying what they learned in the past problems for future scenarios.
13. d) BENEFITS OF METACOGNITION
13. d. i) INDIVIDUAL AWARENESS
Metacognition builds crucial awareness to the brain that can be divided in two faces; a) One’s thinking and learning and b) Oneself as a thinker and learner. Taking into account metacognition when learning, increases the effectiveness and productivity of one's individual. This is because metacognitive practices increase individuals' abilities to transfer and adapt their past learned knowledge to new contexts and problem solving. They do this by developing and expanding the level of awareness above the problem itself, thinking about the tasks and contexts of different past learned situations and themselves as learners in these different contexts and trying to apply it to these new scenarios.
13. d. ii) PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
In my personal life as a student, some subjects are more difficult for me than others. While doing this study, I realized that this might be due to the lack of interconnections with some subjects that are more difficult for me to understand, for example, in my case Chinese. This might be because it is completely new, and I cannot relate it with anything learned before. However, while studying French it was easier for me as there are more connections like the grammar, Latin, alphabet that I can relate it with other familiar languages to make it easier for me. People who know about the different kinds of strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving will be more likely to use them in other areas, they must “know about” the theory of these practices, not just the practice of them.
13. d. iii. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES
Metacognitive practices help individuals become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses skills as learners. An important thing to know is to what extent one’s knowledge or ability gets and then figuring out how to broaden that knowledge. Those who know to what extend their strengths and weaknesses are capable of in these areas will be more likely to “actively monitor their learning strategies and resources and assess their readiness for particular tasks and performances”, said Nancy Chick, CFT Assistant director in her metacognitive technics study applied on students to improve the efficiency of learning.
13. e) CONCLUSION
In conclusion, people tend to live happily not being conscious of the importance of their competences and skills. Therefore, if people are not bothered, they lack the ability to develop good answers and also the skills to identify the wrong answers and make a constructive answer, in other words, lack of critical thinking. Throughout this analysis that we have done, we increased our metacognitive awareness and learned the correct abilities, on how to identify them and how to practice them indeed in all scenarios.
14. WHAT IS THE USE OF METACOGNITION FOR THE BUSINESS PROCESS, HOW CAN CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION BE PROMOTED IN A COMPANY WITH THE USE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE?
14. a) AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
14. a. i) SCRUM FRAMEWORK
As we mentioned before the metacognitive phases can also be applied for business projects, for example in an Agile project management-SCRUM Framework. These are practices that approach discovering and developing solutions through teams. It involves planning, developing and delivering through constant improvement encouraging flexible responses, uses the same values as the metacognitive cycle seen before. (annex img. 6)
14. b. ii) KANBAN BOARD METHODOLOGY
Another methodology business can use when applying metacognition is the Kanban board methodology. This method manages and improves work across all human systems, they do this by using the pull system which also involves just in time, which reduces the amount of time wasted, working only when there is a customer/project demand for it & Kanban Methodology vs SCRUM Framework comparison.
14. b. iii) CO-INNOVATION & INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
Moreover, businesses can also use metacognitive to help them with innovation. Co-innovation involves the involvement of at least two partners, with the objective of sharing reciprocal knowledge, this creates an innovation ecosystem. An innovation ecosystem is a term used to describe the stakeholders that are important for innovation. They are organizations that play an important role and are essential for creating value, transforming ideas, information and resources into reality. Therefore, transparency is very important when transferring the information. Co- Innovation & Innovation ecosystem
15. HOW CAN COMPANIES USE THIS INFORMATION TO PROMOTE A CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT?
15. a) CHALLENGING BIAS
15. a. i) BUSINESS CULTURE
When considering how to use metacognition in businesses, we not only have to think about how different businesses work, but also how differently the individuals within a business work. Some people within a business prefer working with other peers, however, other people prefer working on their own. Applying metacognition in their business process provides more awareness within the business environment.
15. a. ii) CHALLENGING CULTURE
It is important not only as individuals but also for the business and in specific for the culture of the organization to challenge the bias. Challenging bias can create new opportunities and ideas that focus on the thinking process and impacts positively our decision making. Therefore, using the metacognitive cyclical process ensures success, realistic goal setting and good practices, but we do not have to see this as one idea that will solve all the problems regarding the business culture.
16. HOW NON-CREATIVE PEOPLE CAN BECOME CREATIVE
16. a) INTRODUCTION
How to Be Creative When You're Not Naturally Creative. To work in your creativity, you first need to know how creative you are or if you are creative at all. But how can you know this? Everyone feels like everything has already been thought of, or sometimes you don't know where to start and you end up in the conclusion that you are not creative, but this may not be true. When we are expected to have an idea and we are too frustrated to come up with it, we can see people around us that can keep coming up with new ideas and we tend to think that they are naturally more creative, but probably it is because they are more trained. Many psychologists argue that creativity is not a natural talent, it's actually a skill that can be learned. The brain is similar to a muscle that can be developed, for example, like using cognitive exercises. Business wise, creativity has been a key point companies look for in their employees. There are 11 steps that will help you develop your brain:
16. b) STEPS
16. b. i) START WITH A MORNING FREEWRITE
The first point in the list is to start with a morning free write. According to a study from Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile. Writing a little journaling allows us to change our perspective of things and to organize ourselves to be more productive. Work or college can stress us out and make us lose perspective. The way to do this is very simple. The first thing you should do in the morning instead of just starting to work on your different projects, you should organize your mind and thoughts and write them in free-from style. This will incentivize your creative juices to flow and at the same time your thoughts will be now written down for you to analyze. Some prompt ideas made by Megan Conley are: “Today, I’ll relieve stress by..”, and “this week I’m thankful for..”
16. b. ii) TAKE A CREATIVE COURSE
Some individuals are inclined toward guided instruction, so taking a creativity course can be the proper way to coordinate their creativity and help to develop it. There are different aspects you can be working in this course, but regardless of what course, at the end, you can be taught how to use different ways to think and many tips that you are going to be able to apply in your everyday life. For example, you can take a look at your strengths and weaknesses and work on them. You can be surrounded by other people who want to develop their creative skills too so you can learn from each other. You can all review each other's work, get fresh ideas and learn together. In this class you can ask questions more comfortable than at work and open up to others. You will be able to share your ideas, to confront critique and to put your thoughts into words. Structure cannot be the best way to work on creativity for some people, but it could help to direct your thoughts to final ideas.
16. b. iii) BRAINSTORM WHILE YOUR EXERCISE
If you are still having problems with creative thinking, you should exercise for 30 min to come out with ideas. There is research that has shown that exercise can improve creativity. It proves that exercising regularly helps to train your cognitive thinking and creativity in a very good way. “Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge ocean of movement,” said by the Neurologist Oliver Sacks. Doing sport will benefit your health and your mind.
16. b. iv) TRAVEL TO OTHER PLACES
Creativity has a relation with how our brain is related to itself. Having your mind stimulated by new sounds, smells, sights, tastes, and experiences is very important to keep it active. To experience different points of view and new cultural experiences can make you open your mind. Keeping your sense sharp allows the synapses in your brain to think in new ways. “Foreign experiences increase both cognitive flexibility and depth and integration of thought, the ability to make deep connections between disparate forms,” says Adam Galinsky. Adam Galinsky made a research and finalized the conclusion that putting yourself in another culture, engaging with the local people and art, can make you learn new ways of thinking and make you improve in your creative thinking.
16. b. v) CHANNEL YOUR INNER CHILD
Children are naturally creative because they don't have limits. They do not know what the limits to their creativity and they are choose any direction to create it. If you start thinking like this, you will end up being more self-conscious that your work is not good enough, and you will be more conductive to take risks and push your creative limits. And do not forget about how fun this can be. Children see life as games, adventures, discoveries and enjoy every moment. My advice is to stop thinking about the responsibilities of your work and pressure and focus all your energy into having fun and open your mind into solving your new challenge at work.
16.b. vi) JOIN A COWORKING SPACE
The University of Michigan made a study, and they found out that there are two keys to create creativity: Flexibility and autonomy. The physical setup of the space can influence a lot on your thinking. Having the capability of changing your space to suit your personal preferences and to make it comfortable in the way you want encourages creativity a lot and increases productivity. Everyone should customize their workspace to their preferences and make it conductive for their work. Another thing that influences your work is our proximity to others. To have the opportunity of collaboration, because it can help innovation and can help you meet new people with different mindsets to give you fresh ways of thinking.
16. b. vii) INCORPORATE BREAKS INTO EVERY WORKDAY
Breaks can allow your mind to rest from responsibilities and keep working on your thoughts creating new unexpected ideas. It can help to organize your thoughts too. Adrian Furnman, Ph.D describes in a Psychology article, it’s important to give your thinking "incubation time" once you’ve been actively working on an idea for some time. Brian Halligan, HubSpot's own CEO and co-founder, is an important supporter for naps at the workplace. He says that he finds his best ideas come to him when he is just falling asleep or just waking up. In an interview with the NY times, he said he pushes to make the office into an environment where employees can "work less and think more" by providing nap rooms to encourage employees to take a break. He thinks it will help to boost creativity.
16. b. viii) CONNECT WITH CREATIVE PEOPLE
New points of view can change to complete your initial idea. Surrounding yourself with creative people who can share with you and give you feedback, and opinion is good for you in so many ways. It can help with your creativity in so many ways that you would never find out if you don't try it. These different points of view can act as fresh perspectives on a project you’ve been staring at for too long. This people can motivate you to do your best work, because a little bit of competition could force yourself to inner your creative spirit. This specially happens when these connections challenge your way of thinking. If you only surround yourself with people that think like you, you are never going to see your faults. To be criticized can be hard, but it is going to make you think in ways you've never taught before.
16. b. ix) KEEP A DOODLE JOURNAL AT YOUR DESK
If you're a visual thinker, it could be harder to organize your ideas. So, you should try new things, change your routine, and try drawing your thoughts instead. According to Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution, “Even if you’re just scribbling in the margins, you’re lighting up different networks in your brain and when you do that, you’re engaging different information. "Mind maps, diagrams, etc. can help you organize your ideas, and connect them in a clear way. Put it down lets you put into words and into physical shapes, making it easier to understand.
16. b. x) UNWIND BY WATCHING FUNNY CONTENT
Researchers have discovered that there is a strong correlation between humor and creativity. Having a moment of laughing can inspire you because it puts you in a better mood, allowing your mind to think freely and have better solving problems. You can have a laugh by hanging out with your friends, watching humor videos, or movies, or funny tweets. If you try to solve problems using different perspectives, you can find fresh ideas that could be very useful.
16. b. xi) LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE YOUR WORK
If music is good or concentration or not has been a controversial theme for a long time. There are chances of increasing your intelligence during it (Mozart effect), and also your productivity is supposed to increase too. Music can help you focus, and at the same time, putting you in a better mood where you are not anxious. It is recommended to listen to classical music, techno or even video games soundtracks because lyrics can be distracting. This kind of music can help channel your creativity and increase processing levels and promote creative thinking.
16. c) CONCLUSION
In summary, non-creative people do not exist. Everyone's mind can get blocked sometimes and everyone can have trouble under pressure, and this article can make you feel understood, and give you different practices that will help you throw your bad creative moments. Business wise, creative positions and innovation are very important. Businesses should apply some of these tactics in their offices and provide employees with freedom and independence. If your employees are happy and satisfied, they will be able to practice some of these tips, becoming more productive, and helping grow the company.
17. OVERALL PROJECT CONCLUSION
Starting with what is understood as the concept of creativity, we wanted firstly to understand the general concept, allowing us to then dig deeper, investigating the brain itself and narrowing down the relation between creativity and the brain. We have done this by studying how our brain produces an image that the individual has never seen before, being a clear example of the brain engaging in a creative activity.
Following, we wanted to debunk the ongoing myth regarding the left and right sides of the brain defining one’s creative potential and personality, and for this we took into account a study on brain lateralization, to understand how both sides work on cognitive processes and the relation between them. This is linked to how creativity is ‘produced in our brain’, which was something key to understand when considering the role each side of the brain has and their overall joined function. Following, we investigated the default network, thought to be directly related to creativity and the acquired savant syndrome, being one of the most extraordinary cases of people developing new abilities up to prodigy levels as a result of brain damage, related with an exponential increase in their creativity levels.
Thereafter, we researched about the neural mechanisms of the brain regarding creativity, following with numerous theories involving human intelligence and the main components of creativity, as well as distinguishing the importance of creative intelligence and emotional intelligence, considered equally important as traditional types of intelligences such as analytical/ problems solving. To give this information a practical use, we instigated about the usefulness for businesses to know these data, what benefits can this bring to the organization and how this knowledge be implemented in the day to day running and managing of the company, considering our current economic circumstances.
Furthermore, we found it relevant to study metacognitive processes, as they study one’s thinking, engaging in activities such as planning, monitoring and evaluating an individual’s thinking processes, allowing self-thought evaluation as well as application to the business world. The latter can be linked to metacognitive processes as they enable agile methodologies to be implemented in the business project management strategies, approaching novel creative initiatives, innovating in the company's culture and having a consequential impact on the business environment overall.
Subsequently, we wanted to find a few ways of aiding creativity in those individuals considered completely opposite to creative, allowing several steps to be followed to instantly work on one self’s creativity, as well as relating the usefulness that this steps can have in the business environment, being the habilitation of practices which can be carried out in the normal day to day routine, which may boost employees’ creative potential and verbal contribute to the firm’s innovation and differentiation in the market.
On the whole, throughout our investigation we have learned the existing relation between creativity and the brain. Being able to observe and understand the relationship between the brain and creativity. Through the studies of the brain and the processes that take place in it, we have made clear how important the function of creativity is in this case and the important role it plays today in the correct development of the company and its innovation processes, so as not to be left behind in the market. This process of creativity linked to innovation is very present in today's companies and at the same time in future companies, so that they can improve and not get stuck in the market, thus developing new products or processes.
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