Authors: Philip Carter
Tags: #0470017740.pdf
green, one bag contains blue and one bag contains brown.
* All of the balls in four of the bags weigh 20 grams and all the
balls in one of the bags, you do not know which bag, weigh
18 grams, i.e. they are 2 grams less than the other balls.
By using a single tray scale (and not a two-tray Libra-type scale),
how can you find out in the minimum number of weighings which
bag contains the lighter balls?
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4 Creativity
In the creative state a man is taken out of himself. He lets down
as it were a bucket into his subconscious and draws up something
which is normally beyond his reach. He mixes this thing with
his normal experiences and out of the mixture he makes a work
of art.
E. M. Forster
The term ‘creativity’ refers to mental processes that lead to solutions,
ideas, concepts, artistic forms, theories or products that are unique or
novel. It has sometimes been referred to as ‘the eighth intelligence’.
In this chapter there will be an opportunity not only to explore your
creative talents and potential in general, but also the specific creative
thought processes of imagination, lateral thinking and problem solving.
As a result of work carried out in the 1960s by the American
neurologist Roger Wolcott Sperry (1913^1994), it became apparent
that the creative functions of human beings are controlled by the right-
hand hemisphere of the human brain. This is the side of the brain which
is under-used by the majority of people, as opposed to the thought
processes of the left-hand hemisphere, which is characterised by order,
sequence and logic; and is responsible for such functions as numerical
and verbal skills.
Sperry shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
for his split-brain research, which serves as the basis for our current
understanding of cerebral specialisation in the human brain. From the
1960s his work with human patients proved to be of major significance
in the development of neurobiology and psychobiology. He published
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Creativity
his ground-breaking discovery of two separately functioning hemi-
spheres of the brain in 1968.
Thanks to people such as Sperry, in the second half of the twentieth
century we have become much more aware of the importance of the
human brain, its functioning and its relationship to our body; in fact
we have learned more about the brain in the past decade or so than in
all of the previous centuries, and one area in which we have obtained a
much greater understanding concerns the specialisation of the cerebral
hemispheres.
Throughout history it has been accepted that human beings are
all different in their own way; in other words, each one of us is an
individual with his=her own physical make-up, fingerprints, DNA,
facial features, character and personality. These characteristics have
always been analysed and categorised, but it was not until the mid-
twentieth century that it was realised that each one of us has two
sides to his=her brain, each of which have quite different functions and
characteristics.
In the 1960s, Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzanniga and Joseph
Bogan began a series of ground-breaking experiments that seemed to
indicate certain types of thinking were related to certain parts of the
brain.
Research, begun in the 1950s, had found that the cerebral cortex
has two halves, called hemispheres, which are almost identical. These
two brain hemispheres are connected by a bridge, or interface, of
millions of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum, which allows them
to communicate with each other. The left side of the brain connects to
the right side of the body, while the right side of the brain connects
to the left side.
In order to work to its full potential, each of these hemispheres
must be capable of analysing its own input first, only exchanging
information with the other half, by means of the interface, when a
considerable amount of processing has taken place.
Because both hemispheres are capable of working independently,
human beings are able to process two streams of information at once.
The brain then compares and integrates the information to obtain
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a broader and more in-depth understanding of the concept under
examination.
In the early 1960s, Sperry and his team showed by a series of
experiments, first using animals whose corpus callosum had been
severed, and then on human patients whose corpus callosum had
been severed in an attempt to cure epilepsy, that each of the two
hemispheres has developed specialised functions and has its own
private sensations, perceptions, ideas and thoughts, all separate from
the opposite hemisphere.
As their experiments continued, Sperry and his team were able to
reveal much more about how the two hemispheres were specialised
to perform different tasks. The left side of the brain is analytical and
functions in a sequential and logical fashion and is the side which
controls language, academic studies and rationality. The right side is
creative and intuitive and leads, for example, to the birth of ideas for
works of art and music.
The contrasting right- and left-hemisphere functions, sometimes
referred to as ‘laterality’, can be summarised as follows:
Left hemisphere
Right hemisphere
Parsing
Holistic
Logic
Intuition
Conscious thought
Subconscious thought
Outer awareness
Inner awareness
Methods, rules
Creativity
Written language
Insight
Number skills
Three-dimensional forms
Reasoning
Imagination
Scientific skills
Music, art
Aggression
Passive
Sequential
Simultaneous
Verbal intelligence
Practical intelligence
Intellectual
Sensuous
Analytical
Synthetic
The meaning of the word ‘lateral’ is of or relating to the side, away
from the median axis. The term ‘laterality’ ^ or ‘sidedness’ ^ is used to
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Creativity
refer to any one of a number of preferences for one side of the body
to another. Probably the most common example of this, and one to
which we can all relate, is whether a person is left- or right-handed. In
recent years the term ‘laterality’ has come to be used very much to
characterise the asymmetry of the hemispheres of the brain with regard
to specific cognitive functions, as demonstrated by the list above.
While some individuals may be heavily weighted towards a
particular hemisphere, this does not mean they are predominant in
every one of that particular hemisphere’s skills, since no-one is entirely
left- or right-brained, e.g. while some individuals may have a strong
overall bias towards left-side brain dominance, it may be that they still
under-perform on, for instance numerical tests, and therefore need to
work at that particular skill.
There is also always going to be an overlap between certain brain
functions of opposing hemispheres, e.g. functions using logical processes
and lateral thinking processes, where one is a predominantly right-brain
function and the other is a predominantly left-brain function. However,
when logical processes are being used, the right brain does not switch off
and vice versa. On the contrary, both of these brain processes work much
more effectively when both sides of the brain are working together.
The importance to each of us of accessing both hemispheres of the
brain is considerable. In order to support the whole brain function,
logic and intuition, to give just two examples, are equally important.
Before the subconscious of the right-hand hemisphere can function, it
needs the fuel, or data, that has been fed into, collated and processed by
the left-hand hemisphere. One danger is the overburdening of the left-
hand hemisphere with too much data, and too quickly, to the extent that
the creative side of the brain is unable to function to its full potential.
On the other hand, lack of data fed into the left-hand hemisphere
could result in the creative side, or right hemisphere, ‘drying up’. It is
therefore desirable to strike the right balance between right and left
hemispheres in order for the brain to work to its full potential.
Because it is under-used, much creative talent in many people remains
untapped throughout life. Until we try, most of us never know what
we can actually achieve. We all have a creative side to our brain,
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therefore we should all have the potential to be creative. However,
because of the pressures of modern living and the need for specialisation
in order to develop a successful career, many of us never have the
time or opportunity, or indeed are never given the encouragement, to
explore our latent talents, even though most of us have sufficient
ammunition to realise this potential in the form of data which has been
fed into, collated and processed by the brain during our lifetime.
Like many other tasks, or pleasures, we never know what we
can achieve until we try. Having then tried, we instinctively know
whether we find it enjoyable or whether we have a talent or flair for it.
Then, if these signs are positive, we must persevere. By cultivating
new leisure activities and pursuing new pastimes, it is possible for each
of us to explore the potential and often vastly under-used parts of the
human brain.
Test 4.0
Creativity personality test
In each of the following, choose from a scale of 1^5 which of these
statements you most agree with or is most applicable to yourself.
Choose just one of the numbers 1^5 in each of the 25 statements.
Choose 5 for most agree=most applicable option, down to 1 for least
agree=least applicable:
1 I find it very difficult to concentrate on just one subject or project
for a long period without breaking off to do other things.
5
4
3
2
1
2 I am more of a visionary, rather than someone who is down to
earth and businesslike.
5
4
3
2
1
3 I often have the urge to try out a new hobby, such as painting or
playing a musical instrument.
5
4
3
2
1
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Creativity
4 I am not afraid to voice unpopular opinions.
5
4
3
2
1
5 I like to retire into my own thoughts uninterrupted for a thinking
session.
5
4
3
2
1
6 I would describe myself as more disordered than methodical.
5
4
3
2
1
7 The greatest teacher of all is experience.
5
4
3
2
1
8 I am more sensitive than the average person when it comes to
environmental issues.
5
4
3
2
1
9 I have more of an interest and=or curiosity in modern art than a
‘dismissing it as rubbish’ attitude.
5
4
3
2
1
10 I often have the urge to take things apart to see how they work.
5
4
3
2
1
11 I have a very overactive mind, to the extent that I sometimes find
it difficult to get to sleep at night.
5
4
3
2
1
12 I enjoy being unconventional.
5
4
3
2
1
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13 I am more of an intuitive person than an intellectual.
5
4
3
2
1
14 When attending a talk or lecture, I often find myself drifting off
and thinking of other things.
5
4
3
2
1
15 I sometimes get very frustrated with myself if I cannot do
something as well as I would like to.
5
4
3
2
1
16 I prefer solitude and scenery to lively social gatherings.
5
4
3
2
1
17 I often find myself irritated by petty rules and regulations.
5
4
3
2
1
18 I have a very lively imagination.
5
4
3
2
1
19 I am often very impatient to learn new things.
5
4
3
2
1
20 I more than occasionally have dreams that I am unable to
explain.