海角论坛

April 22, 2016鈥擜t first blush, it sounds like the stuff of 1960s science fiction. But as Georgetown 海角论坛 psychology professor patiently explains the science 鈥� how a simple setup of two electrodes on the forehead could actually promote human creativity 鈥� you realize that this isn鈥檛 a Michael Crichton novel.

鈥淲e鈥檙e identifying exactly where and under what circumstances we see the brain respond to a cue to be creative, and we鈥檙e then ready to apply something to actually influence, to boost what is happening,鈥� Green said.

Transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, is the subject of a authored by Green, Georgetown University Medical C颅颅颅enter鈥檚 and researchers at the University of Connecticut, Northwestern University and the National Institute of Mental Health.

The technology itself isn鈥檛 new. As Green put it, electric stimulation has been in use for hundreds of years 鈥� since 鈥� was making frog legs twitch with this basic method.鈥� And as Popular Mechanics鈥� David Grossman noted in , electrical stimulation has become an increasingly frequent subject of cognitive neuroscience research, often associated with treating depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.

But this is different. Green鈥檚 research isn鈥檛 a therapy for mental illness, or a reflex experiment. He and his co-authors have succeeded in inspiring creativity 鈥� that most innately human, seemingly indefinable facet of intelligence 鈥� using an external stimulus.

How? Here鈥檚 the basic protocol, which Green stresses should not be attempted outside a supervised lab environment:

Two ordinary electrodes are placed on a subject鈥檚 forehead. A safe level of electrical current runs through the electrodes into the frontopolar cortex, a region at the very front of the brain that is associated with creative thinking. This mild stimulation helps neurons to fire more readily, speeding up synaptic connections and increasing activity in the region. On a subsequent concept association test, subjects display a markedly increased proclivity for discovering meaningful connections between seemingly disparate concepts.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of Green and Turkeltaub鈥檚 tDCS experiment is the nature of 鈥渃reativity鈥� it promotes. Subjects don鈥檛 suddenly begin writing music or painting abstract art 鈥� rather, they make unseen connections.

鈥淭he kind of structure that the frontopolar cortex has seems to be ideal wiring for integrating information,鈥� Green said. 鈥淚n particular, we鈥檙e very interested in analogies, seeing an abstract similarity between things that don鈥檛 seem the same.鈥�

It鈥檚 the kind of creativity that allows to realize that the structure of an atom might be similar to that of a solar system, or to see a classic hip-hop rags-to-riches narrative in a founding father鈥檚 biography. In other words, it鈥檚 the kind of creativity associated with real applications outside traditionally 鈥渃reative鈥� fields, as acknowledged by figures like and .

鈥淚t鈥檚 a form of creative intelligence, which is a little different than just off-the-wall wackiness,鈥� Green said. 鈥淚t has real potential to support learning. 鈥� If you can, by stimulating these neurons, make it easier for them to fire together during learning or training, it鈥檚 likely that you鈥檒l be able to enhance that learning.鈥�

If the idea that something as seemingly simple as a mild electrical current can affect something as complex as creative thinking seems unbelievable, Green reminds us that it鈥檚 all about speaking the right language 鈥� and neuroscientists are learning the intricacies of that language more every day.

鈥淓lectricity is the language of the brain,鈥� he said. 鈥淢odifying what鈥檚 happening naturally in the brain with electric current is a hot area in cognitive neuroscience.鈥�

For more coverage of tDCS research at Georgetown, check out this at the main university website.