BI 104 John Kounios and David Rosen: Creativity, Expertise, Insight

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May 7, 2021

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INSIGHT

Creativity Research Is Still The Wild West

Creativity research is a "wild west" with many disciplines, methods, and definitions competing.
Neuroscience-driven work is recent and the field is coalescing around stronger paradigms.

INSIGHT

Divergent And Convergent Creativity Diverge

Divergent tasks (many ideas) and convergent tasks (single solution/insight) capture different creative processes.
Standard tests miss domain-specific dynamics, so studying real tasks (e.g., jazz) reveals richer mechanisms.

ANECDOTE

Secret Chord Labs Origin Story

David described founding Secret Chord Laboratories after music‑neuroscience research and an accelerator acceptance.
Their initial work quantified "familiar surprise" from pop music and led to algorithmic experiments.

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What is creativity? How do we measure it? How do our brains implement it, and how might AI?Those are some of the questions John, David, and I discuss. The neuroscience of creativity is young, in its "wild west" days still. We talk about a few creativity studies they've performed that distinguish different creative processes with respect to different levels of expertise (in this case, in jazz improvisation), and the underlying brain circuits and activity, including using transcranial direct current stimulation to alter the creative process. Related to creativity, we also discuss the phenomenon and neuroscience of insight (the topic of John's book, The Eureka Factor), unconscious automatic type 1 processes versus conscious deliberate type 2 processes, states of flow, creative process versus creative products, and a lot more.

John Kounios.
Secret Chord Laboratories (David's company).
Twitter: @JohnKounios; @NeuroBassDave.
John's book (with Mark Beeman) on insight and creativity.
- The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain.
The papers we discuss or mention:

Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 16:20 - Where are we broadly in science of creativity? 18:23 - Origins of creativity research 22:14 - Divergent and convergent thought 26:31 - Secret Chord Labs 32:40 - Familiar surprise 38:55 - The Eureka Factor 42:27 - Dual process model 52:54 - Creativity and jazz expertise 55:53 - "Be creative" behavioral study 59:17 - Stimulating the creative brain 1:02:04 - Brain circuits underlying creativity 1:14:36 - What does this tell us about creativity? 1:16:48 - Intelligence vs. creativity 1:18:25 - Switching between creative modes 1:25:57 - Flow states and insight 1:34:29 - Creativity and insight in AI 1:43:26 - Creative products vs. process