The Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity

by Rex E. Jung, Oshin Vartanian

Overview

Historically, the brain bases of creativity have been of great interest to scholars and the public alike. However, recent technological innovations in the neurosciences, coupled with theoretical and methodological advances in creativity assessment, have enabled humans to gain unprecedented insights into the contributions of the brain to creative thought. This unique volume brings together contributions by the very best scholars to offer a comprehensive overview of cutting edge research on this important and fascinating topic. The chapters discuss creativity's relationship with intelligence, motivation, psychopathology and pharmacology, as well as the contributions of general psychological processes to creativity, such as attention, memory, imagination, and language. This book also includes specific and novel approaches to understanding creativity involving musicians, polymaths, animal models, and psychedelic experiences. The chapters are meant to give the reader a solid grasp of the diversity of approaches currently at play in this active and rapidly growing field of inquiry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316602102
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/25/2018
Series:	Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	566
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Rex E. Jung received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of New Mexico with specialty training in clinical neuropsychology. He is a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico, and in private practice, with current duties focused around neuropsychological assessment during awake craniotomy. He has published research articles across a wide range of disciplines, including traumatic brain injury, systemic lupus erythematosus, schizophrenia, intelligence, creativity, and genius. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, The National Endowment for the Arts, DARPA, and the John Templeton Foundation. He is on the Editorial Boards of several journals including: Intelligence, PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Neuropsychiatric Imaging and Stimulation, and the Creativity Research Journal.

Oshin Vartanian received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maine. He is a Defence Scientist at Defence Research and Development Canada, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the co-editor of Neuroaesthetics (2009), Neuroscience of Decision Making (2011), and Neuroscience of Creativity (2016). He is the Editor of Empirical Studies of the Arts, and serves on the editorial boards of Creativity Research Journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity, and Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. He is the recipient of the Daniel E. Berlyne Award from Division 10 of the American Psychological Association for outstanding research by a junior scholar for his work on the neuroscience of creativity and aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Introduction Rex E. Jung and Oshin Vartanian; Part I. Fundamental Concepts: 1. Creative ideas and the creative process: good news and bad news for the neuroscience of creativity Dean Keith Simonton; 2. Homeostasis and the control of creative drive Alice W. Flaherty; 3. Laterality and creativity: a false trail? Michael C. Corballis; 4. The neural basis and evolution of divergent and convergent thought Liane Gabora; Part II. Pharmacology and Psychopathology: 5. Stress, pharmacology, and creativity David Q. Beversdorf; 6. Functional neuroimaging of psychedelic experience: an overview of psychological and neural effects and their relevance to research on creativity, daydreaming, and dreaming Kieran C. R. Fox, Cameron C. Parro and Kalina Christoff; 7. A heated debate: time to address the underpinnings of the association between creativity and psychopathology? Simon Kyaga; 8. Creativity and psychopathology: a relationship of shared neurocognitive vulnerabilities Shelley H. Carson; Part III. Attention and Imagination: 9. Attention and creativity Darya L. Zabelina; 10. Internally directed attention in creative cognition Mathias Benedek; 11. The forest versus the trees: creativity, cognition and imagination Anna Abraham; 12. A common mode of processing governing divergent thinking and future imagination Reece P. Roberts and Donna Rose Addis; Part IV. Memory and Language: 13. Going the extra creative mile: the role of semantic distance in creativity theory, research, and measurement Yoed N. Kenett; 14. Episodic memory and cognitive control: contributions to creative idea production Roger E. Beaty and Daniel L. Schacter; 15. Free association, divergent thinking and creativity: cognitive and neural perspectives Tali Marron and Miriam Faust; 16. Figurative language comprehension and laterality in Autism Spectrum Disorder Ronit Saban-Bezalel and Nira Mashal; Part V. Cognitive Control and Executive Functions: 17. The costs and benefits of cognitive control for creativity Evangelia G. Chrysikou; 18. Creativity and cognitive control in the cognitive and affective domains Andreas Fink, Corinna Perchtold and Christian Rominger; 19. Associative and controlled cognition in divergent thinking: theoretical, experimental, neuroimaging evidence, and new directions Emmanuelle Volle; Part VI. Reasoning and Intelligence: 20. Creativity in the distance: the neurocognition of semantically distant relational thinking and reasoning Adam Green; 21. Network dynamics theory of human intelligence Aki Nikolaidis and Aron K. Barbey; 22. Training to be creative: the interplay between cognition, skill learning, and motivation Indre V. Viskontas; 23. Intelligence and creativity from the neuroscience perspective Emanuel Jauk; Part VII. Individual Differences: 24. The genetics of creativity: the underdog of behavior genetics? Davide Piffer; 25. Structural studies of creativity measured by divergent thinking Hikaru Takeuchi and Ryuta Kawashima; 26. Openness to experience: insights from personality neuroscience Oshin Vartanian; 27. Creativity and the aging brain Kenneth M. Heilman and Ira S. Fleischer; Part VIII. Artistic and Eesthetic Processes: 28. The neuroscience of musical creativity David Bashwiner; 29. Artistic and aesthetic production: progress and limitations Malinda J. McPherson; 30. Polymathy: the resurrection of renaissance man and the renaissance brain Claudia Garcia-Vega and Vincent Walsh.

Editorial Reviews

'This wide-ranging text delves into areas where neuroscience and creativity intermingle. Editors Jung and Vartanian bring together 30 scholarly essays that leverage the diverse approaches of 45 experts in the field. Entries include an introduction and fundamental concepts, pharmacology and psychopathology, attention and imagination, memory and language, cognitive control and executive functions, reasoning and intelligence, individual differences, and artistic and aesthetic processes. This handbook is a convenient, contemporary, authoritative source for instructors, researchers, and students. Entries are engaging and represent myriad areas of interest in this new and growing field of inquiry. It is also a fine complement to an earlier book edited by Vartanian, Neuroscience of Creativity (CH, Apr'14, 51-4733). Useful tables and figures accompany the text where appropriate throughout. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.' N. Nero, Choice

'If your tastes favor basic neural and cognitive mechanisms of creativity, then you would be hard-pressed to find a better compendium than this one.' Aaron Kozbelt, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture

From the Publisher