How Creativity Happens in the Brain | Open Lecture

Creativity is the fountainhead of human civilizations. All progress and innovation depend on our ability to change existing thinking patterns, break with the present, and build something new. Given the central importance of this most extraordinary capacity of the human mind, one would think that the underlying mechanisms of creative thinking (neural, cognitive, or computational) are the subject of intense research efforts in the behavioral and brain sciences. To study creative ideas, and how and where they arise in the brain, is to approach a defining element of what makes us human. What’s more, by identifying the basic principles of our ingenuity, we might be able to enhance this process in the future, with potentially enormous benefits for society.

This lecture reviews what we know, and what we don’t, about the mechanisms and processes of creativity in the brain. To do so, the lecture utilizes approaches from various disciplines, including neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary theory, and artificial intelligence.

Arne Dietrich is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon. He is a cognitive neuroscientist and his work focuses on the neural basis of (1) creativity and flow, (2) psychological changes induced by physical exercise, and (3) altered states of consciousness. He is most known for the transient hypofrontality theory (THT), the dismantling of neuroimaging studies of creativity, as well as evolution and prediction models of creative thinking.

He is the author of two books (‘Introduction to Consciousness’ and ‘How Creativity Happens in the Brain’) and over 60 scientific articles. Arne Dietrich has given a large number invited talks and keynote addresses around the world and his work has been featured prominently in the international press, including the BBC, CNN, Guardian, New York Times, Scientific American, Times, The Atlantic, and National Geographic.

Time: May 22, 7.10 p.m.

Place: School of Advanced Studies of the University of Tyumen, 2/1 8 Marta St.

The lecture will be given in English.