C R E A T I V I T Y S P H E R E

C r e a t i v i t y i s t h e u l t i m a t e s k i l l o f m a n k i n d
(H o w e v e r t h e r e i s n o t h i n g c a l l e d u l t i m at e i n c r e at i v i t y)
August 2013 / 84
How does your brain work?
(Adopted fron an article Your brain at work published in
Harvard Business Review South Asia, J uly August 2013)
The authors of the Harvard Business Review
(HBR) article Adam Waytz of Kellogg School
of Management and Malia Mason of Columbia
Business School present it with a warning:
The science is so nascent that much is still
under debate, and new findings are updating
what we know about the brain almost every
second. So what we present here is an interin
report of the findings of the past 15 years.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI), as a primary tool of neuroscience,
helps the scientists to look in to brains as they
work. They see the regions of the brain that
become more active or less active when we
think. These powerful images offer simple
explanations for complex phenomena.
However to understand the processes involved
while thinking, more sophisticated view of
brain science is needed. The focus now shifts
from studying the activation of brain regions
to learning how networks of brain regions
activate in concurrent patterns.
Let us consider an example. I like icecreams.
So whenver I eat icecreams a certain part of the
brain activates and can be recorded as image.
However if I am angry and at that time eat ice
cream, the image will not be same as in the
earlier case. Some other signals influence the
activation of the brain, so the need for studying
networks become important.
Neuroscientists have discovered as many as 15
neural networks and subnetworks in the brain.
Among them the following four are considered
as core and are better understood:
The Default Network activates when
people are awake but not focused on external
stimuli or any specific goal. It controls
introspective thought and the ability to
envision the past, the future, or alternative
realities, and is crucial for understanding
creative thinking and breakthrough
innovation.
The Reward Network activates in response
to stimuli that induce enjoyment such as food
and water, money and praise. It controls
perceptions of pleasure and displeasure and is
crucial for understanding motivation and
incentives.
The Affect Network activates when people
experience emotions and it controls autonomic
and endocrine responses such as change in
blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature
etc. that the brain interprets as feelings.
You know you have achieved perfection in design, not when you have
nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away
Antoine de Saint Exupery
It is crucial for understanding hunches and gut
instincts, and the rol e that emoti ons play i n decision
making.
The Control Network activates when peopl e
weigh long term consequences, check their
impulses, and selecti vely focus their attention. It
control s peoples abili ty to align their behavious
with their goals and i s cruci al for understanding the
benefits and risks of multitasking and how to set
and manage prioriti es.
One of the very important findi ngs is that the
brain is never truly at rest. When we are awake and
when the brain is not focused on any particular
thought, i.e., the mind is wandering, a particular
network, the defaul t network of brain regions fires
up. We now know that the brain spends
considerable amount of time processi ng
internali sed existing knowl edge, not just new
information from the five senses.
The default network is also responsible for our
capacity to imagine, which is unique to humans
and very active while highly engaged. During this
time the brain stops processi ng external stimuli.
This information shows that having unfocused free
time is an important factor for creative thinking.
This is behind the 20% free time policy (peopl e
can do anything on their own) being practiced in
3M and several other organisations. No doubt the
companies are benefitting from this practice. The
workers feel a sense of self sufficiency, happiness
and moti vation.
However the authors of the article doubt about
the reality of the detachment (free from the
environment) as the workers may still be seeking
solutions to their work problems and not real ly
away from the external world. A better approach
would be to turn off their emails and calenders,
take away their phones, send them on a trip, and
take all other job duties. (Now you understand why
meditation i s talked about everywhere!) The idea is
to allow default network to become active by
deliberately silenci ng other activities.
Experimenting with total detachment is a better
way to generate breakthrough i deas.
The next network, reward network activates in
response to things that evoke enjoyment and
deactivates in response to things that reduce
enjoyment. However pleasure and rewards are
contextual and can be altered for any given
stimulus by the presence of other stimuli. For
animals the reward system is activated when they
were given items with clear survival value. But in
humans this network is sensitive to secondary
rewards not necessary for physical survival, like
money. So we can now identi fy the nonmonetary
rewards that are likel y to i nspire individuals. Other
than status and social approval, several
unpredicatble factors such as fair environment,
transperency, curiosity, less stri ngent goals etc.
activate reward network.
The affect network activates whenever there is a
feeling. Events in the environment trigger
physiol ogical changes like change in blood
pressure, which the brain interprets as feeli ng.
Feeli ngs can also come from thoughts when you
think about a tight deadl ine you feel tense. But
feelings can also be activated unconsci ously,
without your knowing how they origi nated, that is
a hunch. When we encounter an event the brain
tags them with emotional significance. Later when
we have simil ar experiences, the brain accesses the
tags as a short cut to produce the feeling. Suppose
at the sight of a snake you are so scared and the
fear was so painful, later even the mention of a
snake will cause the affect network to produce
unpleasant feel ings.
The brains affect network seems to know what
is going on before we consciously recognise it. In
one study , healthy sunjects and subjects with
damage to the brain regions in the affect network
were given a gambli ng task. Subjects choose
cardsfrom four decks; as each caed is drawn, they
either win or loose some money. The bad decks
have cards with high penali ties and rewards and
lead to a net loss. The good decks have cards with
low penalities and rewards and lead to a net gain.
Healthy individuals sampled cards from each deck
40 to 50 times before real ising that it was more
profi table to consistently choose the decks with
small rewards and penalti es.
However, after only after ten cards have been
pull ed from each deck, the healthy subjects affect
network transmitted a subconscious stress response
when the subjects hovered over bad decks long
before peopl e conscious;y identi fied the decks as
problematic. Subjects with damages to the affect
network, on the other hand, never had this stress
response and conti nued making poor choices.
Cowardice is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the
functioning of the imagination Ernest Hemingway
The affect network i nfluences our decisi on
making and helps to process information that may
include too many variables. So hunches are very
useful in helping us bypass compl ex analysi s.
However we shoul dnt blindly follow gut feelings
because of the l imitations of the affect network.
The control network is responsible for flexibility.
We have capacity to overri de our habits and
impulses. It aligns our brain brain activity and our
behaviour with our goals. Control networks are
actually countervail ing forces. The more engaged
the control network is in distri buting resources to
achieve goals in the real world, the l ess engaged the
default network is in detaching from the real world
and imagini ng alternateive realities, and vice versa.
Control network is regulating all the other
networks. By suppressi ng the default network, the
control net work ensures that minds are in the
present moment and wont wander al l the ti me. By
restraing the reward network, it helps us check the
impulse to act on immediate needs at the expense
of more-important, long term objectives. It
restrains our emotional reactions and ensures that
our actions are not deci ded solely by hunches.
It also hel ps us prioritize the most i mportant tasks.
Recent discoveries about control network
reinforce what the best leaders do for meeting the
competition: focus. They limit the number of
initiatives to a manageabl e few. With too many
objectives to maintain and monitor, the control
network spreads its limited resources and we
struggle to give enough attention to any of our
responsibil ities. Emails, meetings, phone call s etc.
are a burden on the contol network and consume
huge amount of brains energy. Success requi res
creating just few priorities and gathering the
courage to eliminate less important tasks.
Very many exciting thi ngs are in the forthcomi ng.
Thro a new method called hyperscanni ng,
scientists will see the brains of two people who are
interacting and will identify the keys to effecti ve
collaboration and communication. Research on
brain genomi cs is linki ng brain functi on to
genetics to identify traits ranging from intelli gence
ti impulsi vity. Neurosci entists are also trying to
understand how functions such as deci sion making,
social skill, cogniti ve control, and emotion change
across a li fe span. *

Think up games -2 / 84
1 Suppose our prime minister suddenly appears in front of you and agrees to do ten
things that you ask him, (take that he has power and he can do!) what ten things you
will tell him to do immediately.
2 The assessment system of students in our schools has major flaws measuring only
the memory power of irrelevant subjects. What alternative ways can you think of?
3 Suppose as per Mayan prediction the world is going to end in the next 24 hours, what
ten things you will do?
4 Suppose you are going to die in the next 24 hours what ten things you will do before
you die?
5 Suppose everyone can read others minds. What would be the consequences?
6 Suppose the sun never sets and all the 24 hours it is day time with full sunshine. What
are the Plus points and what are the Minus points?
Send your imaginations to me for sharing wi th other readers
I f I cr eat e f r omt he hear t , near l y ever yt hi ng
wor ks; i f f r omt he head, al most not hi ng
Mar c Chagal l
Letters
Sugumar Gopal: The write up on 'Steal it' (CS83) i s
forthri ght and frank. The quotes in each page are
really thought-provoking.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat: You are doi ng a great work
and I would defini tely use these techniques in the
leadership training programmes I do conduct for
the youngsters in the villages, those who cant
afford money and books.
Asif Ali T, Ambur: CS is very heartening to read,
understand, share and appl y.
S Rammohan, Guntur: People dont behave
rationall y, dont do things the way I want, or they
do things the way which I dont want. How can I
deal with them?
I recently cameacross a brief articlewhich will answer
your query.
Accept them as they are. Lets start with your
attitude. If you dont likepeople, peoplewont likeyou.
Thats as simple. And to likepeople, you need to accept
them. If you accept them, theyll accept you.
People are not binary (not rigid). People are not
always ones or always zeros, smart or dumb, good or
bad, worthwhile or worthless. Everyone has strengths
and weaknesses, positives and negatives, competencies
and deficiencies.
Everyone is better than you at something. If you
havea tough timeaccepting others, its probably because
you think youresuperior to them. Youre not superior
to every person in every way.
People are more similar than they are
different. Everyone wants to raise a family, do
something meaningful, and enjoy life. This is trueacross
races, creeds, colors, and countries. You probably have
lot in common with peopleyou dont like.
People deserve a break. Thestressed and unorganized
person may not havethesamepriorities as you may bein
dealing with an orphan child, abusive spouse, old
parents, or cancer. Dont judge people until you have
walked a milein their shoes. Givethem a break instead.
We all die equal. At theend of your life, youregoing
to bea mass of tissueand bonethat reduces to a pileof
dust likeeveryoneelse, so get over yourself. Death is the
great equalizer.
A V Ramanathan, Chennai: Your article in the CS
83, 'Davinci Principl e' explains well the three
attributes of innovators and also seven steps to
think like Davinci. It is a unique coll ection full of
rich i nformation on i nnovation.
Ajay Jain, Mumbai: Excell ent article on Innovation.
P Vijayaraghavan: Starting a few actual
innovations as enumerated by the authors may be
inspiri ng youngsters. Every issue is quite
informative and useful i n knowledge assimi lation.
P P Sengupta, Kolkata: Every issue brings a waft of
fresh fragrant air to me. Its always stimulating ,
entertaining and thought-provoking. I wonder how
you generate so many worthwhil e ideas every
month with so much consi stency and dedication.
By spreading the knowl edge you are doi ng a great
service.
Santosh Kumar Sharma, Lucknow: My daughter,
nine years old, always blames others for anything
and everythi ng if she scores low marks, her
teacher is not good; if she couldnt win a game, her
shoes are not OK; if she misses her school bus, her
mother was l ate and so on.
Do you giveher choice? Just theknowledgethat wehave
choices fosters independence and a sense of
empowerment. Research shows that children who are
given choices from a very early age start taking
ownership of their life. On theother hand, children who
arenot given manychoices end up blaming and holding
others responsiblefor problems they face.
Because even if she hasn't got the best that money
could buy, shewould haveused thenecessary lifeskill of
making a choice and taking responsibility for it. We
don't encourageour kids to makeas many choices as we
should. Either we take it away from them completely:
"You haveto study in theevening" or welet them have
their way: "Mom, I cannot study in the
evening!" Supposewegavethem choices: "You have the
option of studying after returning from school or in the
evening before dinner. The child feels empowered and
its self esteemis boosted.
Badri, Chennai: The intuiti on worked for me some
time back. I was asked to solve a puzzle which was
a difficult one and I tried and left for a day.
Suddenly I got the answer when I was taki ng lunch
and I tried and found OK.
The water Jug problem (CS 82) , only after usi ng the
given formul a and after getting the answers we
could able to relate to different combinations or use
less data. I dont understand the meaning or the
intent of this puzzle.
Our mind or rather we, go liketheflock of sheep. Even
when there are simpler methods, we follow the long
traditional methods.
Competition 84 / 1
Take a copy of a business journal or a book that deals with your area of expertise, even a
newspaper story will do. Now spend five minutes assessing it. Your interest is not in the
content. What you are looking for are assumptions, assumptions that the writer makes.
Assumptions you would normally make in reading the piece.
What would happen if these assumptions were not true? Would anything be different?
How do you know they are true?
SEND ME YOUR VIEWS.
DISCUSSIONS:Competition 83 / 1 Intuition
You require a problem, or an idea that you are working on. It needs to be a new one. If there is not any appropriate one, use an
imaginary problem like, Finding an alternative method for assessing students in schools and colleges? or Solution for the
population explosion.
Spend five minutes thinking thro the problem area. Positively avoid solutions. J ust think about what the problem is, who is
involved in it, what happens at the moment, and so on. Now put the problem to one side. Go and do something different, away
from the problem. Revisit it briefly (just the problem, not solutions) just before you go to sleep.
Come back to the problem after three or four days. Spend a minute thinking about it, then sit down with a piece of paper and
write down what could you do. Dont analyse, just let whatever comes to mind flow out. If nothing comes after a few seconds,
start to write anything at all without steering the thoughts, then pull yourself gentle back to the problem.
Send me the out to share the fun with the readers.
Surprisingly often partly formed ideas will emerge. We are capable of much more unconscious
effort than we normally admit. Many creativity techniques involve taking the unconscious by
surprise. This approach lets the unconscious take its own pace and provides a valuable
alternative.
RESPONSES - Think up games -1 / 83 (CS83)
R Shri Ram, Chennai:
1. If my expenditure comes 1/10
th
of current expenditure, I will start spending that money for making
me feeling luxurious.
2. If I become invisible, I will know about all politicians and kill them if they are bad. Then I will
acquire their money and will start spending for the education for all.
3. If gravity goes the half, I will fly.
4. I want to become CEO for Google and I will start developing google books to share all the books
free of cost to the benefit of the students.
5. I have no experience with that, but the life wont be practical and we wont realise our mistakes
also.
When people are least sure, they are often most dogmatic
J ohn Kenneth Galbraith
Intuition is given only to him who has undergone long preparation to receive it
Louis Pasteur
Its not that Im so smart. Its that I stay with problems longer Albert Einstein
Dr N Annamalai / 9444269395 / annamalai_n@vsnl.com /
www.creativitysphere.com