Turning off your Brain’s Monitor
August 17, 2008
One of the most common reactions among people who have tried Speed Thinking is that they can surprise themselves with their responses — where did that come from and further, what does that mean?
My theory is that because people are operating at speed they have no time to monitor or control what emerges. I call this operating at the edge of our unconscious.
Now for the first time we may have some evidence that might support this theory. In an ingenuous study with six highly trained jazz musicians, they were asked to play a keyboard while in the confines of a MRI scanner (a MRI scanner is an imaging tool that measures the amount of blood travelling to various regions of the brain as a means of assessing the amount of neural activity in those areas).
The researchers (Charles Limb & Allen Braun) were interested in finding out what were the differences when the musicians were playing a simple melody as opposed to improvising. Research Article: Neutral substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI stufy of Jazz Improvisation.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/02_26_08.html
What they found was that there were changes in the prefrontal cortex, the region of the frontal lobe of the brain that helps us think and solve problems and that provides a sense of self. The large proportion responsible for monitoring one’s performance (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) shuts down completely during improvisation while the much smaller region at the foremost part of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex) increases in activity. This is the region that is involved in self-initiated thoughts and behaviours such as making up a story. The researchers explain that the suppression of inhibitory, self-monitoring brain mechanisms helps to promote the free flow of novel ideas and impulses. This pattern also resembles the situation when people are dreaming.
The systems that regulate emotion were also engaged and there was increased neural activity in each of the sensory areas including those responsible for touch, hearing and vision. The researchers conclude that there is no single creative area of the brain — you see a strong and consistent pattern of activity throughout the brain that enables creativity.
Whilst this is a single study and the sample size is small it does suggest that the evidence tends to support our theory of what could happen during Speed Thinking. So the message? Try and let go of your own internal filters and monitors and you will be amazed at the results!
Ken Hudson
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