In this episode, I explain how the brain engages in creative thinking and, based on that mechanistic understanding, the tools to improve one’s ability to think creatively and innovate in any area. I discuss how convergent and divergent thinking are essential for generating creative ideas and provide three types of meditation tools (open monitoring meditation, focused attention meditation & non-sleep deep rest; NSDR), which improve our ability to engage in these creative thinking patterns in specific and powerful ways. I also discuss how dopamine and mood contribute to the creative process and describe behavioral, nutritional and supplementation-based approaches for increasing dopamine to engage in creative thought and implementation. I explain how movement and storytelling (narrative) approaches can generate novel creative ideas and how substances like alcohol, cannabis, and psilocybin impact our creative ability. Excitingly, creativity is a skill that can be cultivated and enhanced; this episode outlines many tools to help anyone access creativity and apply creative patterns of thought to different domains of life.
Thank you to our sponsors
AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman
ROKA: https://www.roka.com/huberman
Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman
LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman
InsideTracker: https://www.insidetracker.com/huberman
Supplements from Momentous
https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman
For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Creativity
(00:04:30) ROKA, Thesis, LMNT, Momentous
(00:08:51) What is Creativity?
(00:11:16) Creativity in Visual Arts, Escher & Banksy
(00:23:37) Neural Circuits of Creativity
(00:31:58) AG1 (Athletic Greens)
(00:33:13) Creative Ideas & Divergent Thinking
(00:42:09) Testing Creative Ideas & Convergent Thinking
(00:46:41) Dopamine, Convergent & Divergent Thinking Pathways
(00:57:02) InsideTracker
(00:58:06) Tool: Open Monitoring Meditation & Divergent Thinking
(01:07:38) Tool: Focused Attention Meditation & Convergent Thinking
(01:11:06) Mood, Creativity & Dopamine
(01:16:00) Tool: Mood Calibrating, Caffeine & Dopamine
(01:23:41) Dopamine Supplementation; L-Tyrosine, Caffeine
(01:30:15) Tool: Non-Sleep Deep Rest, Mesocortical Dopamine & Divergent Thinking
(01:43:130 Serotonin, Psylocibin & Creative Thinking
(01:49:13) Alcohol & Autobiographical Scripting; Cannabis
(01:52:04) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) & Creativity
(01:54:45) Tool: Movement & Divergent Thinking
(02:01:02) Tool: Narratives & Storytelling for Creativity
(02:14:47) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media
Disclaimer
Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac