Some problems have tormentingly evasive solutions. You think if you spend just five more minutes on it, everything will become clear. Five minutes turns into an hour. An hour after that, you’re brewing a fresh pot of coffee in a frenzy. You’re just drowsy. Once you’ve pumped yourself full of caffeine, you’ll wipe this sucker out in an hour tops.

The next morning you wake up feeling numb. You stayed up five hours past your bedtime and made little progress. What went wrong? We’re trained to think that if we keep our nose to the grind, stick with it, and push through our hard work will bloom into satisfying insight. But the truth is, focusing too hard for too long may be chasing away the insight you need to solve that niggling little problem.

What if I said you might be better off taking a warm shower instead of sucking down more caffeine? Or that too much focus might be making you less creative?

ADHD and the Creative Connection

If you don’t believe that NOT focusing might actually be a good thing, what studies have shown about creativity and people with ADHD might surprise you.

ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, affects how the brain receives and processes information and how a person behaves as a result. The underlying causes haven’t been confirmed, but differences in the brain’s left prefrontal cortex and motor cortex have been proposed as possibilities. Symptoms of ADHD vary from person to person but many of the most typical qualities are inattentiveness, fidgeting, and impulsiveness.

While it is considered a disorder, studies have pointed to certain benefits that are associated with ADHD, one of which is creative thinking.

White and Shah found that people with ADHD are good at coming up with more divergent and creative solutions to problems than people without ADHD. People with ADHD out-performed their “normal” counterparts in certain tests, especially the Alternative Uses Task. In this task, subjects are asked to brainstorm alternative uses for mundane household items like paperclips. People with ADHD were able to come up with more (and more original) uses for the items.The researchers concluded that unrestrained brain function was a key driver of creative thought in those with ADHD. Why not use a brick as a “toilet submarine”? In other words, people with ADHD practiced more relaxed thinking, and came up with unique ideas.

Intrigued by their findings, the same researchers revisited the subject a few years later. In addition to administering controlled tests, they investigated the real-world creativity of their subjects by measuring creative achievements. People with ADHD had achieved more and earned more creative awards than those without it. They also found people with ADHD gravitated toward creating novel solutions to problems rather than working toward developing extant ideas.

Other researchers have tackled this subject to come up with more compelling links between ADHD and creativity:

• Bonnie Cramond compared behavioral indicators of ADHD to behaviors indicative of creativity and found several links.

• Darya Zabelina found that creativity is associated with relaxed attention–one of the trademark symptoms of ADHD.

Why is there a connection between relaxed focus and creative thought? It’s about letting go. “Over-focusers” get bogged down in minutiae and end up fixating on the wrong things. Relaxed people are able to make the broad, big-picture connections that too many extraneous details tend to hamper.

What “Aha” Moments Tell Us

Joydeep Bhattacharya, a psychologist at Goldsmith’s in London, sought to answer why interrupting focus might actually be a good thing. He used an EEG (electroencephalogram) test to detect electrical activity in the brain as it solved verbal puzzles. In an EEG, metal disks called electrodes are attached to your scalp to detect the electrical impulses flashing through your brain. (You’ve probably seen this in at least one science fiction movie.) The EEG records the impulses in a series of lines that doctors and scientists are miraculously able to decode.

The test revealed that our brains know a lot more than we’re consciously aware of. A flurry of activity in the right frontal cortex indicated precognition of a solution eight seconds before subjects indicated they had solved the problem. This only happened when the subjects were about to solve the problem through insight. The other subjects were given hints and proceeded to solve the problems analytically. An eight-second lag in awareness of insight? Maybe that’s where that “tip of the tongue” feeling comes from.

Other studies aimed to dissect exactly how these subconscious insights occur. Dr. Kounios and Mark Jung-Beeman at Northwestern University also turned to the EEG and fMRI to eavesdrop on brain activity.

The wired-in subjects toiled away at word puzzles as their brain waves were measured. They found widely distinct brain patterns associated with problems solved analytically versus those solved by insight. Insight solutions were associated with activity in the temporal lobes of both hemispheres and the mid-frontal cortex. Analytic solutions were associated with more activity over the posterior (visual) cortex.

Increased neural activity in the posterior cortex of those who solved problems analytically lead the researchers to believe that these subjects prepared for problem solving by directing attention outward–toward the next problem. On the other hand, the brain activity of those who solved the problems through insight did so through internal retrieval of solutions. In problems solved by insight, outward sensory awareness was dulled. It appeared as though the brain was barricading itself from distractions that might disrupt the treasured insight.

In the video below, Dr. John Kounios refers to this concept as “insight” vs “outsight.”

How does creativity work?

To figure out WHY certain people might naturally solve problems by insight vs analytical methods, Kounios turned back to the trusty old EEG to study people’s brain waves as they sat comfortably without knowledge of an upcoming test. After recording their resting-state brain activity, the subjects were given a problem.

The researchers predicted that people who solved more problems by insight would display:

1. Greater activity in the right hemisphere of the brain.
2. Greater diffuse activation of the visual system.

They were correct and not altogether surprised. A body of research pointed them to these predictions in the first place. In 1962, Mednick proposed that creativity stemmed from remote associations between ideas. In 2003, Ansburg & Hill found that the most creative people deploy their focus in a diffuse way. In 2005, Jung-Beeman connected loose association processing to the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere was found to process tight association.

Loose association and diffuse thinking are time and time again linked with creativity.

A relaxed brain is a creative brain…but why?

In the studies above, insights often came along with a  stirring of alpha waves in the right hemisphere of the brain. Alpha waves are just a type of brainwave. At the root of all our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors is the communication between neurons in our brains. Brainwaves are produced when neurons communicate through synchronized electrical pulses. Alpha waves are often associated with relaxing activities like warm showers. They are also key to making insights. Research has shown that if there is a lack of alpha wave activities, subjects won’t get any closer to solving a given problem–even when they are provided with ample hints.

Alpha waves represent non-arousal. They’re slower and higher in amplitude than beta waves. Completing a test, meditation, and walks are often associated with increased alpha wave activity. A relaxed mind contains alpha waves directing thought inward toward loose associations associated with the right hemisphere.

In contrast,  an actively focused brain is directed outward toward extraneous details of the problem at hand. This is great for tedious problems that require an analytical touch, but it spoils the possibility for connections that lead to creativity and insight.

What is all this talk of the right hemisphere?

It’s a myth that people exhibit dominance on one side of their brains or the other. While different hemispheres are associated with different types of thought processing, it’s not true that creative people only use their right brains. Everyone uses both.

This video explains it…plus a few bonus brain myths.

The myth stems back to Roger W. Sperry who split the brain by cutting the corpus callosum in an effort to study the effects of epilepsy. In doing this, seizures were reduced, but other curious consequences arose that caused Sperry to think about the functions of the different brain hemispheres.

His “split brain experiments” revealed that the different brain hemispheres carried out different functions. Without the ability for the hemispheres to communicate with each other, he could tell what function each of them served in isolation. For example, the left brain specializes in detecting sounds that form words and understanding syntax, but it doesn’t control the whole language process. The right hemisphere is needed to determine the emotional undertones of the language and produce rhythms that promote melody and emphasis.

The hemispheres don’t operate independently. Recent research shows the best performance occurs when the two sides work together via uninhibited communication through the corpus callosum. That means everyone–from painters to accountants–has to use their whole brain.

Manipulating Focus

Drugs that increase focus could also decrease insight and the likelihood of epiphanies. Adderall and Ritalin are stimulants that shift attention away from right hemisphere are steer people away from broad insights and toward minute details.

Can you mentally control your focus levels? Beeman and Kounios did tests on a Zen Buddhist that suggest you can. At first the Buddhist was failing the tests miserably, diligently focusing on the possible solutions. When he realized that focus was against him, he was able to control his mind so acutely from his meditation training that he could deliberately not focus. He began solving problems with ease, his meditation creating just the alpha waves he needed for insight.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

So what unbelievable truths about your brain have we uncovered?

• Not focusing has been tied with creative thought and insight.
• Your brain knows if an insight is coming and you can’t force it to make one.
• Brain activity in relaxed mental states has been shown to lead to insight.

Remember those points the next time you need an excuse to take a walk or warm shower before hitting the books.

Resources

Primary

Sage: The Aha! Moment: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight

Jonah Lehrer: Imagine: How Creativity Works

MIT: Posterior Beta and Anterior Gamma Oscillations Predict Cognitive Insight

Child Neuropsychology: Creative Thinking in Adolescents With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Additional 

Scientifica American: The Creative Gifts of ADHD

Science Direct: Uninhibited Imaginations: Creativity in Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Healthline: The Benefits of ADHD

Psychology Today: Is the ADHD Brain More Creative?

Brain World Magazine: The Aha! Moment – The Creative Science Behind Inspiration

Scientific American: What is the Function of the Various Brainwaves?

Brain Waves Blog: Alpha Brain Waves: Definition, Functions, & Benefits

Science Direct: Creative Style and Achievement in Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell communicates about health and wellness every day as a non-profit Program Manager. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from the College of William and Mary, and loves to investigate what changes in healthy policy and research might mean for the future. Contact Ashley at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Is Too Much Focus Making You Less Creative? appeared first on Law Street.

Mental illness and criminal law mix as well as oil and vinegar. Law desires reason and cause. The reason and cause of mental illness is often difficult to detect. While our scientific grasp on mental illness is growing, the evidence of how and why it might influence an individual’s behavior is often more nebulous than a legal professional might prefer, especially in the case of violent crime.

That’s what makes the insanity defense such a controversial topic.

Mental illnesses are real and often incapacitating, but how can you definitively prove they exist in courtroom arguments?

Below we’ll dig into why the brain is so mysterious, what this mystery means for the insanity defense, and what scientific steps we’re taking to de-mystify our own brains.

The Brain: Anatomy’s Rubik’s Cube

Our brain and its team of 100 billion neurons puppet our every move, thought, and action. It’s truly a wondrous biological mechanism, allowing us to solve a number of puzzles–except the puzzle that the brain itself presents. It’s one of anatomy’s cruelest jokes. Our body’s own mechanism for logic doesn’t quite understand itself. Yet.

After years of research and remarkable breakthroughs, many aspects of the brain and mind remain tauntingly elusive. This is not an insult to scientists, but more of a testament to the brain’s enormous complexity.

John Cleese’s parody video below captures the brain’s mystique.

Time out…the brain AND the mind?

Are the brain and the mind different? Don’t worry, I’m not opening a philosophical debate. But for the purpose of the following discussion, we need to view the brain and the mind as separate entities.

In discussing mental illness and criminal law, the difference between the brain and the mind comes down to the difference between psychology and physiology.

The physiology of the brain refers to those biological functions it performs. Neurons using electrical impulses to communicate with other cells is a biological function. Some illnesses, like psychosis, can be traced to physiological malfunctions that result from things like brain tumors.

Dr. Allan Reiss discusses the physiological aspects of mental illness in the video below, as well as his ambitions for pinpointing the specific diseases instead of symptoms.

Psychology, on the other hand, refers to the more nebulous mind. While scientists do believe the mind is influenced and even dependent on the physiological functions of the brain, it’s difficult to make a direct connection. Many individuals exhibit symptoms of behavioral disorders that can be linked only to the mind and have no known physiological causes. In these cases, psychological diagnoses usually rely on observations and questions about a person’s feelings, moods, actions, and behaviors.

This will be important later, when we’re talking about hard evidence in insanity pleas.

Communication Breakdown

The mind is associated with will power and “the self.” It’s hard to accept that complex mechanisms in our brains might drive the show instead of us.

The brain is unfathomably complex. It contains billions of neurons whose interactions determine your body’s functioning by communicating through a series of electrical signals. Everything we do relies on how neurons communicate with one another. Disruptions in this communication because of abnormal functioning of brain circuits may be an underlying cause of mental illness. If connections between certain messaging pathways in the brain are disrupted, the way it processes information might also be disrupted and abnormal perception, moods, or behaviors can result.

In summary, mental illness happens when the brain cannot effectively coordinate the billions of cells it controls.

Mental Illness and Crime

So mental illness results when the brain cannot effectively coordinate some of the billions of cells it controls. Unfortunately, figuring out exactly where the coordination faltered among the brain’s billions of cells and functions is like figuring out who lead the applause in a crowded stadium.

This lack of certainty creates a convoluted intersection for mental health and criminal law. The insanity defense exists to make sure no one is imprisoned who didn’t truly understand the consequences of their actions due to mental illness. If mental illness did impair their sense of consequence and right and wrong, they may be declared not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). People found NGRI do not walk free–many are committed to mental institutions for at least as long as their criminal sentence would be.

For an insanity plea to hold weight, the defense must prove that the criminal’s mental condition directly influenced their actions at the time of the crime and inhibited their ability to appreciate that their actions were wrong.

Disorders with the most potent insanity defenses are those with physiological evidence that the condition caused an altered perception of reality or impaired ability to control behavior. For example, an X-ray clearly depicting a brain tumor that might have caused hallucinations is stronger evidence than a patchy history of emotional disturbances. If there is trauma, injury, tumors, or physical elements like epilepsy, the case will hold more weight than just a mere history of psychological episodes.

According to Richard McNally, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Harvard University:

“Certain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism fit the biological model in a very clear-cut sense.”

If you have biological indicators from dissections and imaging scans, you have more evidence that connects a disorder with a behavior.

Which disorders have the necessary elements?

While we don’t know the absolute and irrefutable causes of many mental illnesses, we do have evidence that some are more rooted in biology than others.

Voluntary intoxication doesn’t cut it.  Neither do pedophilia or pyromania, which are considered strictly antisocial personality disorders and are linked to thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and not dysfunctions of the brain.

People with psychosis have a skewed sense of reality. They are plagued by delusions and hallucinations that can severely impact their behavior. People with severe depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia often suffer from psychosis. It has many possible causes rooted in biology including tumors, cysts, dementia, and stroke.

Those suffering from severe depression experience constant feelings of sadness or apathy. It affects how they feel, think, and react to many aspects of life. In some cases, like postpartum depression, victims can suffer from delusions and hallucinations. Chemical imbalances, changes in genes, and traumatic events are all possible causes.

Mania or bipolar disorder is associated with abnormally elevated moods that can lead to unpredictable behavior and impaired judgement. The severity of the disorder is determined by how fervent and incapacitating the abnormal moods are. Scientists haven’t discovered a single cause for bipolar disorder, but they’ve found compelling evidence that genetics and brain structure might play a role.

People with anxiety disorders suffer from anxiety that exceeds normal functional levels. They are unable to control it and it subsequently controls them. Post traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. While it’s triggered by an environmental trauma, some say genetics might play a major role in susceptibility.

Andrea Yates was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she murdered her children by drowning them. She was convicted at first, but her long, undeniable history of mental illness, attempted suicides, and extensive medical records led to a reversed decision that she was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Advances in Detection

There isn’t a test for detecting mental illness as finite as a blood test or an X-ray, but scientists are working on it. The idea is to prove that the mind and brain are one and the same and that all mental processes are brain processes. The brain is a biological organ so mental illness must have a testable, biological component and explanation. This would provide that solid link and evidence that forensic psychologists everywhere would cheer for.

Thomas R. Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, doesn’t think mental illnesses should be treated any differently from other chronic illnesses. He says,

“The only difference here is that the organ of interest is the brain instead of the heart or pancreas. But the same basic principles apply.”

Insel argues that EKGs and CT images allow us to explore the heart in ways unthinkable 100 years ago, and that similar breakthroughs could be coming down the pike for the brain. Advancements are already being made in neuroimaging that enable studies of brain structure and function. Positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computer tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) get us as close as we can possibly get to peering into the brain. Using this imaging, scientists have been able to make possible connections between brain pathways and mental disorders. They’ve also uncovered the functioning of previously mysterious brain regions.

The video below shows how scientists are also making waves in understanding how brain circuits might lead to mental illness.

Solving the Rubik’s Cube

Every advancement in detecting biological clues for mental illness would provide more evidence and substantial links for criminal cases involving people who are mentally ill.

With every advancement we make in solving the brain’s mysteries, another piece of the billion-square Rubik’s cube clicks into place. Earlier, I called the brain one of anatomy’s cruelest jokes because it doesn’t quite understand itself. But just like a real Rubik’s cube, even seemingly unsolvable puzzles can be cracked. Just because we don’t understand all of the intricate workings of our brains now, doesn’t mean we won’t ever. If any entity in the world is able to figure out the human brain, it’s the wondrous human brain itself.

Resources

Primary

APA: The Roots of Mental Illness

NIH: Brain Basics

APA: Assessing the Evidence of a Link Between Mental Illness and Violent

 Additional

Psychology Today: The Insanity Defense

WebMD: The Brain and Mental Illness

ABA: Criminal Justice Section Standards: Mental Health

Find Law: Current Application of the Insanity Defense

BrainFacts: Understanding Mental Disorders as Circuit Disorders

Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell communicates about health and wellness every day as a non-profit Program Manager. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from the College of William and Mary, and loves to investigate what changes in healthy policy and research might mean for the future. Contact Ashley at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post What Brain Science Tells Us About the Insanity Defense appeared first on Law Street.