Nancy C. Andreasen

The capacity to be creative—to produce new concepts, ideas, inventions, objects, or art—is perhaps the most important attribute of the human brain. We know very little, however, about the nature of creativity or its neural basis. Some important questions include: how should we define creativity? How is it related (or unrelated) to high intelligence? What psychological processes or environmental circumstance cause creative insights to occur? What is happening at the neural level during moments of creativity? How is it related to healthy or illness, and especially mental illness? How can creativity be enhanced or nurtured, or can it? This presentation will review introspective accounts from highly creative individuals. It will also review existing data from neuroimaging on the neural basis of creativity and its relationship to unconscious processes. And it will review evidence concerning familial transmission of creativity and its relationship to mental illnesses.