Study finds brain integration correlates with greater creativity in product-development engineers:
Creativity may depend on greater brain integration, according to a new study(Paywalled) published in Creativity Research Journal (26:2, 239-243) by Maharishi University brain researcher Fred Travis and University West quality management researcher Yvonne Lagrosen. Scientists refer to brain integration as mind-brain development. People with high mind-brain development are alert, interested in learning new things and disposed to see the whole picture. They think in wide circles and are emotionally stable and unselfish. "It's a simple fact that some people stand out, and we're trying to tease out why," says Dr. Travis. "We hypothesized that something must be different about the way their brains work, and that's what we're finding." Dr. Travis uses a measure he developed called a Brain Integration Scale. He uses EEG recording to assess frontal brain wave coherence (a measure of connectedness among the various areas of the brain) and alpha power (a measure of inner directedness of attention). He also assesses the brain's preparation response, which measures how efficiently the brain responds to a stimulus.
In all of his studies so far, top-level performers consistently show higher levels of brain integration. Previous studies by Dr. Travis and colleagues have found that greater brain integration is present in world-class athletes, top managers, and professional musicians. This current study was conducted on 21 product-development engineers in Sweden a group that would be expected to have high levels of creativity. Drs. Travis and Lagrosen assessed their level of creativity using standardized Torrance measures and found them to be in the 70th to 90th percentile. They also looked at their levels of brain integration, speed of processing information, speed of executive decision-making, and Sense-of-Coherence.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday June 05 2014, @05:54PM
TFS reads like it should end with "and you too can achieve the same results with our Miracle Pill 5000 for only ten easy payments of $29.99, call now and we'll give you ten more IQ points FREE!"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by lx on Thursday June 05 2014, @06:41PM
The magic words are Maharishi University this is the TM [wikipedia.org] crowd pushing their agenda.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @05:58PM
This Brain integration sound more like a category used to pigeon-hole people they like rather than something born of actual research, kind of like one of those custom category awards you can buy from JD Power merely by throwing money at them.
Lets see them bring in Joe Random from the street, and make a distinction without an interview or external clues.
Unselfish! Wow.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 05 2014, @07:06PM
Who's whispering "ppppppsss. bullshit. bullshit. loads and loads... bullshit"?
(Score: 2) by khallow on Thursday June 05 2014, @10:38PM
Obviously people with poor brain integration. Duh.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Thursday June 05 2014, @07:55PM
> People with high mind-brain development are alert, interested in learning new things and disposed to see the whole picture. They think in wide circles and are emotionally stable and unselfish.
Well, obviously you're describing me. *(Buffs nails.)*
> In all of his studies so far, top-level performers consistently show higher levels of brain integration.
If this is top-level, I'd hate to see what dis-integrated me is doing for a living.
More seriously, I've got to wonder. Maybe there's something behind that paywall that makes it all seem logical but right now I'm reminded of the time Cosmo magazine was pimping the wonders of brown-eyed men because the majority of high-performers had brown eyes.
(Score: 1) by Hawkwind on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:56PM
Unfortunately it's such a fine publication I can't get to it even from a U.S R-1 University network.