SoylentNews

AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Study finds brain integration correlates with greater creativity in product-development engineers:

Creativity may depend on greater brain integration, according to a new study ( http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/.U3WcRS-aH-c [tandfonline.com] ) 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 ( http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-06/muom-rbh061812.php [eurekalert.org] ) 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.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/muom-dpm052914.php [eurekalert.org]

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10400419.2014.901096 [tandfonline.com]

---

Original Submission