Creativity

TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER 1. THE AGE OF NOVELTY CHAPTER 2. THE NEUROMYTHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY From neuroorphans to neurofads "Bad and useless" Deconstructing innovation and creativity Multiple creativities CHAPTER 3. THE CONSERVATIVE BRAIN How we know what we know Mapping the world in the brain How language found its home "Isomorphic gradients" Dementia with a silver lining? CHAPTER 4. THE MERMAID AND THE LEGO MASTER (AND THE CAVE LION-MAN) How is a new idea born? Mechanics behind the metaphor - the macro view The working memory conundrum Phantoms in the brain - the micro view CHAPTER 5. IT IS ALL ABOUT SALIENCE! The salience circuit Salient default Salience, dopamine, and frontal arousal - or lack thereof Salience diluted Salience hijacked CHAPTER 6. THE INNOVATING BRAIN The novelty challenge Hemispheres misunderstood The novel and the routine Wired for novelty Driven by novelty Novelty overdrive CHAPTER 7. DIRECTED WANDERING AND THE INEFFABLE CREATIVE SPARK No monkey business The extreme frontal lobes Dorsolateral bistability: Inspiration and perspiration Lego master at work: creative perspiration Lego master at rest: creative inspiration? Not yet The brain's small world Directed mental wondering: The creative spark Iteration and selection CHAPTER 8. IS THE BABOON CREATIVE? Novelty in evolution Human development and animal creativity CHAPTER 9. THE CREATIVE MIND A few worthy feats Conform or not conform? The theory of mind's mixed blessing Creativity and intelligence A few worthy tests How bad is mad? Creating minds CHAPTER 10. THE CREATIVE BRAIN A few worthy brains Connectivity of creativity Life in a small world The advantages of having a coat The advantages of not having a coat Are "creativity genes" for real? CHAPTER 11. EPILOGUE: WHAT'S NEXT? Summing up and looking forward Consuming innovation Creating innovation CHAPTER NOTES INDEX