A Simple Solution to Increase Creativity
What do memory and speed have to do with it?
Have you ever been in a conversation where you start off talking about one thing — let’s say, a recent fire you saw on the news — and ended the conversation talking about something completely different — perhaps it’s apples? How do you go from a fire to apples in one short conversation, you ask?
It’s all in the way our brains create connections between our memories.
Let’s walk through the possible connections to get from fire to apples. You start by asking the other person if they heard about the fire. This leads to discussing how quickly the fire engines were able to get there, followed by noting that a yellow fire engine showed up and asking if the other person knew there were red and yellow fire engines? The conversation then pivots to things you didn’t realize came in different colors before one of you brings up red, yellow, and green apples. Ta-da!
The connections our brains forge between different ideas and experiences mean we are often jumping from one thought to another, tying the ideas together using connections our brains have already created. Researchers have found that people who are considered very creative use a different approach in how they access and classify their memories.
What does it take to be considered creative?
Scientists now believe creativity has less to do with using new, previously untapped areas of our brains, and more to do with how we access the information we’ve already stored there. A person who comes up with new ideas from the same material everyone else uses is considered creative.
It could be the way a soccer player blows past defenders to score a goal. Or it could be a new idea no one’s thought of that solves traffic problems in a city. Creativity can flourish in many forms: art, music, cooking, writing, and problem-solving, just to name a few.
In a recent paper, Yoed N Kenett notes that in many varied models of the creative process, semantic memory always crops up. (1) Semantic memory is a type of long-term memory that governs the ability to remember words, numbers, or concepts. Basically, you use your semantic memory when you look at a group of ten apples and can state the correct name (apples) and number (ten). Without semantic memory, you would struggle to communicate because you wouldn’t be able to name everyday objects or shared ideas.
How does semantic memory affect creativity?
If you look at what many consider life-changing creative moments in human history, you see that each one sits on a foundation of information people already knew.
For example, the Wright Brothers figured out how to make an airplane fly by taking their knowledge of how bicycles work and applying it to what they already understood about physics and the principles of flight. The Wright Brothers took two seemingly unrelated ideas and connected them to make a creative new one.
Creativity requires making connections in your semantic memory in a way few have done before. Sometimes that looks like figuring out a brand new connection; sometimes it looks like noticing patterns others don’t.
Memory patterns in musicians
Researchers at Columbia University measured how quickly musicians recognized which chords could or could not substitute in a piece of music. Participants included musicians who were skilled improvisers along with classically trained musicians who rarely improvised. Unsurprisingly, the skilled improvisers performed the best. (2) The researchers wanted to know why.
The study’s senior author, Paul Sajda, noted, “It turns out that the degree to which we can predict how musicians respond to different types of musical substitution has nothing to do with how much they practice, but the way they practice.” He went on to posit that, “Improvisational practice seems to reinforce how the brain represents different types of musical structures.” (3)
Despite both groups knowing how to read music skillfully, each group’s training was vastly different. Classically trained musicians tend to emphasize the way you play the music on the page — how fast or slow, soft or loud, etc. Whereas musicians trained in improvisation tend to emphasize the structure of the music on the page — the way the piece sounds when you play regardless of the notes it took to make it sound that way.
Learning a fundamentally different way of categorizing music teaches your brain to make different types of connections in your semantic memory. This can be extrapolated to explain how a creative brain experiences the world. A chef who is missing an ingredient can quickly choose a proper substitute because they are trying to match the overall flavor of the food instead of the individual ingredients.
Race to remember
Another group of researchers looked at the way varsity baseball players categorized pitches. The players with the best scores were not only able to figure out the type of pitch headed their way — slider, curveball, etc. — they were able to categorize it so quickly they had time to decide if they should try to hit it or not. (4) Knowing the type of pitch doesn’t help if you can’t hit it.
The speed at which a person accesses their semantic memory matters.
Think about jazz musicians — masters of improvisation. If they can’t quickly categorize the sound they hope to achieve, they won’t be able to figure out which notes to play next before the music moves on.
The marriage of the types of connections with the speed at which the person accesses them defines creativity. The good news is that because creativity is based on the speed and types of connections we make in our semantic memories, anyone with a basic memory structure can be creative.
How do you increase your creativity?
Practice. When broken down into subgroups, the musicians in the Columbia University study with the best scores were the ones who trained in improvisation and practiced the most. (2)
Soccer players who spend their free time watching games and playing for fun start to notice patterns of when to pass and how to move off the ball to get the best outcome. By actually playing themselves, they practice how quickly they can apply that knowledge. Once they’ve primed their brains to find those patterns and practiced how to implement them quickly, they become more creative players.
How to change the way you think
Think about something you do that makes you feel creative: write, draw, code, etc. If you can’t come up with anything, think about something you really love to do: cook, knit, play a sport, etc. Now think about why it makes you feel creative, or why you love it so much. Is it because you’re really good at it? Or maybe you find the subject fascinating. Maybe it relaxes you.
Whatever the reason, think about all the memories you have associated with the thing. We’re talking about semantic memory as well as personal memory, so don’t be afraid to include basic words like ‘red’ or ‘pencils.’ I suggest making a web chart:
Now see if you can start to make connections between the outside circles. Maybe you can relate three circles together in two steps. Let your mind wander while you look at the words you don’t think have any association at all.
The idea is that you’re training yourself to think about memories associated with the main idea in a different way. (It should be noted that you can’t glare at the paper and force your brain to make a connection. It’ll never happen.) You’re looking to find novel connections between them, which can fuel your creativity the next time you do the main idea.
Notice I didn’t say you should immediately follow this up with action. Rest is crucial to our brains. (5) Sleep is often where our brains work to shift new ideas and experiences into long term memory, so don’t be afraid to hit the hay early! When you wake up, linger in bed without picking anything up. Let your mind wander a little bit and see if you hit on any new connections.
Finally, you have to do the thing. Repeatedly. You can’t get better at something if you don’t practice it. While you can’t force your brain to find connections, you can train your muscles to complete a task better — and faster! — with repeated use. Use one of the associated memories (an outside circle) to fuel the way you practice. Who knows? You might end up painting the world’s best apple-shaped fire truck!
- Kenett, Yoed N. (2019). “What can quantitative measures of semantic distance tell us about creativity?” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 27:11–16
- Goldman, A., Jackson, T., & Sajda, P. (2018). Improvisation experience predicts how musicians categorize musical structures. Psychology of Music. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618779444 [Accessed 25 Oct 2019]
- Columbia University. (2018). Training in musical improvisation may teach your brain to think differently: Skilled improvisers detect easy-to-substitute chords faster than non-improvisers, says study. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180705125726.htm [Accessed 24 Oct 2019]
- Schonbrun, Zach. How Do Athletes’ Brains Control Their Movements?: A pair of neuroscientists are working with Major League Baseball to help measure the mental aspects of a batter’s swing. The New York Times. 13 April 2018. Available From: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/sports/sports-science.html [Accessed 25 Oct 2019]
- Ritter, Simone M., Strick, Madelijn., et.al. “Good morning creativity: task reactivation during sleep enhances beneficial effect of sleep on creative performance.” Journal of Sleep Research. 2012. Available From: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Good-morning-creativity%3A-task-reactivation-during-Ritter-Strick/c0df964ffdb2801641d68fb5092a0b37dea563cd [Accessed 24 Oct 2019]
