Improving Your Creative Thinking and the Importance of Memory and Attention

Improving Your Creative Thinking and the Importance of Memory and Attention

The human mind is capable of producing novel and useful ideas, but it requires a combination of divergent and convergent thinking to do so. Researchers believe that creativity involves generating candidate ideas and making novel connections between them, then narrowing down to the most useful one. To facilitate this process, one needs to have a good memory bank full of materials for creation. Memory is critical to creativity because it is the foundation upon which new ideas are built. By consuming other people's ideas and actively engaging with them, we can widen the funnel of divergent thinking and strengthen existing associations.

In addition to memory, attention is also crucial to creative thinking. While modern technology has made it easier to collect and organize information, it has also made it harder to shepherd our attention effectively. We are often stuck in the memory collection part of the creative thinking process, forgoing the necessary mind wandering that allows us to make novel connections. Therefore, it is essential to strike a balance between staying focused on our creative thought work by letting our control network do its job and not missing out on potentially useful novel conversations happening around us.

One of the biggest predictors of creativity is semantic memory structure, or how we relate language-based concepts. When we come up with different uses, a network of brain regions called the "default network" is activated. Governing this process is a "control network" that allows us to think flexibly, inhibit outside distractions, and pull from our memory. Higher creative thinking scores are correlated with greater coupling between these networks. Therefore, it is essential to actively engage with our materials, take notes, make highlights, and revisit that material when it’s related to what we’re currently thinking about.

In conclusion, the goal of creative thinking is not just to take notes but to think effectively. To do so, one needs to have a good memory bank full of materials for creation and the ability to shepherd their attention effectively. By actively engaging with our materials, taking notes, and revisiting them when necessary, we can widen our divergent thinking funnel and strengthen existing associations. Ultimately, the key to improving our creative thinking is to strike a balance between staying focused on our creative thought work and not missing out on potentially useful novel conversations happening around us.