NYT: creativity

I'm reading a really interesting article about creativity.

Highlights:

• new definition: "the ability to restructure one’s understanding of a situation in a nonobvious way."
• "Although intelligence and skill are generally associated with the fast and efficient firing of neurons, subjects who tested high in creativity had thinner white matter and connecting axons that have the effect of slowing nerve traffic in the brain."

(Sometimes I think I'm an intellectual, an academic, but maybe I'm really more of a creative. And so while I feel slightly out of place among hardcore academics (whose brains have achieved fast, efficiency by thinking inside the box/framework), maybe that's only because I think I should belong. But I've never valued efficiency or encyclopedic knowledge, so why would I?)

• "creativity not only involves coming up with something new, but also with shutting down the brain’s habitual response, or letting go of conventional solutions."

This was talking about people intuiting the answer, allowing it to appear from their subconscious by closing their eyes, reducing activity in the visual cortex.

• And finally: “Humor is an important part of creativity.”
  

So that must mean I'm creative but only about 20% of the time. Which is, at least, an improvement.