Photo by Jana Leu on Unsplash

This article is inspired by Arne Dietrich’s study on creativity, where he identified four key patterns for creativity in the brain:

1. Deliberate and cognitive (Thomas Edison)
2. Deliberate and emotional (a moment of sudden insight or discovery)
3. Spontaneous and cognitive (Isaac Newton)
4. Spontaneous and emotional (artists and musicians)

Deliberate and cognitive

Deliberate and cognitive creativity comes from focus and disciple. A good example is Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, phonograph and motion picture camera. Edison ran experiment after experiment until he discovered an invention.

He famously said: I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Arne Dietrich states that this type of creativity comes from the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

The PFC allows you to pay focused attention, whilst making connections to information stored in other parts of your brain. For this to work, you need knowledge on one, or more particular topics.

Deliberate and emotional

This form of creativity also comes from your PFC. It’s deliberate, however, it doesn’t need expertise. It’s that sudden insight, which comes from emotions. An example is a decision that impacts your life.

Love, hate and fear are all processed in the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure that lies in the temporal lobe.

Amygdala (Getty Images)

Funnily enough, the PFC is not connected to the amygdala. There’s another part of your brain which triggers emotions, the cingulate cortex. This deals with complex feelings related to how you interact with others, and is connected to the PFC.

Spontaneous and cognitive creativity

Spontaneous and cognitive creativity is a sudden flash of inspiration, helping you to create, or solve a problem.

During spontaneous and cognitive creativity, your conscious brain stops working, allowing the unconscious brain to spring into action. While your brain is working on something unrelated, the PFC is able to make connections in new ways, using unconscious mental processing.

When Isaac Newton watched gravity pull his apple to the ground, that’s an example of spontaneous and cognitive creativity.

This type of creativity needs specific knowledge. That’s the cognitive part.

Spontaneous and emotional creativity

Spontaneous and emotional creativity also comes from the amygdala.

When your conscious brain and the PFC are resting, that’s when spontaneous ideas emerge. This type of creativity drives artists and musicians. These spontaneous and creative moments are powerful, like an epiphany, or a religious experience.

You don’t require any specific knowledge for this type of creativity as it’s not cognitive. However, some form of artistic skill is needed to create something from a spontaneous and emotional idea.