The Creative Brain and Individuality: A Commentary Exploring Three Surprising Insights from Half a Century of Research

The neuroscientific study of creativity began in earnest half a century ago with the founding of the field of neuroscience and the development of the first tools to measure brain-related activity. Over the ensuing decades, tremendous advances have been made in our understanding of how various neural structures and circuits underpin different psychological functions. This opinion paper presents an overview of what we know about human creativity thus far from adopting a physiology-based approach, and, in doing so, describes three broad insights that can be inferred from the existing body of evidence. First, the dynamic and heterogenous engagement of multiple brain networks during creative thinking necessarily reflects both interindividual and intraindividual differences in the ideation process. Second, compared to other psychological functions, creativity is a relatively disorder-resistant capacity of the human brain. And third, creative arts-based practices have neuroprotective effects and serve as effective intervention tools for neurorehabilitation.