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Many people know the feeling of being " in the zone " : As they ’re to the full immersed in a labor , the desktop interference of the world fades and they may not notice clip passing . Gymnasts may get in this all - down mental state as they ’re refining a floor turn , an creative person might detect " the zona " when adding soft brushstrokes to a painting and a author might enter it as they ’re crafting the climax of a chapter .
This state , known in psychology as a " flow state , " is pursued by those who desire to be more productive and creative in an enjoyable way . What happens in the brain during this state , however , has beenunder public debate for more than four 10 .
Postdoctoral researcher Yongtaek Oh playing the guitar while his brain waves are recorded in Drexel University’s Creativity Research Laboratory.
Now , in enquiry published March 4 in the journalNeuropsychologia , scientists may have sink the debate . They conducted a unexampled brain - scan subject that has lastly bring out which part of the brain are activated in the midst of a creative flow state .
Their finding negate one democratic possibility of flow while supporting another , and they seem to unwrap the key ingredients needed to get " in the zone . "
link up : What happens in our brains when we ' get word ' our own idea ?
The researchers studied jazz guitarists in the study. This image highlights areas of reduced brain activity when experienced musicians were in a high-flow state, compared to a low-flow state. These areas include key nodes of the default mode network.
The competing hypotheses of flow
Two brain networks havehistorically been studiedduring tasks that could unlock flow . One is the default mode connection ( DMN ) , a circumference of connected brain area associated with daydream whose activity spikes when hoi polloi are not engaged in a specific task . The second is the executive control web ( ECN ) , which endorse complex cognitive cognitive operation , like trouble - resolution , and tunes out distraction .
Both connection can playact independently , but they ’ve also been shown to displaycertain storey of connectivityand tointeract dynamically , especially during the creative process .
Researchers have proposed two primary possibility for how the rate of flow state affects the brainpower . The firstposits it ’s a land of hyperfocus in which ECN activity increases and direct the DMN to maintain direction on a task , to help generate relevant approximation , saidDmitri van der Linden , a prof of work and organisational psychological science at Erasmus University Rotterdam who was not involved in the raw study .
" It has been hypothesized that during flow , which is characterise by an acute task direction , DMN activity is relatively lowly , " van der Linden evidence Live Science in an email . DMN bodily function is linked to " creative product , " though , which is needed to generate musical theme and improvise , he noted . With that in mind , this first hypothesis implies that both the ECN and the DMN are alive and play off each other during flow rate , respectively bring attending and creative thinking .
The alternative theoryof stream , however , enunciate that the expertness a person win in a task through practice forges its own neural processing internet that does not require ECN supervision or DMN involvement .
If you don’t know, you can’t flow
To pit these hypotheses against each other , John Kounios , a prof of psychology at Drexel University and senior author of the study , and his team studied 32 jazz guitar player , some extremely experienced and some less - experient . Creative project like improvisational wind lend themselves well to triggering a flow rate state .
The researchers scanned the musicians ' brain using electroencephalogram cap , meet caps stud with electrodes that track the brain ’s electrical activity . They examined activity in expanse related to the DMN and the ECN and compare current and non - flow United States Department of State , which they evaluated with a questionnaire about the musicians ' experience while improvising .
Experienced musicians in a flow state showed fall action in the ECN and the DMN and increased activity in regions that process auditory , optic and movement information . This suggests that , during flow , individuals " let go " or swop into " autopilot " and feel less conscious controller .
Moreover , experienced instrumentalist in a flow state did n’t seem to bank on the DMN to generate ideas , since its activeness was down . alternatively , they used the networks they had formed throughout their lives while hone their trade — in other words , connection involved in hearing and playing guitar , the researchers close .
Meanwhile , less - go through musician usher little modification in the service line activity of their ECNs , DMNs , or other processing centers while improvising in either low- or mellow - flow country . This suggests that only through gaining expertise and " let go " can a person hope to achieve a high DoS of flow .
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According to van der Linden , these findings address fundamental questions in neuroscience and are especially impactful because they looked at brain activity during a real - biography creative job rather than one invented for a subject field .
" This can be the basis for novel techniques for instructing the great unwashed to produce creative idea , " Kuonios read in astatement . In future oeuvre , the group hop to confirm their hypothesis with other creative undertaking , such as drawing , while replicating the finding with higher - resolving brainiac - scan techniques .
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