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The Creative Power in Your Hands and the Amazing Brain Health Connection
Little did we know that an incredible force is propelled to our brains when we create with our hands.
Brain research on creativity is based on a false assumption that almost everyone has. Strangely, this is not a point of contention; once it is made clear, it is easy to see that the assumption is wrong. Psychology says creativity comprises many complicated mental and emotional processes in discretely different areas.
We treat creativity as a single, unified, and discrete thing like Einstein had it. As a simple extension of this mistake, cognitive neuroscientists have looked for a type of creative thinking that differs from all other types and has its own brain basis.
So far, research has shown that using neuroscience tools to examine the strength of brain network links can help predict how creative a person will be. But we do not know if these links can be strengthened to help people generate new ideas.
Many hands-on hobbies, like knitting, gardening, and coloring, have been linked to mental and emotional health benefits. Could this be the reason we’re seeing adult coloring book sales surge? The benefits include better memory and attention, as well as fewer signs of anxiety and depression. The latter would seem to point to processes that would…
