Think Outside The Box - Zap Your Brain's Filter

As you read this article are you..uh...uhmm...engaged in other simultaneous tasks? Are you listening to music, maybe keeping one eye on a chat or the TV, talking with a family member, petting the cat? Are you instant messaging? Checking your bank account online? Talking on your cell phone?

Since the 1990's, most of us have taken for granted that multi-tasking, shifting focus from one task to another in rapid succession, is a good thing. Nearly all of us spend most of out time juggling two or more tasks at once, switching back and forth between activities as we hurry through the day.

Multi-tasking may allow us to take on life's challenges pro-actively, but not reactively, paying attention to the people and processes in our lives, and without the reflection necessary to make constructive changes.

An Academic Study of "Zapping" the Brain's Filter

Thinking outside the box to find new ways to deal with life challenges, professor Sharon Thompson-Schill of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania tells us, requires the ability to focus attention, not to spread it out over a series of nearly-simultaenous tasks. Dr. Thompson-Schill and her colleagues recently completed a laboratory study that mapped the region of the brain that makes focus possible.

Thompson-Schill's team recruited volunteers to participate in an experiment in which they were shown photos of everyday objects and asked to come up with out-of-the-ordinary uses for them. The participants in the study were shown different everyday objects such as a baseball bat or a rolling pin every nine seconds, 60 objects in all, while researchers noted how long it took them to come up with a valid response, if any.

Dr. Thompson-Schill described the task as the opposite of multi-tasking. In multi-tasking, it is necessary to filter out extraneous information to get a task done. In creative thinking, it is necessary to focus on an object but to be open to all kinds of information about it to come to novel conclusions.

The volunteers were divided into three groups. One group was fitted with a headband designed to deliver a magnetic field, called transcutaneous direct current stimulation, to the left prefrontal cortex. Producing a slight tingling sensation, stimulating this part of the brain shut down the "cognitive filter" that forces focus on an object, allowing various thoughts, memories, and feelings to enter consciousness. Another group was fitted with a headband that stimulated a different part of the brain, and a third group was not fitted with any kind of brain-inhibiting magnetic device.

Less Filtering, More Creativity

The University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the participants who weren't fitted with any brain-training device were able to articulate new uses for 45 out of the 60 objects, giving their answers in an average of 5 seconds. The study participants who were fitted with a magnetic headband to dampen the brain's focusing process were able to suggest new uses for 52 out of the 60 objects, giving their answers in an average of 4 seconds.

Turning of the brain's filter interferes with the ability to juggle multiple, mindless tasks at the same time. For this kind of activity, the ability to discriminate among stimuli and to pay specific attention to specific tasks is essential. But for learning something new, Dr. Thompson-Schiller says, it's necessary to experience one stimulus at a time more fully.

Seven Ways To Train Your Brain For Creative Thinking

Most of us don't have access to transcutaneous direct current stimulation headbands that would enable us to switch off the left prefrontal cortex so we can think outside the box. There are other ways, however, to train your brain for creative thinking. Here are ten.

1. Cross-train your brain.

Even if you have to multi-task, you don't necessarily have to do the same multiple tasks all the time. Set aside times of day you don't answer your cell phone, you don't do instant messaging, you don't text, or you don't watch TV. If you then still multi-task, at least you will be doing it in a different way.

2. Cultivate quiet time.

Quiet time can be used for meditation (see below), but it's not the same as meditation. Quiet time is about having some time you don't have to respond immediately to people and devices. Even if it is just 15 minutes a day, find some time every day that you are untethered to electronic communication and the Internet so you can focus on activities that are physically at hand.

3. Prepare for activities without anticipating them.

Be ready for multi-tasking (keep your cell phone charged, pay your Internet bill, keep some gas in the car tank) without rehearsing the ideas "I have to keep my cell phone on in case a salesperson calls," "I have to use Firefox instead of Chrome," and "Must drive to soccer match. Must drive to grocery store. Must pick up kids." Do all those things, but don't bother anticipating them. Keep a physical written list of things to do without making a mental checklist of the day's activities. Then refer to your list occasionally to make sure you didn't leave anything undone.

4. Allow yourself to experience information in a variety of ways.

Some of us tend to remember things in terms of images. Some of tend to remember things in words. Some people can't quote a conversation without using their hands. If you tend to have a visual memory, say something aloud to make a mental note of it. If you tend to have a verbal memory, envision an activity or a fact as you repeat words about it. If you tend to have a kinesthetic memory, try to remember events and facts descriptively rather than as just physical experiences.

5. Schedule time to relax.

The only time to be creative is right now. Limit your to-do list so you have at least a few minutes every day for the entirely unexpected.

6. Remember, multiple answers always exist.

Take advantage of the minor breakdowns in your life, the cell phone going out, the car breaking down, and so on, to find entirely different ways of going about your daily activities. Sometimes the change will be for the better.

7. Make time to meditate.

Meditation enhances mindfulness as it opens new pathways in the brain. Instead of flitting attention from task to task, meditation opens the mind to entirely unexpected thoughts. Meditation can feel like a complete waste of time, until one day you realize you have changed your life for the better by getting out of the rut of multi-tasking all day, every day.