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THE BEAST IN THE BRAIN Across-Species Comparisons and ...

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THE BEAST IN THE BRAIN Across-Species Comparisons and ...

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    1. Art involves incorporating unique perceptions They may be your perceptions or another’s But your incorporation of their uniqueness makes them part of you A mind once stretched by an idea, like a heart once stretched by love, will never regain its former shape. ("A man's mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes Art involves incorporating unique perceptions They may be your perceptions or another’s But your incorporation of their uniqueness makes them part of you A mind once stretched by an idea, like a heart once stretched by love, will never regain its former shape. ("A man's mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

    2. My Own Work . . . Clarifying function of the striatal complex in reptiles Specific lesions profoundly impair species-typical responses to very precise stimuli Stress endocrine dynamics is an important variable Lesions of the paleostriatum of a lizard profoundly alters social dynamics of males: Where vigorous territorial combat might be expected when an individual views an intruding conspecific, the brain-lesioned resident is unresponsive, the intruder is not an effective stimulus for the territorial display, although displays characteristic of mild arousal might be elicited. In other experiments, lizards with comparable lesions courted females quite normally. Reptiles lack a corpus callosum and are thus natural split-brain preparations: the lesions are unilateral, and in cases where the intruder is seen with the eye leading to the intact hemisphere, the expected aggressive response is evoked. If intact animals are allowed to cohabit a vivarium after their territorial confrontation, the winner typically goes about his business, alert to the cohabiting loser, but generally unperturbed as long as the loser responds with appropriate indications of deference when subjected to an occasional challenge display: a classic social dominance relationship has been established. The winner monopolizes the best sites to watch for predators, prey, or mating opportunities, while the loser, no less active in foraging or feeding acts with apparent indifference to the trappings of power. During fights between well matched individuals – color may shift green to brown and back several times over an extended period – up to 40 minutes– as lizards circle each other, pausing to display – a seeming war of attrition, with only occasional attempts to bite. Those with the longer latency to get an epinephrine-induced eyespot generally lose. Winners get it earlier and lose it faster. Also, animals usually capitulated during a brown phase. – as status is consolidated over the next few days (losers almost always become subordinate), subordinates are predominantly brown. (Summers and Greenberg 1994)Lesions of the paleostriatum of a lizard profoundly alters social dynamics of males: Where vigorous territorial combat might be expected when an individual views an intruding conspecific, the brain-lesioned resident is unresponsive, the intruder is not an effective stimulus for the territorial display, although displays characteristic of mild arousal might be elicited. In other experiments, lizards with comparable lesions courted females quite normally. Reptiles lack a corpus callosum and are thus natural split-brain preparations: the lesions are unilateral, and in cases where the intruder is seen with the eye leading to the intact hemisphere, the expected aggressive response is evoked. If intact animals are allowed to cohabit a vivarium after their territorial confrontation, the winner typically goes about his business, alert to the cohabiting loser, but generally unperturbed as long as the loser responds with appropriate indications of deference when subjected to an occasional challenge display: a classic social dominance relationship has been established. The winner monopolizes the best sites to watch for predators, prey, or mating opportunities, while the loser, no less active in foraging or feeding acts with apparent indifference to the trappings of power. During fights between well matched individuals – color may shift green to brown and back several times over an extended period – up to 40 minutes– as lizards circle each other, pausing to display – a seeming war of attrition, with only occasional attempts to bite. Those with the longer latency to get an epinephrine-induced eyespot generally lose. Winners get it earlier and lose it faster. Also, animals usually capitulated during a brown phase. – as status is consolidated over the next few days (losers almost always become subordinate), subordinates are predominantly brown. (Summers and Greenberg 1994)

    3. OVERVIEW CREATIVITY is a unique phenomenon that demonstrates how many of the aspects of behavioral biology in which I am most interested converge or complement each other. It is constrained by DEVELOPMENT, ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, and PHYSIOLOGY – the four complementary disciplines of “DEEP ETHOLOGY” The behavioral pattern that is at the heart of our concern is CREATIVITY But first, [1] Creativity needs to be REDEFINED as a behavioral pattern more accessible to biology -- this helps make it clear that it is not a trait of a few extraordinary individuals --geniuses and artists–but is more-or-less represented in all of us -- when is creativity may be more relevant than what is creativity next, I think both the evolution and expression of creativity is deeply involved with the biology of stress: [2] Stress –is more than the potentially dangerous physiological response to life-threatening challenge --stress copes with change, only sometimes requiring massive reallocation of energy --real and perceived stressors may function differently [3] The “R-Complex” is the only part of the brain I worked with directly. Creativity, represented as a continuum of integrated functions, each with corresponding brain functions, including the basal forebrain structures -- these are more than simple regulators of motor acts --but may be involved in tone-setting and possibly planning >in other words, the behavioral pattern we term creativity integrates motivation, affect, and cognition and thereby ramifies throughout every levels of the brain. It can be viewed at various levels of intensity as one of the supreme adaptive mechanisms we possess. Both its evolution and its expression are largely dependent on STRESS --often evoked by and involved with the neuroendocrine response to real, perceived, and even autotelic challenges to our ability to meet our real or perceived needs.. The behavioral pattern that is at the heart of our concern is CREATIVITY But first, [1] Creativity needs to be REDEFINED as a behavioral pattern more accessible to biology -- this helps make it clear that it is not a trait of a few extraordinary individuals --geniuses and artists–but is more-or-less represented in all of us -- when is creativity may be more relevant than what is creativity next, I think both the evolution and expression of creativity is deeply involved with the biology of stress: [2] Stress –is more than the potentially dangerous physiological response to life-threatening challenge --stress copes with change, only sometimes requiring massive reallocation of energy --real and perceived stressors may function differently [3] The “R-Complex” is the only part of the brain I worked with directly. Creativity, represented as a continuum of integrated functions, each with corresponding brain functions, including the basal forebrain structures -- these are more than simple regulators of motor acts --but may be involved in tone-setting and possibly planning >in other words, the behavioral pattern we term creativity integrates motivation, affect, and cognition and thereby ramifies throughout every levels of the brain. It can be viewed at various levels of intensity as one of the supreme adaptive mechanisms we possess. Both its evolution and its expression are largely dependent on STRESS --often evoked by and involved with the neuroendocrine response to real, perceived, and even autotelic challenges to our ability to meet our real or perceived needs..

    4. NATURAL HISTORY DEEP ETHOLOGY Describe & Define the trait Development (ontogeny, experience) Evolution (fitness) Environment (context, stability) Physiology (neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology)

    5. Adapted from THE BEAST at PLAY Creative Play and the Brain Summit Meeting, September 17-18-19, 1999 Neil Greenberg Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University Studies Transdisciplinary Program The University of Tennessee, Knoxville I gave the Russ the title months ago, trusting to what we now believe is the likely mode of operation of consciousness: post-hoc rationalizations of actions -- the title “came to me” and then I figured out why: “The Beast in the Brain” refers to the seeming paradox that those attributes that we regard as most uniquely human are utterly dependent upon continuing access to the deepest parts of our brains. Triumph of Wilsonian consilience: conveying insights that tend to validate beliefs Neil Greenberg Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University Studies Transdisciplinary Program The University of Tennessee, Knoxville I gave the Russ the title months ago, trusting to what we now believe is the likely mode of operation of consciousness: post-hoc rationalizations of actions -- the title “came to me” and then I figured out why: “The Beast in the Brain” refers to the seeming paradox that those attributes that we regard as most uniquely human are utterly dependent upon continuing access to the deepest parts of our brains. Triumph of Wilsonian consilience: conveying insights that tend to validate beliefs Neil Greenberg Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University Studies Transdisciplinary Program The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

    6. The “BEAST” in the brain? The “beast” is the R-complex of Paul MacLean’s “Triune Brain” R for “reptilian This is what clinicians call the basal ganglia or striatal complex It is often regarded as linking motivational, affective, and cognitive centers with each other and with effectors The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985). The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985).

    7. OVERVIEW BASAL GANGLIA Dopamine deeply involved in its functions; a genetic polymorphism for specific DA receptors includes “novelty-seeking” (Ebstein et al 1996) Neostriatal crossroads: “the interface between limbic and motor systems” (Mogenson et al. 1980); “between cognition and action” (Graybiel 1997) the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985). , Mogenson (et al. 1980 cited by Groenewegen et al., 1996) regarded it as the “neural interface between the limbic and the motor systems” It is thus, in Groenewegen’s rephrasing, “an important link between the motivational-emotional parts of the brain and certain effector regions.” . Groenewegen, Henk J., Christopher I. Wright, Arno V.J. Beijer. 1996. The nucleus accumbens|: gateway for limbic structures to reach the motor system. In: Progress in Brain Research vol 107 pp. 485-511. (Caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus are sometimes referred to collectively as “neostriatum” while nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle and ventral pallidum are called “paleostriatum.” ) Dopamine, then, may be implicated in cognitive as well as motor functions of the basal ganglia (briefly reviewed by Roffler-Tarlov & Graybiel). Even basic personality traits are associated with dopamine. More recently, genetic polymorphisms for a specific dopamine receptors were found to be associated with specific personality types such as “novelty seekers” or “reward-dependent” (Ebstein et al. 1996, 1997).the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985). , Mogenson (et al. 1980 cited by Groenewegen et al., 1996) regarded it as the “neural interface between the limbic and the motor systems” It is thus, in Groenewegen’s rephrasing, “an important link between the motivational-emotional parts of the brain and certain effector regions.” . Groenewegen, Henk J., Christopher I. Wright, Arno V.J. Beijer. 1996. The nucleus accumbens|: gateway for limbic structures to reach the motor system. In: Progress in Brain Research vol 107 pp. 485-511. (Caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus are sometimes referred to collectively as “neostriatum” while nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle and ventral pallidum are called “paleostriatum.” ) Dopamine, then, may be implicated in cognitive as well as motor functions of the basal ganglia (briefly reviewed by Roffler-Tarlov & Graybiel). Even basic personality traits are associated with dopamine. More recently, genetic polymorphisms for a specific dopamine receptors were found to be associated with specific personality types such as “novelty seekers” or “reward-dependent” (Ebstein et al. 1996, 1997).

    8. Recently enlarged understanding: [1] Creativity is more than a trait of a few extraordinary individuals [2] Stress is more than a massive response to life-threatening challenge [3] The “R-Complex” is more than a mere regulator of motor acts The behavioral pattern that is at the heart of our concern is CREATIVITY But first, [1] Creativity needs to be REDEFINED as a behavioral pattern more accessible to biology -- this helps make it clear that it is not a trait of a few extraordinary individuals --geniuses and artists–but is more-or-less represented in all of us -- when is creativity may be more relevant than what is creativity next, I think both the evolution and expression of creativity is deeply involved with the biology of stress: [2] Stress –is more than the potentially dangerous physiological response to life-threatening challenge --stress copes with change, only sometimes requiring massive reallocation of energy --real and perceived stressors may function differently [3] The “R-Complex” is the only part of the brain I worked with directly. Creativity, represented as a continuum of integrated functions, each with corresponding brain functions, including the basal forebrain structures -- these are more than simple regulators of motor acts --but may be involved in tone-setting and possibly planning >in other words, the behavioral pattern we term creativity integrates motivation, affect, and cognition and thereby ramifies throughout every levels of the brain. It can be viewed at various levels of intensity as one of the supreme adaptive mechanisms we possess. Both its evolution and its expression are largely dependent on STRESS --often evoked by and involved with the neuroendocrine response to real, perceived, and even autotelic challenges to our ability to meet our real or perceived needs.. The behavioral pattern that is at the heart of our concern is CREATIVITY But first, [1] Creativity needs to be REDEFINED as a behavioral pattern more accessible to biology -- this helps make it clear that it is not a trait of a few extraordinary individuals --geniuses and artists–but is more-or-less represented in all of us -- when is creativity may be more relevant than what is creativity next, I think both the evolution and expression of creativity is deeply involved with the biology of stress: [2] Stress –is more than the potentially dangerous physiological response to life-threatening challenge --stress copes with change, only sometimes requiring massive reallocation of energy --real and perceived stressors may function differently [3] The “R-Complex” is the only part of the brain I worked with directly. Creativity, represented as a continuum of integrated functions, each with corresponding brain functions, including the basal forebrain structures -- these are more than simple regulators of motor acts --but may be involved in tone-setting and possibly planning >in other words, the behavioral pattern we term creativity integrates motivation, affect, and cognition and thereby ramifies throughout every levels of the brain. It can be viewed at various levels of intensity as one of the supreme adaptive mechanisms we possess. Both its evolution and its expression are largely dependent on STRESS --often evoked by and involved with the neuroendocrine response to real, perceived, and even autotelic challenges to our ability to meet our real or perceived needs..

    9. DEFINE CREATIVITY . . . involves the expression of unprecedented or novel perceptions, thoughts, or actions . . . by which an organism or group of organisms copes . . . with present or potential changes in the composition and structure of the environment. involves the expression of unprecedented or novel perceptions, thoughts, or actions . . . [This happens all the time, BUT such an expression is only occasionally seized upon for development as the solution to a problem -- such as more efficiently or effectively meeting needs) by which an organism or group of organisms copes . . . [reflecting DIRECT individual as opposed to INCLUSIVE FITNESS] with present or potential changes in the composition and structure of the environment. [Such changes are really internal -- the milieu interieur-- as well as environmental, reflecting development or experience] ("It is the fixity of the milieu interieur which is the condition of free and independent life,” said Claude Bernard (1878) CREATIVITY also implies a LOCUS OF CONTROL issue: at first it was the gods, and gradually WE began to take responsibility involves the expression of unprecedented or novel perceptions, thoughts, or actions . . . [This happens all the time, BUT such an expression is only occasionally seized upon for development as the solution to a problem -- such as more efficiently or effectively meeting needs) by which an organism or group of organisms copes . . . [reflecting DIRECT individual as opposed to INCLUSIVE FITNESS] with present or potential changes in the composition and structure of the environment. [Such changes are really internal -- the milieu interieur-- as well as environmental, reflecting development or experience] ("It is the fixity of the milieu interieur which is the condition of free and independent life,” said Claude Bernard (1878) CREATIVITY also implies a LOCUS OF CONTROL issue: at first it was the gods, and gradually WE began to take responsibility

    10. CREATIVITY . . . reflects a spontaneous or evoked increase in the intensity of cognitive processing . . . that enables the relating and integrating of variables . . . not ordinarily associated with each other. reflects a spontaneous or evoked increase in the intensity of cognitive processing . . . (Even “spontaneous” change might be a response to a diminution of the tonic level of activity) that enables the relating and integrating of variables . . . not ordinarily associated with each other. (In a connectionist view, “variables [are]not ordinarily associated with each other” because they are have not yet been experienced or they are “beyond” the normal net of associations)reflects a spontaneous or evoked increase in the intensity of cognitive processing . . . (Even “spontaneous” change might be a response to a diminution of the tonic level of activity) that enables the relating and integrating of variables . . . not ordinarily associated with each other. (In a connectionist view, “variables [are]not ordinarily associated with each other” because they are have not yet been experienced or they are “beyond” the normal net of associations)

    11. CREATIVITY COPES with NEEDS UNMET ADAPTATIONS evolve to meet needs - and priorities Physiology ( maintains homeostasis – a precondition for life) Safety (security, order, protection) Belonging ( sociability, acceptance) Esteem (status, prestige) Self-Actualization (personal fulfillment) -Maslow THE STARTING POINT must, for me, be the need served-- And the needs of animals exist in a cascade of priorities BEHAVIOR patterns and their underlying causation have been naturally selected and selectively enhanced or diminished according to their capacity to serve needs --and I find Abraham Maslow’s (1940) venerable hierarchy, originally codified for humanistic psychology, easily adapted to other taxa. Physiology (food, drink, exercise) (Food comes first, then morals. -Bertolt Brecht) Safety (security, order, protection) Belonging ( sociability, acceptance, love) Esteem (status, prestige, acknowledgment) Self-Actualization (personal fulfillment and growth) When more fundamental needs are not met, according to Maslow, they dominate behavior, and as they are met, higher level needs come to dominate. The satisfaction of higher needs is sought in the context of maximizing the lower needs. [Gerald Cory, however, criticizes Maslow for emphasizing EMERGENCE rather than CONFLICT (Jerry’s “ego/empathy” tension) and disregarding the tension between stages. NEEDS MET contribute to Fitness: direct and inclusive; their mechanisms are biological adaptations THE STARTING POINT must, for me, be the need served-- And the needs of animals exist in a cascade of priorities BEHAVIOR patterns and their underlying causation have been naturally selected and selectively enhanced or diminished according to their capacity to serve needs --and I find Abraham Maslow’s (1940) venerable hierarchy, originally codified for humanistic psychology, easily adapted to other taxa. Physiology (food, drink, exercise) (Food comes first, then morals. -Bertolt Brecht) Safety (security, order, protection) Belonging ( sociability, acceptance, love) Esteem (status, prestige, acknowledgment) Self-Actualization (personal fulfillment and growth) When more fundamental needs are not met, according to Maslow, they dominate behavior, and as they are met, higher level needs come to dominate. The satisfaction of higher needs is sought in the context of maximizing the lower needs. [Gerald Cory, however, criticizes Maslow for emphasizing EMERGENCE rather than CONFLICT (Jerry’s “ego/empathy” tension) and disregarding the tension between stages. NEEDS MET contribute to Fitness: direct and inclusive; their mechanisms are biological adaptations

    12. CHANGE, STRESS and CREATIVITY Change and stress Stress and creativity Evolution: “The peacock’s tail,” the lizard’s dewlap Change and Stress: HOMEOSTASIS is the bed-rock of needs. Satisfying these needs, culminating for most species in the self-actualization called “REPRODUCTION” --although humans are generally believed to have set their sights higher. ands stress is most commonly defined in terms of its coping with challenges to this most primal need -- Under stress, for example, reproduction is relegated to a secondary place as resources are reallocated towards survival. BUT Milder stress can evoke creative effort by its effects on the brain: When “expectations--whether genetically programmed, established by prior learning, or deduced from circumstances--do not match the current or anticipated perceptions of the internal or external environment, and this discrepancy between what is observed or sensed and what is expected or programmed elicits patterned, compensatory responses” (Goldstein 1990) In other words, “discrepancies between perceptions of internal or external circumstances and innate or acquired expectations lead to patterned stress responses involving several homeostatic systems, of which the sympathoadrenomedullary system (SAMS) is one” (Goldstein 1987). Finding a match between internal and external representations resembles [may equal?] a kind of creative experience --well known in the literature of cognitive dissonance resolution At least in the sense of externalizing an internal or implicit construct. (“corporealization of the psyche”) Dissonance generated by frustration in attempting to match internal and external representations evokes a stress response --which can enter a positive feedback loop to facilitate an answer --ALTHOUGH, excess stress hasd the opposite effect! The intensity of motivation for creative undertaking may be reflected in the extreme “EUREKA!” Phenomenon --observed when dissonance is resolved. Change and Stress: HOMEOSTASIS is the bed-rock of needs. Satisfying these needs, culminating for most species in the self-actualization called “REPRODUCTION” --although humans are generally believed to have set their sights higher. ands stress is most commonly defined in terms of its coping with challenges to this most primal need -- Under stress, for example, reproduction is relegated to a secondary place as resources are reallocated towards survival. BUT Milder stress can evoke creative effort by its effects on the brain: When “expectations--whether genetically programmed, established by prior learning, or deduced from circumstances--do not match the current or anticipated perceptions of the internal or external environment, and this discrepancy between what is observed or sensed and what is expected or programmed elicits patterned, compensatory responses” (Goldstein 1990) In other words, “discrepancies between perceptions of internal or external circumstances and innate or acquired expectations lead to patterned stress responses involving several homeostatic systems, of which the sympathoadrenomedullary system (SAMS) is one” (Goldstein 1987). Finding a match between internal and external representations resembles [may equal?] a kind of creative experience --well known in the literature of cognitive dissonance resolution At least in the sense of externalizing an internal or implicit construct. (“corporealization of the psyche”) Dissonance generated by frustration in attempting to match internal and external representations evokes a stress response --which can enter a positive feedback loop to facilitate an answer --ALTHOUGH, excess stress hasd the opposite effect! The intensity of motivation for creative undertaking may be reflected in the extreme “EUREKA!” Phenomenon --observed when dissonance is resolved.

    13. The Peacock’s Tail raised by feather pilomotor muscles an ancient autonomic theromregulatory mechanism Ordinarily hidden displayed when aroused A moment on the process of RITUALIZATION: it reflects the amazing drama of transformation from very modest fragments of motor patterns or autonomic reflexes to elaborate phenomena - - With respect to brain and behavior, our understanding of ritualization may provide a better framework than that of other evolutionary paths The theromregulatory piloerection of feathers has become something of an icon for the process -- and helps me envision the process whereby simple neural connectivism can elaborate into acts of high creativity. COMMENT on Cascade of serial buffersA moment on the process of RITUALIZATION: it reflects the amazing drama of transformation from very modest fragments of motor patterns or autonomic reflexes to elaborate phenomena - - With respect to brain and behavior, our understanding of ritualization may provide a better framework than that of other evolutionary paths The theromregulatory piloerection of feathers has become something of an icon for the process -- and helps me envision the process whereby simple neural connectivism can elaborate into acts of high creativity. COMMENT on Cascade of serial buffers

    14. The Lizard’s Dewlap Effected by the hyoid apparatus An ancient mechanism activated by stress Ordinarily hidden displayed when aroused Closer to home, the anolis lizard’s DEWLAP: operated by the hyoid apparatus at times of arousal, --and variable in its expression when integrated into postural changes (pushups) to communicate with females or intruding males It is evoked by stimuli much like those that evoke increases in respiratory activity by fish and amphibians -- stimuli that represent threats requiring enhanced energetics to cope Closer to home, the anolis lizard’s DEWLAP: operated by the hyoid apparatus at times of arousal, --and variable in its expression when integrated into postural changes (pushups) to communicate with females or intruding males It is evoked by stimuli much like those that evoke increases in respiratory activity by fish and amphibians -- stimuli that represent threats requiring enhanced energetics to cope

    15. STRESS and the BRAIN Stress-sensitive sites the “central adaptation syndrome” the “central adaptation syndrome” -- a great idea, collated by Gerald Huether (Gottingen) Controllable stress. Stressors that are (or appear) controllable evoke coping responses that Huether (1996) categorizes as “go and specialize;” these are behavioral (“earlier recognition and avoidance, improved fighting strategies, refined submission behavior, etc.”) cognitive (“repression and coping”), emotional (“sensitization and reduced arousal, improved self-esteem and emotional stability”) Neuroendocrine elements (reduced basal activity, increased signal to noise ratio). Repeated exposure to controllable stressors results in an attenuation of the stress response to subsequent exposures to that and related stressors. “The experience of the controllability of stressors is the prerequisite for the acquisition of an ever-increasing repertoire of more and more specific and refined behavioral strategies for the control of stressors” (Huether 1996:573). Uncontrollable stress, on the other hand, evokes a different coping strategy (“wait and reorganize”):the “central adaptation syndrome” -- a great idea, collated by Gerald Huether (Gottingen) Controllable stress. Stressors that are (or appear) controllable evoke coping responses that Huether (1996) categorizes as “go and specialize;” these are behavioral (“earlier recognition and avoidance, improved fighting strategies, refined submission behavior, etc.”) cognitive (“repression and coping”), emotional (“sensitization and reduced arousal, improved self-esteem and emotional stability”) Neuroendocrine elements (reduced basal activity, increased signal to noise ratio). Repeated exposure to controllable stressors results in an attenuation of the stress response to subsequent exposures to that and related stressors. “The experience of the controllability of stressors is the prerequisite for the acquisition of an ever-increasing repertoire of more and more specific and refined behavioral strategies for the control of stressors” (Huether 1996:573). Uncontrollable stress, on the other hand, evokes a different coping strategy (“wait and reorganize”):

    16. STRESS and the BRAIN Stress-sensitive sites the “central adaptation syndrome” .“corticosteroid-mediated rearrangement of neuronal circuits and networks involved in the regulation of .behavioral responsiveness, of .learning and memory and of . motivated and .emotional states” effecting an “adaptive reorganization of the associative brain.” Changes in the brain occur in particular in response to psychosocial stimuli and especially at critical developmental periods (puberty, reproduction) when the inability to master a situation is recognized. The intense sustained stimulation of circulating stress hormones is, in Huether’s analysis, responsible for altered gene expression in target cells, particularly in the brain – “cortical and limbic structures involved in the regulation of emotion, motivation, and behavioral responses.” –this is the heretical element in Huether’s proposal: that the tolerance of uncontrollable stress is adaptive if it leads to “the reorganization of neuronal circuits and adaptive pathways in the brain and for the acquisition of new behavioral strategies which help to contain stressful environmental and psychosocial demands” (Huether 1996:575)..“corticosteroid-mediated rearrangement of neuronal circuits and networks involved in the regulation of .behavioral responsiveness, of .learning and memory and of . motivated and .emotional states” effecting an “adaptive reorganization of the associative brain.” Changes in the brain occur in particular in response to psychosocial stimuli and especially at critical developmental periods (puberty, reproduction) when the inability to master a situation is recognized. The intense sustained stimulation of circulating stress hormones is, in Huether’s analysis, responsible for altered gene expression in target cells, particularly in the brain – “cortical and limbic structures involved in the regulation of emotion, motivation, and behavioral responses.” –this is the heretical element in Huether’s proposal: that the tolerance of uncontrollable stress is adaptive if it leads to “the reorganization of neuronal circuits and adaptive pathways in the brain and for the acquisition of new behavioral strategies which help to contain stressful environmental and psychosocial demands” (Huether 1996:575).

    17. NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY of CREATIVITY Neuroendocrinology of stress Hormonal effects on functions that affect creativity To the traditional hormones of the General Adaptation Syndrome, we must add the psychoactive properties of the releasing factors and trophic hormones (CRF ACTH, MSH) [CRF: immunoreactive sites in pons & diencephlon; elicits dose-dependent motor activation –stereotypies-- when injected centrally] –subjects seem depressed [ACTH: seems anxiogenic; appears to be able to decrease aggressiveness independently of CS or gonadal effects; although short-term ACTH will increase rather than decrease aggressiveness; BUT this apparently works by means of its corticotrophic effect on CS.] [MSH: is under tonic inhibition of DA neurons but 5-HT can antagonize them; can modulate some dopaminergic neurons; enhances information processing by altering attention rather than memory. Improved attention, indicated by concept formation tasks and orienting responses along with a "significant decrease in anxiety" has since been demonstrated in humans (so it is probably not due to generalized arousal). (Kastin)] -and we can add beta-endorphin, since Roger Guillemin discovered that stress releases it from the pituitary gland (1977) –the stuff responsible for analgesia (after about 30 minutes of build-up) To the traditional hormones of the General Adaptation Syndrome, we must add the psychoactive properties of the releasing factors and trophic hormones (CRF ACTH, MSH) [CRF: immunoreactive sites in pons & diencephlon; elicits dose-dependent motor activation –stereotypies-- when injected centrally] –subjects seem depressed [ACTH: seems anxiogenic; appears to be able to decrease aggressiveness independently of CS or gonadal effects; although short-term ACTH will increase rather than decrease aggressiveness; BUT this apparently works by means of its corticotrophic effect on CS.] [MSH: is under tonic inhibition of DA neurons but 5-HT can antagonize them; can modulate some dopaminergic neurons; enhances information processing by altering attention rather than memory. Improved attention, indicated by concept formation tasks and orienting responses along with a "significant decrease in anxiety" has since been demonstrated in humans (so it is probably not due to generalized arousal). (Kastin)] -and we can add beta-endorphin, since Roger Guillemin discovered that stress releases it from the pituitary gland (1977) –the stuff responsible for analgesia (after about 30 minutes of build-up)

    18. THE CONNECTION the bridge to the future of our species “Upon the platform of our passions we strive to build a bridge to higher consciousness . . . And through that consciousness we proceed, generation by generation, to the high ground of transcendent human possibility.” (Re-Creations (1941) ch.1) NOT TRUE! The “transcendent human possibility” is an unattainable endpoint, receding like the horizon as we approach – our technology allows us to fly high enough above it to see its shape, but it is still always beyond attaining. The transcendence will come from within and it will be less an assimilation than an accommodation to the constraints of the material world.NOT TRUE! The “transcendent human possibility” is an unattainable endpoint, receding like the horizon as we approach – our technology allows us to fly high enough above it to see its shape, but it is still always beyond attaining. The transcendence will come from within and it will be less an assimilation than an accommodation to the constraints of the material world.

    19. The Brain excavating the paleopsychology of our species “The Brain of Man has not abandoned it’s ancient animal foundations, it has built upon them . . . . But it has also reconstructed and reinforced them as the shifting earth beneath dictates . . . . We have done the best possible in the landscape in which we have found ourselves with the raw materials we have inherited. ” (Prolegomena to a Study of Mind (1973) ch. 42) Among the most important of the material constraints are the raw materials we have to work with – we are the bricoleurs as Levy-Strauss called them – the indomitably confident handymen, geniuses at bricolage – “making do with what’s available”Among the most important of the material constraints are the raw materials we have to work with – we are the bricoleurs as Levy-Strauss called them – the indomitably confident handymen, geniuses at bricolage – “making do with what’s available”

    20. The “BEAST” in the brain? “When the gentler part of the soul slumbers and the control of Reason is withdrawn . . . the Wild Beast in us . . . becomes rampant. (Plato, The Republic, IX 571) “We are conscious of an animal in us which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers” (Thoreau in Walden) The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985). The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985).

    21. The “BEAST” in the brain? Cognitive process can be suppressed by stress (Arnsten 2000) Prefrontal gray reduced and stress response impaired in subjects with anti-social personality disorder (APD) (Raine 2000) The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985). The Reptilian Connection The striatal complex –the "basal ganglia" of most clinicians for– is an array of structures collectively called the R-complex by Paul MacLean (“R” for “reptilian”). It’s role in the expression of creative behavior is suggested by its critical position, mediating between motivational and forebrain systems. As a neural interface, it can be regarded the link between motivational/affective centers and effectors Groenewegen (et al. 1996). Graybiel (1997) finds it very attractive to speculate that “this limbic basal ganglia system has a key function in translating action plans related to drive states and homeostatic control into action repertoires” (p. 460). Expanded view of basal ganglia. Basal ganglia may, in Anne Graybiel’s (1995) view, be a critical part of a distributed forebrain system that helps encode and express learned as well as innate behavior sequences of behavior. Indeed, they may, she proposes, be involved in cognitive pattern generators that are analogous to the central pattern generators of the motor system (1997). In Divac's (1977) attempt to reconcile conflicting views of neostriatal function, he found that even though there was topographic evidence for independent functional units of neostriatal areas receiving specific neocortical afferents, the uniformity of neostriatal cytoarchitecture indicates that these units conducted neural processing of information in comparable ways. This view, in concert with the position of the neostriatum in the chain of neocortical control of motor mechanisms, converged on the idea that the neostriatum intermediates between cognition and action. In this regard it is interesting that Cools and van der Bercken (1977) regarded the neostriatum as the substrate of high-order information processing needed to link two or more behavioral acts to form an integrated behavioral program (Cools 1985).

    22. Continuities: Creativity and Play Freud believed that pleasures are never abandoned, they are replaced by other pleasures. In normal adults, Freud believed, daydreams are replaced play, but in artists, apparently, play was replaced by artistic creativity. Ellen Winner (1982) points out the thread here that weaves from play through daydreaming and productive work – with passes through neurosis and dreaming along the way. These are all energized, says Freud, by unsatisfied desires, unfulfilled wishes. In John Dewey’s view, the idea that art is play is related to the dream theory of art, but “it goes one step nearer the actuality of esthetic experience by recognizing the necessity of action, of doing something” (Dewey). “Play theories of art” associated with Friedrich Schiller (1795/1967), Herbert Spencer (1880-1882), Sigmund Freud (1908/1959), and Johan Huizinga (1949). Desmond Morris (in The Biology of Art, 1962) suggested that art has been derived from play and exploration; Richard Alexander (1989) derives the human psyche (including art) from “scenario building” that evolved from play. Dissanayake emphasizes “making special” as the litmus (1992:95). “The philosophical implications of the play theory are found in its opposition of freedom and necessity, of spontaneity and order. . . . In art, the playful attitude becomes interest in the transformation of material to serve the purpose of a developing experience(Dewey). The spontaneity of art is not one of opposition to anything, but marks complete absorption in an orderly development. This absorption is characteristic of esthetic experience; but it is an ideal for all experience, and the ideal is realized in the activity of the scientific inquirer and the professional man when the desires and urgencies of the self are completely engaged in what is objectively done” (Dewey). “Art is formative long before it is beautiful. For man has witching him a formative nature that displays itself in action as soon as existence is secure. . . . When formative activity operates on what lies around it from single, individual, independent feeling, careless and ignorant of all that is alien to it, then, whether born of rude savagery or cultivated sensibility, it is whole and living” (Goethe quoted by Dewey). With respect to the play theory of art, Dewey believed the most explicit philosophical statement was in Schiller’s “Letters on the Esthetic Education of Man.” “Kant had limited freedom to moral action controlled by the rational (supra-empirical) conception of Duty. Schiller put forward the idea that play and art occupy an intermediate transitional place between the realms of necessary phenomena and transcendent freedom, educating man to recognition and to assumption of the responsibilities of the latter. His view represent a valiant attempt on the part of an artist to escape the rigid dualism of the Kantian philosophy, while remaining within its frame”(Dewey).Freud believed that pleasures are never abandoned, they are replaced by other pleasures. In normal adults, Freud believed, daydreams are replaced play, but in artists, apparently, play was replaced by artistic creativity. Ellen Winner (1982) points out the thread here that weaves from play through daydreaming and productive work – with passes through neurosis and dreaming along the way. These are all energized, says Freud, by unsatisfied desires, unfulfilled wishes. In John Dewey’s view, the idea that art is play is related to the dream theory of art, but “it goes one step nearer the actuality of esthetic experience by recognizing the necessity of action, of doing something” (Dewey). “Play theories of art” associated with Friedrich Schiller (1795/1967), Herbert Spencer (1880-1882), Sigmund Freud (1908/1959), and Johan Huizinga (1949). Desmond Morris (in The Biology of Art, 1962) suggested that art has been derived from play and exploration; Richard Alexander (1989) derives the human psyche (including art) from “scenario building” that evolved from play. Dissanayake emphasizes “making special” as the litmus (1992:95). “The philosophical implications of the play theory are found in its opposition of freedom and necessity, of spontaneity and order. . . . In art, the playful attitude becomes interest in the transformation of material to serve the purpose of a developing experience(Dewey). The spontaneity of art is not one of opposition to anything, but marks complete absorption in an orderly development. This absorption is characteristic of esthetic experience; but it is an ideal for all experience, and the ideal is realized in the activity of the scientific inquirer and the professional man when the desires and urgencies of the self are completely engaged in what is objectively done” (Dewey). “Art is formative long before it is beautiful. For man has witching him a formative nature that displays itself in action as soon as existence is secure. . . . When formative activity operates on what lies around it from single, individual, independent feeling, careless and ignorant of all that is alien to it, then, whether born of rude savagery or cultivated sensibility, it is whole and living” (Goethe quoted by Dewey). With respect to the play theory of art, Dewey believed the most explicit philosophical statement was in Schiller’s “Letters on the Esthetic Education of Man.” “Kant had limited freedom to moral action controlled by the rational (supra-empirical) conception of Duty. Schiller put forward the idea that play and art occupy an intermediate transitional place between the realms of necessary phenomena and transcendent freedom, educating man to recognition and to assumption of the responsibilities of the latter. His view represent a valiant attempt on the part of an artist to escape the rigid dualism of the Kantian philosophy, while remaining within its frame”(Dewey).

    23. PLAY Friedrich Schiller (1795) Herbert Spencer (1880-1882) Sigmund Freud (1908) Johan Huizinga (1949) “the primordial soil” Desmond Morris (1962): art has been derived from play and exploration; (in The Biology of Art) Richard Alexander (1989) play –through “scenario building” -- is the evolutionary root of art and the human psyche. Dissanayake (1992) emphasizes “making special” is the litmus. Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity) Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity)

    24. PLAY The exaggerations of play, the determination of boundaries, constraints: “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity) Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity)

    25. PLAY . . . . . . and CONSTRAINTS Herbert Marcuse recognized that the play impulse would allow man to reconcile feelings and affections with the laws of reason (Marcuse, H. 1955. Eros and Civilization ) Play is serious. As Freud points out in "Creative Writers and Day- Dreaming," the opposite of play is not the serious but the real. Might we approach reality more closely in the most perfectly polarized play of pure imagination? (Freud "Creative Writers and Daydreaming“) Generically, all the discoveries and innovations of pure science and fine art- -those intellectual and aesthetic pursuits which are carried on without reference to technology or utility--may be credited to functioning of the human play impulses . . . They rest on the play impulse, which is connected with growth but is dissociated from preservation, comfort, or utility, and which in science and art is translated into the realm of imagination, abstraction, relations, and sensuous form. (Kroeber, A.L. 1948. Anthropology, N.Y.) Play as vicarious experience, associated with education by Plato and the discharge of emotions (catharsis) by Aristotle (Elias, 1968) In Eros and Civilization (1955), Marcuse recognized that the play impulse would allow man to reconcile feelings and affections with the laws of reason (Chap. 9). The truths of sensuousness are the content of aesthetics and its function is the perfection of sensitive cognition. "Here the step is made that transforms aesthetics, the science of sensuousness, into the science of art . . ." Art which "challenges the prevailing principle of reason: in representing the order of sensuousness, it invokes a tabooed logic--the logic of gratification as against that of repression.“ (Marcuse, H. 1955. Eros and Civilization) Play is serious. As Freud points out in "Creative Writers and Day- Dreaming," the opposite of play is not the serious but the real. Might we approach reality more closely in the most perfectly polarized play of pure imagination? (Freud "Creative Writers and Daydreaming“) Generically, all the discoveries and innovations of pure science and fine art- -those intellectual and aesthetic pursuits which are carried on without reference to technology or utility--may be credited to functioning of the human play impulses . . . They rest on the play impulse, which is connected with growth but is dissociated from preservation, comfort, or utility, and which in science and art is translated into the realm of imagination, abstraction, relations, and sensuous form. (Kroeber, A.L. 1948. Anthropology, N.Y.) Play as vicarious experience, associated with education by Plato and the discharge of emotions (catharsis) by Aristotle (Elias, 1968) In Eros and Civilization (1955), Marcuse recognized that the play impulse would allow man to reconcile feelings and affections with the laws of reason (Chap. 9). The truths of sensuousness are the content of aesthetics and its function is the perfection of sensitive cognition. "Here the step is made that transforms aesthetics, the science of sensuousness, into the science of art . . ." Art which "challenges the prevailing principle of reason: in representing the order of sensuousness, it invokes a tabooed logic--the logic of gratification as against that of repression.“ (Marcuse, H. 1955. Eros and Civilization)

    26. PLAY And Art “It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents” (Eric Hoffer) Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity) Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity)

    27. PLAY And Art “One of the most difficult tasks people can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by those out of touch with their instinctive selves. -- C. G. Jung Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity) Genius, madness, and the wounded healer “Is there any excellence hath not an origin in disproportion or deformity?” –Francis Bacon All the greatest things we know have come to us from neurotics. It is they and they only who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be conscious of how much it owes to them, nor above all of what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it. -Proust DISSONANCES are INEVITABLE --and possibly feed into a positive feedback loop involving STRESS to ADAPTIVE CHANGE (within bounds of plasticity)

    28. PLAY . . . . . .And Art What Jung is alluding to is the necessity to integrate and sometimes accommodate implicit knowledge and compelling needs coordinated at deeper levels of our nervous systems. Primary and Secondary Process Cognition The revelation of “unsuspected kinships” between ideas recalls the primary process cognition of dreaming, reverie, psychosis and secondary process cognition involving the “abstract, logical, reality-oriented thought of waking consciousness” (Fromm 1978, cited by Martindale, 1999:138). There is an assortment of support for the idea that creative individuals can more easily shift gears from primary process, unfocused attention (associated with low levels of cortical arousal), to more focused secondary process (higher levels of cortical arousal) for the expression or implementation of creative insights (Kris 1952, cited by Martindale 1999:138). (This also builds a bridge to understanding the relationship to psychoticism.) Martindale (1999:138) interjects Schopenhauer’s famous remark, “a great poet . . . is a man who, in his waking state, is able to do what the rest of us do in our dreams” (originally quoted by Weber 1969:94). Primary and Secondary Process Cognition The revelation of “unsuspected kinships” between ideas recalls the primary process cognition of dreaming, reverie, psychosis and secondary process cognition involving the “abstract, logical, reality-oriented thought of waking consciousness” (Fromm 1978, cited by Martindale, 1999:138). There is an assortment of support for the idea that creative individuals can more easily shift gears from primary process, unfocused attention (associated with low levels of cortical arousal), to more focused secondary process (higher levels of cortical arousal) for the expression or implementation of creative insights (Kris 1952, cited by Martindale 1999:138). (This also builds a bridge to understanding the relationship to psychoticism.) Martindale (1999:138) interjects Schopenhauer’s famous remark, “a great poet . . . is a man who, in his waking state, is able to do what the rest of us do in our dreams” (originally quoted by Weber 1969:94).

    29. Is the “beast” really a gatekeeper, an interface? Primary and Secondary Process Cognition “ . . . primary process cognition of dreaming, reverie, psychosis and secondary process cognition involving the abstract, logical, reality-oriented thought of waking consciousness” (Fromm 1978) creative individuals can more easily shift gears from primary process, unfocused attention (associated with low levels of cortical arousal), to more focused secondary process (higher levels of cortical arousal) for the expression or implementation of creative insights (Kris 1952).

    30. The Adaptive Unconscious We possess a vast reservoir of information of which we are unaware Until we are appropriately motivated this latent or implicit knowledge remains hidden Then it serves our need to cope by affecting our behavior (as intuition?) or becoming manifest or explicit Gaining access to this hidden information is one of the great tasks of slef-knowledge, and of creativity

    31. In Summary . . . [1] Creativity is an adaptive trait that underlies art and play [2] Stress psychoactive hormones can inhibit or facilitate the neural processes that underlie creativity [3] The striatal (“R”) Complex may be the interface between cognitive and motor acts and contribute to the prioritizing of needs

    32. Is ART the supreme manifestation of CREATIVITY? Are ART and PLAY make-believe ? Works of art are merely artifacts of the living process That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817) That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1817. Biographia Literaria ch. 14 p314 in Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. by H.J. Jackson, Oxford, 1985) Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834), British poet and literary critic, wrote in Chapter XIV of his autobiography, Biographia Literaria, the following passage: “In this idea originated the plan of the "Lyrical Ballads"; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us; an inexhaustible treasure, but for which, in consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand.”When the reader/viewer becomes involved in the artist’s work and, even though s/he knows that none of the events or person recorded in the story can actually occur, s/he “let’s it happen” and can thareby enjoy a stronger bond with the mind of the artist. That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1817. Biographia Literaria ch. 14 p314 in Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. by H.J. Jackson, Oxford, 1985) Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834), British poet and literary critic, wrote in Chapter XIV of his autobiography, Biographia Literaria, the following passage: “In this idea originated the plan of the "Lyrical Ballads"; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us; an inexhaustible treasure, but for which, in consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand.”When the reader/viewer becomes involved in the artist’s work and, even though s/he knows that none of the events or person recorded in the story can actually occur, s/he “let’s it happen” and can thareby enjoy a stronger bond with the mind of the artist.

    33. BUT ART is not always PLAY It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realise our perfection; through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. (Oscar Wilde, 1891) The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. . . . If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies. (William Faulkner, 1956) It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realise our perfection; through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. (Oscar Wilde, Intentions, 1891, ‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2) (sound Aristotelian? -art as fully realizing nature?) ART. The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board…If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies. (William Faulkner In Paris Review Spring 1956, p. 30) (and George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art.” (In “Man and Superman” (1903) act 1) It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realise our perfection; through Art, and through Art only, that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence. (Oscar Wilde, Intentions, 1891, ‘The Critic as Artist’ pt. 2) (sound Aristotelian? -art as fully realizing nature?) ART. The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board…If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the Ode on a Grecian Urn is worth any number of old ladies. (William Faulkner In Paris Review Spring 1956, p. 30) (and George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art.” (In “Man and Superman” (1903) act 1)

    34. EXTREMES: CREATIVITY as an AFFECTIVE DISORDER “great” art is at the end of a continuum -- recognizable by certain connections we have in common with the artist [ZPD] specific disorders [TLE, depression, schizophrenia] Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. There is some evidence that the behavioral profile of the TLE patient might “reflect progressive changes in limbic structure secondary to a temporal lobe focus” which elicits an enhanced affective coloration to otherwise neutral stimuli, probably attributable to a attempted compensatory plastic sensory-limbic hyperconnectivity through the ventral temporal cortex (Bear 1979). Depression. A study of "eminent" British writers and artists examined rate of treatment for affective illness: 38%, strikingly high- general population is 1% bipolar and 5% unipolar disorders. If there is a connection between affective disorder and creativity and it is not simply societal (e.g., expectations) but genetic and if genetic screening can identify individuals at risk, profound ethical issues will arise (Kay Redfield Jamison. 1989. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 52(2):125-134.) Kinny & Richards developed a tool, The Lifetime Creativity Scale to examine all forms of real-life creativity and not merely traditional or "artistic" forms. They learned that "on the average, it may be the better functioning relatives of manic depressives and not manic depressives themselves, who carry a particular advantage for creativity." indicating that some trait or ensemble of traits associated with liability for bipolar disorder and not the disorder itself is the main correlate of heightened creativity. K&R hypothesize that heightened creativity may provide (in an epiphenomenal way) a "compensatory advantage" within the families of manic depressives. Schizophrenia. less frontal gray matter (Tyrone Cannon, University of Pennsylvania); hippocampal cells “out of place.” “People with mild schizophrenia, whose symptoms are not severe enough to keep them socially isolated, have mild versions of these brain abnormalities. People with severe schizophrenia, who are unable to distinguish fears and fantasies from reality, have severe versions. “Our twins study suggests that people with two genes out of a hypothetical 10 might have only subtle changes in brain structure and function,'' says Cannon. “But as you increase the number of genes you pass over the threshold to clinical significance.”Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. There is some evidence that the behavioral profile of the TLE patient might “reflect progressive changes in limbic structure secondary to a temporal lobe focus” which elicits an enhanced affective coloration to otherwise neutral stimuli, probably attributable to a attempted compensatory plastic sensory-limbic hyperconnectivity through the ventral temporal cortex (Bear 1979). Depression. A study of "eminent" British writers and artists examined rate of treatment for affective illness: 38%, strikingly high- general population is 1% bipolar and 5% unipolar disorders. If there is a connection between affective disorder and creativity and it is not simply societal (e.g., expectations) but genetic and if genetic screening can identify individuals at risk, profound ethical issues will arise (Kay Redfield Jamison. 1989. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 52(2):125-134.) Kinny & Richards developed a tool, The Lifetime Creativity Scale to examine all forms of real-life creativity and not merely traditional or "artistic" forms. They learned that "on the average, it may be the better functioning relatives of manic depressives and not manic depressives themselves, who carry a particular advantage for creativity." indicating that some trait or ensemble of traits associated with liability for bipolar disorder and not the disorder itself is the main correlate of heightened creativity. K&R hypothesize that heightened creativity may provide (in an epiphenomenal way) a "compensatory advantage" within the families of manic depressives. Schizophrenia. less frontal gray matter (Tyrone Cannon, University of Pennsylvania); hippocampal cells “out of place.” “People with mild schizophrenia, whose symptoms are not severe enough to keep them socially isolated, have mild versions of these brain abnormalities. People with severe schizophrenia, who are unable to distinguish fears and fantasies from reality, have severe versions. “Our twins study suggests that people with two genes out of a hypothetical 10 might have only subtle changes in brain structure and function,'' says Cannon. “But as you increase the number of genes you pass over the threshold to clinical significance.”

    35. Self-destructive artists -- An EVOLUTIONARY DEAD END? specific disorders [TLE, depression, schizophrenia] have been associated with extreme abilities of insight, perception, representation SHADOW SYNDROMES suggests that the ensemble of genetic predispositions that converge in an otherwise dysfunctional artist are partly represented in their kin, to a net advantage for the family . . . (Ratey & Johnson 1997) Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. There is some evidence that the behavioral profile of the TLE patient might “reflect progressive changes in limbic structure secondary to a temporal lobe focus” which elicits an enhanced affective coloration to otherwise neutral stimuli, probably attributable to a attempted compensatory plastic sensory-limbic hyperconnectivity through the ventral temporal cortex (Bear 1979). Depression. A study of "eminent" British writers and artists examined rate of treatment for affective illness: 38%, strikingly high- general population is 1% bipolar and 5% unipolar disorders. If there is a connection between affective disorder and creativity and it is not simply societal (e.g., expectations) but genetic and if genetic screening can identify individuals at risk, profound ethical issues will arise (Kay Redfield Jamison. 1989. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 52(2):125-134.) Kinny & Richards developed a tool, The Lifetime Creativity Scale to examine all forms of real-life creativity and not merely traditional or "artistic" forms. They learned that "on the average, it may be the better functioning relatives of manic depressives and not manic depressives themselves, who carry a particular advantage for creativity." indicating that some trait or ensemble of traits associated with liability for bipolar disorder and not the disorder itself is the main correlate of heightened creativity. K&R hypothesize that heightened creativity may provide (in an epiphenomenal way) a "compensatory advantage" within the families of manic depressives. Schizophrenia. less frontal gray matter (Tyrone Cannon, University of Pennsylvania); hippocampal cells “out of place.” “People with mild schizophrenia, whose symptoms are not severe enough to keep them socially isolated, have mild versions of these brain abnormalities. People with severe schizophrenia, who are unable to distinguish fears and fantasies from reality, have severe versions. “Our twins study suggests that people with two genes out of a hypothetical 10 might have only subtle changes in brain structure and function,'' says Cannon. “But as you increase the number of genes you pass over the threshold to clinical significance.” Synopsis -- “Millions of people who attribute their daily life problems to bad parents or low self-esteem or lack of will power are in fact struggling with a shadow syndrome. Chronic sadness, obsessiveness, outbursts of anger, the inability to finish tasks, disabling discomfort in social situations - these and other problems are all mild forms of serious mental disorders that can affect the very course of our lives. They are shadow syndromes. Drs. John J. Ratey and Catherine Johnson explode the idea that these problems are brought on by aberrations in upbringing or relationships, and that they are prolonged by a willful refusal to change. They make it clear that, on the contrary, these patterns of behavior have their origins in the inherent structure and chemistry of the individual brain, that they are distinctly identifiable, and that for all of us, understanding our own unique biological makeup is the key to freeing ourselves from biology's bonds. Knowing who we are biologically as well as psychologically is the key to living a free and full life. Ratey and Johnson describe methods for tempering shadow syndromes and their traces.” Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. There is some evidence that the behavioral profile of the TLE patient might “reflect progressive changes in limbic structure secondary to a temporal lobe focus” which elicits an enhanced affective coloration to otherwise neutral stimuli, probably attributable to a attempted compensatory plastic sensory-limbic hyperconnectivity through the ventral temporal cortex (Bear 1979). Depression. A study of "eminent" British writers and artists examined rate of treatment for affective illness: 38%, strikingly high- general population is 1% bipolar and 5% unipolar disorders. If there is a connection between affective disorder and creativity and it is not simply societal (e.g., expectations) but genetic and if genetic screening can identify individuals at risk, profound ethical issues will arise (Kay Redfield Jamison. 1989. Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry 52(2):125-134.) Kinny & Richards developed a tool, The Lifetime Creativity Scale to examine all forms of real-life creativity and not merely traditional or "artistic" forms. They learned that "on the average, it may be the better functioning relatives of manic depressives and not manic depressives themselves, who carry a particular advantage for creativity." indicating that some trait or ensemble of traits associated with liability for bipolar disorder and not the disorder itself is the main correlate of heightened creativity. K&R hypothesize that heightened creativity may provide (in an epiphenomenal way) a "compensatory advantage" within the families of manic depressives. Schizophrenia. less frontal gray matter (Tyrone Cannon, University of Pennsylvania); hippocampal cells “out of place.” “People with mild schizophrenia, whose symptoms are not severe enough to keep them socially isolated, have mild versions of these brain abnormalities. People with severe schizophrenia, who are unable to distinguish fears and fantasies from reality, have severe versions. “Our twins study suggests that people with two genes out of a hypothetical 10 might have only subtle changes in brain structure and function,'' says Cannon. “But as you increase the number of genes you pass over the threshold to clinical significance.” Synopsis -- “Millions of people who attribute their daily life problems to bad parents or low self-esteem or lack of will power are in fact struggling with a shadow syndrome. Chronic sadness, obsessiveness, outbursts of anger, the inability to finish tasks, disabling discomfort in social situations - these and other problems are all mild forms of serious mental disorders that can affect the very course of our lives. They are shadow syndromes. Drs. John J. Ratey and Catherine Johnson explode the idea that these problems are brought on by aberrations in upbringing or relationships, and that they are prolonged by a willful refusal to change. They make it clear that, on the contrary, these patterns of behavior have their origins in the inherent structure and chemistry of the individual brain, that they are distinctly identifiable, and that for all of us, understanding our own unique biological makeup is the key to freeing ourselves from biology's bonds. Knowing who we are biologically as well as psychologically is the key to living a free and full life. Ratey and Johnson describe methods for tempering shadow syndromes and their traces.”

    36. The Wounded Healer Wounded Healers get in control of their “challenges” to creatively serve themselves and others: is play an exercise in self control ? the determination of boundaries its opposition of freedom and necessity, of spontaneity and order. . . . In art, the playful attitude becomes interest in the transformation of material to serve the purpose of a developing experience (Dewey). Dewey, John. 1934. Art as Experience.: “The philosophical implications of the play theory are found in its opposition of freedom and necessity, of spontaneity and order. . . . In art, the playful attitude becomes interest in the transformation of material to serve the purpose of a developing experience(Dewey). The spontaneity of art is not one of opposition to anything, but marks complete absorption in an orderly development. This absorption is characteristic of esthetic experience; but it is an ideal for all experience, and the ideal is realized in the activity of the scientific inquirer and the professional man when the desires and urgencies of the self are completely engaged in what is objectively done” (Dewey). “Art is formative long before it is beautiful. For man has within him a formative nature that displays itself in action as soon as existence is secure. . . . When formative activity operates on what lies around it from single, individual, independent feeling, careless and ignorant of all that is alien to it, then, whether born of rude savagery or cultivated sensibility, it is whole and living” (Goethe quoted by Dewey). With respect to the play theory of art, Dewey believed the most explicit philosophical statement was in Schiller’s “Letters on the Esthetic Education of Man.” “Kant had limited freedom to moral action controlled by the rational (supra-empirical) conception of Duty. Schiller put forward the idea that play and art occupy an intermediate transitional place between the realms of necessary phenomena and transcendent freedom, educating man to recognition and to assumption of the responsibilities of the latter. His view represent a valiant attempt on the part of an artist to escape the rigid dualism of the Kantian philosophy, while remaining within its frame”(Dewey). Dewey, John. 1934. Art as Experience.: “The philosophical implications of the play theory are found in its opposition of freedom and necessity, of spontaneity and order. . . . In art, the playful attitude becomes interest in the transformation of material to serve the purpose of a developing experience(Dewey). The spontaneity of art is not one of opposition to anything, but marks complete absorption in an orderly development. This absorption is characteristic of esthetic experience; but it is an ideal for all experience, and the ideal is realized in the activity of the scientific inquirer and the professional man when the desires and urgencies of the self are completely engaged in what is objectively done” (Dewey). “Art is formative long before it is beautiful. For man has within him a formative nature that displays itself in action as soon as existence is secure. . . . When formative activity operates on what lies around it from single, individual, independent feeling, careless and ignorant of all that is alien to it, then, whether born of rude savagery or cultivated sensibility, it is whole and living” (Goethe quoted by Dewey). With respect to the play theory of art, Dewey believed the most explicit philosophical statement was in Schiller’s “Letters on the Esthetic Education of Man.” “Kant had limited freedom to moral action controlled by the rational (supra-empirical) conception of Duty. Schiller put forward the idea that play and art occupy an intermediate transitional place between the realms of necessary phenomena and transcendent freedom, educating man to recognition and to assumption of the responsibilities of the latter. His view represent a valiant attempt on the part of an artist to escape the rigid dualism of the Kantian philosophy, while remaining within its frame”(Dewey).

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