Flexibility at the Ribat of Monastir
watercolour
©2006 Charlene Brown
In addition to idea generation, true
creativity involves evaluating your options, according to a study printed in NeuroImage
in 2011. This theory was tested by students from the Emily Carr University of
Art + Design in Vancouver.
To distinguish between the generative and
evaluative components of creativity and measure them separately as much as
possible, they were asked to design illustrations for book covers on an
fMRI-compatible drawing tablet while inside a brain scanner. They were to come
up with ideas for their sketches for 30 seconds and then spend 20 seconds
evaluating what they had sketched.
Activity in various areas of the brain was
measured throughout the exercise. The results supported the hypothesis that the
posterior (temporal and occipital) lobes of the brain are more associated with
generative thinking and the prefrontal cortex is more associated with
evaluative thinking. It also appeared that creativity involves a rapid shifting
between these two processes ─ cognitive
flexibility.
Other researchers have developed mental
exercises that could stimulate this cognitive flexibility – including performing
common tasks in an unconventional manner.
I chose this painting of the Ribat, an Islamic fort, at Monastir, Tunisia
to illustrate this point.
The painting was compiled from two photos I
took from the fort in the centre of the picture. The view on the left, above (looking
north) was reversed so that the painting appears to be the view from the far
distance, behind the Bourghiba Mausoleum looking south toward the fort. The
view, on the right, above (looking south) to the Bourghiba residence remains (roughly)
as photographed.
I often rearrange the components of a
landscape to improve the composition of a painting, but a complete reversal
like this is unusual.
