tDCS and Creativity

Our prefrontal cortex, found right under our temples, serves the function of a filter, letting through only the important information and thoughts. The rest, it throws away so that it does not interfere with the task we are doing at the moment. This filter of ours helps us concentrate on a task at hand, forcing us to give it our undivided attention. However, it also constrains our creativity. A study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania tried to determine what would happen once the prefrontal cortex was inhibited using tDCS.

Transcranial direct current stimulation was used on a group of participants who were also given every day objects, such as a baseball bat, for which they needed to come up with another use, for instance as a rolling pin. Thinking about atypical uses of simple everyday objects requires thinking “outside the box”, thinking about the size and material of the object as well as eliminating the usual things that the object is used for. This all required a high level of creativity.

The participants were presented with 60 different objects - one every nine seconds. The researchers wrote down the answers, the lack of the same, as well as the time it took the participants to come up with an answer.

The study showed that the participants who received tDCS stimulation to their left prefrontal cortex missed 8 answers on average. Those who received placebo or tDCS to their right prefrontal cortex missed about 15 answers out of 60. The group whose left prefrontal cortex was inhibited through tDCS, was also faster in coming up with the answers, a whole one second quicker than the other two groups, which is a lot when it comes to psychology research, as the director of Penn’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the lead researcher of the study, Sharon Thompson-Schill concluded. She went on to continue that this study is the biggest breakthrough in the last 20 years of her professional life.

Knowing what tDCS can do for our creativity, the question arises whether we should use tDCS devices, such as TheBrainDriver, regularly and on our own in order to improve our creativity?

Well, it actually comes down to the device being used, how clumsy you are, whether you suffer from any mental of physical conditions, as well as how much you know about where the electrodes should go. As with everything, we would suggest you research all the information prior to trying it out.

Please leave a comment below if you have already had a chance of trying out the TheBrainDriver. I would love to hear from you!

You can also contact me at thebraindriver@gmail.com. TDCS is my passion and I will do my best to help however possible!

Alex Heredia
Founder
TheBrainDriver
tDCS Devices with Digital Precision