The first neural circuit involved in. Creativity is the so-called executive network

is kind of a goofy name because the

neural circuits that I'm about to describe do a bunch of other things as well, but they certainly Only control what are called

executive functions. Executive functions

are functions that you and I both have, which is our ability to govern our thinking in

our behavior in very, deliberate ways and that is largely accomplished through the use of the neural circuitry that sits right behind the forebrain, the so-called prefrontal cortex. Now the prefrontal cortex involves

many different sub-regions. It has a bunch

of different parts just like any country has different states etcetera and provinces executive

function involves the The

cortex

and some other neural structures. But for

sake of this discussion, executive

function and the prefrontal cortex are mainly responsible for suppressing action. That is for eliminating choices, among the infinite number of choices that exist for instance, of what colors to combine on a painting, or what

lines to draw, or what notes to play, or what movements to make in a sports Endeavor what numbers to include in a mathematics Endeavor, or what words,

and letters and syllables, and

And it's has to include in writing a creative passage. The

second network is the so-called default mode Network. There's a lot of discussion nowadays about the

default mode Network as it relates to Consciousness

and meditation Etc. The default mode network does many different things. But in the context of our discussion

about creativity, the default mode network

is really the network that starts being engaged when you close your eyes and start paying attention to what's going on in terms of your thinking as opposed to the sensory out. I'd

world. And the default mode network is especially important for what's called

spontaneous imagination. Now, spontaneous imagination is something that you can

try at any moment. If you were to close your eyes

and to try not pay attention to the sounds around you, but even if you do to, just pay attention to whatever thoughts

or feelings emerge, when your eyes are closed, okay? By closing

your eyes and shutting yourself off to the outside sensory world, you start to engage much more of your brain, machinery.

Dedicated towards what's going on inside you, so called interoception.

But also what you're thinking about, you're thinking whether or not, your thoughts are complete or incomplete, whether or not, they are fragmentary. In a way that goes

from one thought to another distantly in the past or present to Future, Etc, Depending

on time of day, how

well rested you are, how stressed you are, how happy you are.

The default mode network will take you through a journey of different types

of thoughts, different types of feelings Etc. The specific types of thoughts and feelings

are not as interesting as the fact that when you close your Sighs, you're essentially engaging. This default mode Network, which is essentially the network associated with imagination and Imagination based on elements that exist only within your head.

That is within your brain. Okay. And therefore must rely on memory of previous experiences as

soon as you close your eyes you are shutting yourself off from

the sensory world. So by definition you can no longer be bringing in novel experiences. In that moment, you're relying on your library of existing experiences in your memory of those. Those in order to imagine new things and you're doing this in a very, and a free associate of way, you're not trying to imagine new things, it's just whatever geysers to the surface. Okay? So we've got the executive Network, which is involved in suppressing, particular, thoughts or actions. We have the default mode Network, which is involved in imagination, and

the default mode Network, I should mention also involves a sub-region of the prefrontal cortex, is called the medial, prefrontal

cortex, but other brain regions as well, and

then the final element within the circuits, underlying creativity

is the so-called salience The

salience network is a

network of brain regions that involves areas such as the insula, which actually has a complete map of your body surface as well as some information map to their about what's going on in the outside world. And how those combined with what's going on in your internal

landscape that is within your body. Also a brain region called

the ACC or intended, excuse me, anterior, cingulate cortex

and the amygdala. So, a lot of information is mapped with, in the salience network about

how we feel and how we feel in relation to things that are happening around us. And And within us. And the salience

network has one main job, which is to pay attention to what's most

interesting either in the world or inside Us in terms of feelings or experiences. Okay?

So we've got three networks executive Network, which

is there to suppress choices. In terms of actions, we could take but decide not to wear things we could think about, but choose not to or try not to the default

mode Network, which is basically the cataloger library of previous. Says that we have available

to us, that would

act, as sort of the paints on a pallet

or the possible ingredients that could go into a recipe. All of that has to again, arise from previous experience, right? We can't close our eyes

and suddenly be able to access

all the Melodies that we've never heard before or Although our ideas and Concepts and knowledge about music. If we don't have musical understanding or visual understanding. So

we're really drawing up

the library and that Library tends to be rather disorganized. It kind of Whirls around it's not very structured. Unless we're actively trying to think about something and

then we have the salience network which is the networks within the brain

that decide or make choices about, what's most interesting to pay attention to in a given moment,