The Chemistry of Creative Intelligence

Abstract

This chapter moves on to explore the biochemical processes underpinning creativity. Building on the information from the previous chapter, this chapter will consider emerging evidence concerning how our interactions with the environment have the power to shape our creativity by altering the epigenome. The environment in which a child is raised has the ability to influence the number of receptors they express as an adult, with potential consequences on creativity. Meanwhile, the fabled overlap between insanity and genius will be investigated in the context of the default mode network, which has been increasingly linked with both neurosis and creativity. It is also emerging that creative impulses feedback to the same reward network that motivates us to eat and reproduce.