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Surprising Science

What Is Creativity?

Testing for creativity, and its corresponding physical attributes in the brain, requires defining the term, but creativity is not so easily broken down.
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Testing for creativity, and its corresponding physical attributes in the brain, requires defining the term, but creativity is not so easily broken down. “‘Creativity is kind of like pornography — you know it when you see it,’ said Rex Jung, a research scientist at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque…Like many researchers over the past 30 years or so, Dr. Jung has relied on a common definition of creativity: the ability to combine novelty and usefulness in a particular social context. As the study of creativity has expanded to include brain neurology, however, some scientists question whether this standard definition and the tests for it still make sense.”

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