The Neuropsychological Connection Between Creativity and Meditation

Abstract

Prior investigations into a creativity–meditation connection involving diverse meditation strategies, proficiency levels, and creativity measurement instruments presented mixed results. These results are explained through evidence (primarily from EEG studies) supporting the hypothesis that meditation training variously enhances creative incubation and illumination via transcendence and integration, neuropsychological mechanisms common to both processes. Transcendence surpasses informational limits; integration transforms informational boundaries. In this respect, increased low-alpha power reflects reduced cortical activity and detached witnessing of multimodal information processing; theta indicates an implicit affect-based orientation toward satisfaction and encoding of new information; delta reflects neural silence, signal matching and surprise, and gamma indicates heightened awareness, temporal-spatial binding, and salience. Cortical intra-interhemispheric synchronization, within these EEG spectral bands, is essential to effective creativity and meditation. The relative impact on creativity of various meditation strategies (mindfulness, concentrative and combined) is discussed. Sanyama, an ancient yogic attentional technique embodying both transcendence and integration, provides a unique neuropsychological explanation for extraordinary creativity.