Dopamine, Creativity and Schizophrenia | Hacker News Reader

Dopamine, Creativity and Schizophrenia

gaurab.posterous.com

38 pointsgchakrab18 comments

"Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box," says Dr Ullén about his new findings.

That really resonates with me. My most creative, disruptive insight only really comes to me when I'm teetering on the edge. That said, I definitely have to pull back from the edge before i can do anything useful or sustainable with it. Anyone else feel the same way?

It seems like creativity is a state of loose association while execution is pure hustle. Startup founders have a unique ability to tap into both worlds when necessary, maybe even simultaneously!

any tips?

I generate crazy ideas on my own, and before I execute on any, I bounce it off more logical-minded friends.

I also write down the ideas I have, because crazy ideas are easily forgotten. I think they're generated by temporary surprise connections made by the brain.

I also find that certain locations are more likely to give me better ideas than others. I get good creative ideas staring out the window, taking naps, or taking a shower; definitely away from the computer.

I'm confused. The article says that creativity is associated with low thalamic D2 receptor density, and that the thalamus "filters" signals to the rest of the brain, so they speculate that diminished activity therein results in less filtering and more creativity, and schizophrenia is a more severe form of this. That's fine until you consider that antipsychotics work by blocking dopaminergic activity, which would exacerbate the pathology rather than repair it. My understanding was that dopamine is associated with increased dopamine receptor binding in the prefrontal cortex (which is consistent with the observed mechanism of action for antipsychotics), and the lower thalamus receptor densities were simply due to downregulation caused by the excessive endogenous dopamine. Can someone with more expertise clarify?

I don't think they are saying that creativity and schizophrenia have the same mechanism but rather that there is just a partial correlation.

"That's fine until you consider that antipsychotics work by blocking dopaminergic activity, which would exacerbate the pathology rather than repair it."

IIRC blocking dopamine causes the brain to produce more D2 receptors to compensate.

I've known both schizophrenics and artists in my personal life and I'd say one thing they have in common is an ability for their thought processes to "color outside the lines", jump the tracks, etc. But for healthy artists they have a greater ability to recognize it and control it and channel to productive ends, whereas the schizophrenic goes off into wild goose chases, endless philosophical thinking dead ends, and outright delusions unbacked by externally confirmable observations.

Speaking of the dopamine connection, there has been an increasing body of evidence and belief within the scientific community studying schizophrenia that the dopamine/receptor activity is just a symptom or downstream effect and that the root cause may be related to a virus that has infected the brain's tissue or blood supply. Possibly an endogenous virus embedded in the DNA, that had previously been considered part of the inactive "junk" DNA.

It's almost like there is an attempt to normalize all of human behavior, nearly to a borg-like state but with a "I am human!!" undertone. Neurotypical for the win, is the motto.

I go to the site and see a doc. Clicking on download, I'm taken to a scribd sign-up page.

Is there a reason I should sign up for Scribd because somebody wants to share material with me on the internet?

Sorry. I lost interest at that point.

i came up with a term for this ability to be both very creative and loose and random while also being able to switch into a very logical, analytical, judgemental, executive mindset:

groglogic

where the grog refers to drunkeness or sleepiness/dreams

The real term is lateral thinking.

Thanks. But arguably there are no 'real terms'. Just words given meaning by those who coin them. And we are all free to coin terms. That said, I have heard that term before (just checked it on Wikipedia too), but it doesn't cover what I refer to as groglogic.

ok fair enough.

Anecdote: I've been regarded as a good programmer, and my sister is schizoaffective.

She hot?

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