ABSTRACT
Humans are biologically primed to be creative, even on a microlevel. Simple cells in our bodies perform adaptive, improvisational maneuvers that mirror the activity of our conscious minds as we solve problems and adjust to changing circumstances. For example, in an imaginative coordination process called reentry, the brain can synchronize separate neural maps to develop new patterns. If a finger is removed, patterns in the cortex that map sensory inputs from fingers change. The neural spaces for the ring and index finger become larger and help substitute for the loss of the middle finger. This neuroplasticity gives the system flexibility and novel adaptability, and contributes to our adaptive imagination, the ability to solve problems and meet challenging conditions in a creative and flexible manner.
On a macrolevel, a creative process can be seen in the patterns and principles of evolution, which combine variation and stability. Through the course of billions of years, evolution has created gradual improvement in the characteristics of biological populations over successive generations and produced an enormous variety of successful living forms. The author discusses how investigators of artificial intelligence have used the principles of evolution to endow computers with skills resembling creativity. A clinical example is given using these principles.
The author’s goal is to play with ideas in the neighboring fields of biology and evolution to see analogies and integrative opportunities for psychotherapeutic work. Therapists and patients need both stability (staying within the framework of the field of psychotherapy) and variation (seeking inspiration/metaphors outside the field) to create change.
