Hemispheric specialization and creativity. 1988

K D Hoppe
Hacker Clinic, Los Angeles, California.

The results of an experimental study on commissurotomy (split-brain) patients and normal control subjects illuminate the difference in creativity. The surgical disconnection of transcallosal interhemispheric exchange and of any access or communication between the two hemispheres creates in commissurotomy patients an outstanding lack of creativity which could be demonstrated on a lexical, sentential, global, affective, and EEG-analysis level. In contrast to split-brain or alexithymic people, expressive-creative persons verbalized their presentational symbolization and imagery of the right hemisphere which was transformed via corpus callosum to the left hemisphere, called symbollexia. Thus, creativity can be understood as the opposite of alexithymia. The hypothetical concept of creativity as hemispheric bisociation was supported by EEG findings, suggesting an inhibition and lack of inner speech between the two language centers in alexithymic people versus a higher interhemispheric coherence level in expressive-creative persons. Further on, the difference of expressed feelings of anxiety and hostility suggests a restrictive set of rules and of early superego components in commissurotomy patients in contrast to expressive-creative people who empathically experience and verbalize their anxiety about death and are open to the experience of their being in the world as an act of creation. Finally, the vignette of a creative patient whose left hemisphere was overflooded by affects and imagery, expressed in her pictures, illuminates the importance of a balanced transcallosal symbollexia and hemispheric bi-sociation in psychotherapy.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D010296 Parietal Lobe Upper central part of the cerebral hemisphere. It is located posterior to central sulcus, anterior to the OCCIPITAL LOBE, and superior to the TEMPORAL LOBES. Brodmann Area 39,Brodmann Area 40,Brodmann Area 5,Brodmann Area 7,Brodmann's Area 39,Brodmann's Area 40,Brodmann's Area 5,Brodmann's Area 7,Inferior Parietal Cortex,Secondary Sensorimotor Cortex,Superior Parietal Lobule,Angular Gyrus,Gyrus Angularis,Gyrus Supramarginalis,Intraparietal Sulcus,Marginal Sulcus,Parietal Cortex,Parietal Lobule,Parietal Region,Posterior Paracentral Lobule,Posterior Parietal Cortex,Praecuneus,Precuneus,Precuneus Cortex,Prelunate Gyrus,Supramarginal Gyrus,Area 39, Brodmann,Area 39, Brodmann's,Area 40, Brodmann,Area 40, Brodmann's,Area 5, Brodmann,Area 5, Brodmann's,Area 7, Brodmann,Area 7, Brodmann's,Brodmanns Area 39,Brodmanns Area 40,Brodmanns Area 5,Brodmanns Area 7,Cortex, Inferior Parietal,Cortex, Parietal,Cortex, Posterior Parietal,Cortex, Precuneus,Cortex, Secondary Sensorimotor,Cortices, Inferior Parietal,Gyrus, Angular,Gyrus, Prelunate,Gyrus, Supramarginal,Inferior Parietal Cortices,Lobe, Parietal,Lobule, Parietal,Lobule, Posterior Paracentral,Lobule, Superior Parietal,Paracentral Lobule, Posterior,Paracentral Lobules, Posterior,Parietal Cortex, Inferior,Parietal Cortex, Posterior,Parietal Cortices,Parietal Cortices, Inferior,Parietal Cortices, Posterior,Parietal Lobes,Parietal Lobule, Superior,Parietal Lobules,Parietal Lobules, Superior,Parietal Regions,Posterior Paracentral Lobules,Posterior Parietal Cortices,Precuneus Cortices,Region, Parietal,Secondary Sensorimotor Cortices,Sensorimotor Cortex, Secondary,Superior Parietal Lobules
D003337 Corpus Callosum Broad plate of dense myelinated fibers that reciprocally interconnect regions of the cortex in all lobes with corresponding regions of the opposite hemisphere. The corpus callosum is located deep in the longitudinal fissure. Interhemispheric Commissure,Neocortical Commissure,Callosum, Corpus,Callosums, Corpus,Commissure, Interhemispheric,Commissure, Neocortical,Commissures, Interhemispheric,Commissures, Neocortical,Corpus Callosums,Interhemispheric Commissures,Neocortical Commissures
D003405 Creativity The ability to generate new ideas or images. Creativeness,Innovativeness,Originality,Artistic Creativity,Creative Ability,Creative Thinking,Ability, Creative,Creative Abilities,Creativity, Artistic,Thinking, Creative
D004292 Dominance, Cerebral Dominance of one cerebral hemisphere over the other in cerebral functions. Cerebral Dominance,Hemispheric Specialization,Dominances, Cerebral,Specialization, Hemispheric
D005201 Fantasy An imagined sequence of events or mental images, e.g., daydreams. Day Dreams,Daydreams,Day Dream,Daydream,Dream, Day,Dreams, Day,Fantasies
D005260 Female Females
D005625 Frontal Lobe The part of the cerebral hemisphere anterior to the central sulcus, and anterior and superior to the lateral sulcus. Brodmann Area 8,Brodmann's Area 8,Frontal Cortex,Frontal Eye Fields,Lobus Frontalis,Supplementary Eye Field,Area 8, Brodmann,Area 8, Brodmann's,Brodmanns Area 8,Cortex, Frontal,Eye Field, Frontal,Eye Field, Supplementary,Eye Fields, Frontal,Frontal Cortices,Frontal Eye Field,Frontal Lobes,Lobe, Frontal,Supplementary Eye Fields
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000342 Affective Symptoms Mood or emotional responses dissonant with or inappropriate to the behavior and/or stimulus. Alexithymia,Emotional Disturbances,Affective Symptom,Alexithymias,Disturbance, Emotional,Disturbances, Emotional,Emotional Disturbance,Symptom, Affective,Symptoms, Affective

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