Talk About Writing

The Neuroscience of Creative Writing: Brain Regions, Epiphanies, and Psychoactive Substances


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Have you ever wondered why artistic people seem to be slightly different than the rest? That many of the creative people that we know seem to have unique personalities, and even tend to be somewhat eccentric? And have you ever read someone’s work and thought to yourself - wow, this writer’s brain is 'wired' differently?


For this episode, we will get into the neuroscience of creative writing, by exploring some of the neural mechanisms that form the basis of writing creatively. 


We will discuss the cliché of how creative people’s brains, their thought processes, and their mental workings are unique and different, which is what allows them to express themselves in compelling ways - and dive into the actual scientific evidence to back this stereotype.


We will also go into some of the factors that have a role to play directly - so the neuroscience of it on one hand, and some secondary factors that also play a role in those neural functions, in terms of the brain functions that affect the cognitive patterns in writers.


Finally, we will touch upon the topic of psychoactive substances, and how writers have, over the centuries, used them to enhance their imagination and creativity - like opium in the 18th century, laudanum by Victorian writers, and LSD in the 20th.

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Talk About WritingBy Ipshita Nath