What Is Creativity?

Testing for creativity, and its corresponding physical attributes in the brain, requires defining the term, but creativity is not so easily broken down. “‘Creativity is kind of like pornography — you know it when you see it,’ said Rex Jung, a research scientist at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque…Like many researchers over the past 30 years or so, Dr. Jung has relied on a common definition of creativity: the ability to combine novelty and usefulness in a particular social context. As the study of creativity has expanded to include brain neurology, however, some scientists question whether this standard definition and the tests for it still make sense.”