Neuro Post-It 4: The Neuroscience behind Literary Creativity
A new series of neuroscientific digestible insights! Written in collaboration with Cesca Centini.
“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” - Franz Kafka
What is the neuroscience behind literary creativity?
Before going deep into this never-ending topic, we have to discuss language itself.
Language isn’t solely about communication, it’s actually inherently creative.
Every sentence you form can be unique, offering limitless room for self-expression and meaning. This “generative” quality of language—where grammatical rules and vocabulary choices give rise to infinite possibilities—is at the heart of literary creativity (how can it not be?).
Even the simplest statement can become vivid narratives, playful poetry, or surprising metaphors, all thanks to our innate linguistic capacity. Obviously language per se was born as a form of communication, and some of the evolutionary linguistics come from the resemblance of things we see in nature, but there’s much more!
Neuroscientists have discovered that multiple brain networks interact to enable creative writing. You might have heard of the default mode network (DMN), typically active in daydreaming and imagination, and the central executive network (CEN), which helps us focus on tasks and juggle ideas.
These two networks, with the semantic cognition and language networks, spark, organize, and polish creative thought in writing. For example, generating a story, even from unrelated words, lights up areas in the frontal and temporal lobes associated with both linguistic skill and internal reflection.
Even more interesting, constraints and limitations can boost literary creativity. The so-called “Green Eggs and Ham hypothesis” suggests that when writers are limited to certain words, styles, or poetic forms, they often respond by making more original choices. Rather than seeing constraints as roadblocks, you can treat them like a puzzle that forces your mind toward fresh ideas. This is not solely related to creative writing, but life in general. In fact, whenever you’re limited, you tend to a find new way to use that same exact tool. Instead, when we have too many possibilities, we tend to freeze and feel unable to choose.
In the end, remember that practice and motivation really matter. Individuals deeply invested in writing show stronger connections in brain areas responsible for orchestrating complex ideas and sustaining attention (it’s all a matter of habit). So if you want to boost your own literary creativity, set some rules or prompts, let your mind wander, and then reel those ideas in with focused editing. The human brain is built for words, and it’s also built for creativity.
Resources and interesting bits
Anna Abraham (2018). The Neuroscience of Creativity.
Alexandrov, V. E. ( 2007 ). Literature, literariness, and the brain.
Boyd, B. ( 2017 ). The evolution of stories: From mimesis to language, from fact to fiction.
Fedorenko, E., & Thompson- Schill, S. L. ( 2014 ). Reworking the language network.
Friederici, A. D. ( 2011 ). The brain basis of language processing: From structure to function.
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