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CReativity Enhancement through Advanced brain Mapping and stimulation

Project description


Technologies and scientific foundations in the field of creativity
CREAM, CReativity Enhancement through Advanced brain Mapping and stimulation

 

Main idea behind this project: current ICT technology provides new capabilities to measure the functional activity of the brain and to compute in real-time stimuli that can be applied to the brain itself in order to train and modify its activity. This new frontier of research is made possible by a dramatic increase in cheap computing power, novel design methodologies for high-performance software, integrated circuits and systems for sensors and actuators, and algorithms and software environments for collaborative interaction of people cooperating on solving a specific problem. This project will explore the consequences of exploiting these novel technologies in a deliberate attempt to improve a higher-order task such as creativity.

Creativity is hard to define, even harder to measure. It is multifaceted, has multilevel components, and is further a multidimensional construct. Therefore any attempt for a unitary definition of creativity would be futile, if not impossible. Nevertheless, our predominant approach is process-centric i.e. we consider that creativity is fundamentally a property of a process (as in a "creative act"). The exhibition of that property may then, in common parlance, be transferred to the organism or machine that is executing the process (as in a "creative person") or its product (as in a "creative novel"). A major advantage of taking the process view is that it begins to demystify creativity itself, simply because value is traditionally attributed to a created product or artefact only after its achievement and societal acceptance, and further, value varies with many uncontrollable factors including tradition, time and culture ; therefore, success, and the associated social pedestals on which "famous creators" are often placed, become less relevant; it is the attempt, not product, that counts (though we do not entirely discard the product-centric approach of creativity).

Current ICT technology provides new capabilities to measure the functional activity of the brain and to compute in real-time stimuli that can be applied to the brain itself in order to train and modify its activity. This new frontier of research is made possible by a dramatic increase in cheap computing power, novel design methodologies for high-performance software, integrated circuits and systems for sensors and actuators, and algorithms and software environments for collaborative interaction of people cooperating on solving a specific problem. This project will explore the consequences of exploiting these novel technologies in a deliberate attempt to improve a higher-order task such as creativity.

Call for proposal

FP7-ICT-2013-10
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
EU contribution
€ 580 548,00
Address
VIA ZAMBONI 33
40126 Bologna
Italy

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Region
Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Administrative Contact
Anna Ronchi (Mrs.)
Links
Total cost
No data

Participants (6)