Souzouryoku wo Kitaeru Mind Wandering (Mind Wandering: Training Your Creativity - A University of Tokyo Training Method to Glean Value from Your Daydreams)

Everyone wants to be creative. The problem is not so simple as to be solved with mental platitudes, like “wracking the brain.” By using neuroscience, which is in vogue currently, I sought to create a state that facilitated creativity in the mind. Using EEGs and MRI, I monitored the state of the brain when it chanced upon novel ideas during planning. This creative process is called the Mind-Wandering State. This is the state when you are spaced out and your mind is wandering, when your thoughts are hazy, which has been referred to as “day dreaming” or “wasting time.” Since grade school, we have been taught to either focus or sleep, that the lever has to be in one direction or the other to be most effective. When we look at past inventions, findings, or people having taken chances or avoided risks, these individuals have often come upon design solutions while taking a detour to walk in the park on their way to work, daydreaming while eating, looking at the clouds from an airplane, or letting out a sigh while in the restroom. In times like this, the brain works out a plan by making use of every memory at its disposal but removed from its context. Still, even if you come up with a fuzzy outline of a solution, the next move is to present your claim, prove your hypothesis, and show the proof to others. Natsume Souseki wrote, “Think. Speak. Act.” in his journal during his stay in London and, as a result of the proof of his hypothesis, he created Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (I Am a Cat). Possibly chancing upon this idea while he stared blankly at his cat, he switched places with it and pondered how we humans must look to them. This idea would not necessarily occur to a researcher of British literature who only analyzes things that are already created. Our lives change depending on our control of our minds.
 

(Written by NAKAO Masayuki, Professor, School of Engineering / 2019)