Cycles of insanity and creativity within contemplative neural systems.
Medical hypotheses September 1, 2016 Stephen L Thaler
A theoretical paper proposes that the brain's creative process mirrors the behavior of two interacting artificial neural networks, where one generates random activation patterns (ideas) and the other evaluates them. The system cycles between high synaptic perturbation (chaos, idea incubation) and low perturbation (stability, idea reinforcement). Volume neurotransmitter release in the cortex is proposed as the biological source of these fluctuations, affecting both generative and evaluative networks. The authors hypothesize that creativity and certain psychopathologies share the same underlying neurodynamics, with extremes in the chaotic phase being problematic. This theory suggests that controlling the balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters could potentially boost creativity or treat related disorders.