Abstract
The present article presents a high-level study on creativity. From a theoretical point of view, we conceptualized cognitive framework of creativity based on the notion of balance between conscious and unconscious processes. Indeed, creativity may be considered a borderline state of mind, in which the thought seems to fluctuate in a near-consciousness state. When the idea arises to the consciousness, the mind turns back to its previous equilibrium, and divergent thinking is replaced by canonical thinking. Starting with this framework, we designed and developed an entertainment application, in which creativity is enacted by unconscious processes, but in collaboration with conscious motivation. Our aim was then to activate a new, dedicated balance between conscious and unconscious processes, in order to obtain a state of mind similar to the spontaneous creative process, but directly guided by brain activity without the intervention of verbal and semantic modulations
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The MindSet provides information about the wearer’s eSense™ Attention and Meditation levels, along with the wearer’s relative brainwave/EEG frequency band powers, such as delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma waves. It also provides information about the quality of the signal/connection. Lastly, it can provide the measured raw wave (EEG) samples.
The data values collected by the Neurosky Mindwave represent the current magnitude of 8 commonly-recognized types of EEG (brain-waves). This Data Value is output as a series of eight 3-byte unsigned integers in little-endian format. The values of the eight EEG powers have no units and therefore are only meaningful compared to each other and to themselves, to consider relative quantity and temporal fluctuations. Otherwise, the Neurosky provides a formula to convert data into voltage. The formula is: [ rawValue * (1.8/4096) ]/2000.
This is due to a 2,000x gain, 4096 value range, and 1.8 V input voltage.
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The authors thank Miriam Bait for her precious help and comments in writing this paper.
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Folgieri, R., Lucchiari, C., Granato, M., Grechi, D. (2014). Brain, Technology and Creativity. BrainArt: A BCI-Based Entertainment Tool to Enact Creativity and Create Drawing from Cerebral Rhythms. In: Lee, N. (eds) Digital Da Vinci. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0965-0_4
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