This research concerns the relationship between hand movements, as they occur in the act of freehand drawing, and creativity. Since ancient times it was observed that hand movements were linked with intelligence. This issue has gained importance particularly in the field of architectural imagery because automated drawing techniques with computer aided design (CAD) have replaced the hand drawings. This has risen concerns about the impairment of creative ideas that may ensue. The working hypothesis of this research is that the complex, meaningful freehand movements are connected to a larger activity of the cortical neurons compared to the simple, rather meaningless movements of the CAD drawing. The research was aimed to provide electroencephalographic evidence supporting this hypothesis, with the preliminary assumption that creativity could be linked to recruitment of a larger neuronal population. In 10 subjects, we recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) using the technique of movement related potentials (MRPs), and analysed the epoch spanning from 1000 ms before to 1000 ms after movements while freehand drawing or using the mouse for CAD drawing. A digitising tablet was used for freehand drawing. Latency, amplitude and area under signal of the recordings under the two conditions were assessed. The most relevant premotion components of the MRPs were the N-150 and P-40 (occurring 150 and 40 ms before movement), followed by the post-motion components N+30 and P+120 (30 and 120 ms after movement). Freehand drawing was linked to larger cortical activity, which suggests that a larger number of specialised cortical neurons were activated than with CAD drawing. The amount of neuronal activity could be a reflection of the cognitive process occurring in preparation for the skilled movements of the hand, and the results reported lead to the conclusion that freehand drawing is preceded by a strong cognitive activity bringing new ideas.
which provided full support as to ideas, expertise, equipment and personnel.Therefore, there are a number of persons from both fields and both universities that have contributed to the conceptualisation, setting up and making of the several experiments, collecting and processing of data. Their contribution has been essential and without them the results presented here could not have been pursued. To all of them I am deeply indebted, but here I would like to thank especially those who, since the very beginning, escorted me through the whole PhD course. Firstly I thank Prof
Tras algunas décadas de entusiasmo por el uso de las herramientas CAD en el diseño arquitectónico, surge ahora la preocupación sobre la pérdida de creatividad en el proceso de creación del proyecto, debido a la estandarización del procesamiento informático y al movimiento repetitivo de las manos. Diferentes teorías defienden que la percepción háptica durante el dibujo a mano alzada favorece la creatividad y así la generación de nuevas ideas. Las investigaciones sobre la función cerebral han demostrado que el movimiento percibido de la mano puede generar actividad en áreas cognitivamente relevantes de la corteza parietal y frontal, posiblemente relacionadas con la creatividad. Sin embargo, hasta el momento no se han realizado estudios experimentales para analizar la actividad cerebral durante el dibujo a mano. El presente artículo describe una investigación llevada a cabo en la que se ha comparado la actividad electroencefalográfica durante el dibujo arquitectónico a mano alzada frente al dibujo CAD con ratón. Los resultados obtenidos revelan que el dibujo a mano está relacionado con una actividad cerebral mayor, lo que respaldaría la tesis de que la creatividad se ve reforzada por los movimientos libres de la mano sobre el papel.
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