Big Question Abstract

     I started reading the studies of Allan Snyder a professor at the Australian National University, he has recently been looking into autism and its connection to creative/ artistic genius. He believes that in shutting off a certain part of the brain we can in fact tap into our creative genius. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (most commonly used in treating depression) he switches off the frontal temporal lobe and in doing this, has increased the creativity of test subjects. He hopes that in time anyone will be able to tap into their creative genius. Autism, considered a "mental malfunction" can in some cases direct the mind down the paths of artistic genius while not being able to access basic thought processes. I plan on following his research in order to better answer my question about unlocking the brain's potential. Allan Snyder believes that shutting off one part of the brain will unlock the other, however, what if his is accomplished and we can gain access to creative genius without being able to also use our brain's frontal lobe. This would be like growing wings at the cost of your eyesight, where would you direct your flight, avoid obstacles or appreciate your ability? If we can discover a way to unlock that unused creativity and maintain basic logic and comprehension than this would definitely be an amazing key to accessing the brain's full potential.