Episode 25: Between Order & Chaos - Creativity, Neuroscience & Psychedelics with Bradley Cooke, Ph.D.

The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity

What distinguishes creativity from other modes of thinking and being? How do we understand creativity from a neuroscientific perspective, and how do psychedelics affect creativity? We explore these questions with Bradley Cooke, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and Program Director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Cooke oversees the nation's portfolio of research into the neurobiology of obesity and diabetes. He’s also a visual artist with an interest in psychedelics research. We explore how creativity lives on a spectrum between order and chaos, between predictability and surprise, as exemplified by the Italian term sprezzatura, a sense of careless grace, casual elegance, or intentional nonchalance.

Our Creativity Pro-Tip encourages you to consider the times, places, and conditions where you feel most creative, and to intentionally foster those conditions to support your creative pursuits. This often requires setting aside the to-do list, and carving out time for our creative process.
Credits: The Syncreate podcast is created and hosted by Melinda Rothouse, and produced at Record ATX studios with in collaboration Michael Osborne and 14th Street Studios in Austin, Texas. Syncreate logo design by Dreux Carpenter.
If you enjoy this episode and want to learn more about the creative process, you might also like our conversations in Episode 9: Music and Psychology: "The Pocket" Experience with Dr. Jeff Mims, and Episode 10: Imagination and Creativity with Psychologist and Creativity Coach Dr. Diana Rivera, and Episode 16: Creativity, Innovation & Leadership with Robert Cleve, PhD.
At Syncreate, we're here to support your creative endeavors, so please reach out to us for 1x1 coaching or join our Syncreate 2024 Coaching Group, starting in April. You can find more information on our website, syncreate.org.
Episode-specific hyperlinks:

Bradley Cooke, Ph.D. on LinkedIn

The Art of Sprezzatura

Dr. Dan Siegel on Chaos, Rigidity, and Integration

My Funny Valentine - Miles Davis & John Coltrane

Brad’s Research Portfolio at the National Institutes of Health

Article: Psychedelics as Potential Catalysts of Scientific Creativity and Insight

Article: 7 Ways Psychedelics Impact Creative Thinking

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Melinda Rothouse Website