In flow, beyond this neurochemical reaction, there are also neuroanatomical and neuroelectrical changes taking place. Neuroanatomically, with large swatches of the prefrontal cortex deactivated, our inner critic is shut off and our inner monologue rendered silent. As a result, we’re more receptive to novel experiences (the building blocks of new ideas) and much less inhibited (thus more likely to present those new ideas to the world). This is why, for example, in studies run by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Sharon Thompson-Schill, when transient hypofrontality was artificially
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