Writer’s Block: The Science Behind a Writer’s Worst Nightmare
Writers know the struggle. Ideas are flowing. Mind begins running in every direction, down every avenue of imagination available in one’s mind. And suddenly, stop. No more motions of the pencil, nor typing on the keyboard, nor concepts to explore, nor creativity to share. Everything simply comes to a halt. This is what the general population refers to as “writer’s block,” or what Dr. Patricia Hudson of the Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre at University of Ottawa Heart Institute calls, “a distinctly uncomfortable inability to write.” But, what happens in our brains to cause this bothersome rut?
There are many answers to this complex and compelling question. Scientists tend to look at the area of the brain in the frontal lobe associated with language, called Broca’s area. Broca’s aphasia refers to damage in this linguistic-producing region, causing issues with the formulation of language, and therefore writing. However, aphasia is often connected with the inability to speak, which is why some experts look to agraphia, or what Dr. Manuel Castillo Garzon, professor of medical physiology at the University of Granada, calls “the ultimate writer’s block.” Agraphia is a lack of the ability to write, often linked to Wernicke’s area, a brain region dedicated to the comprehension of language. Although, this explanation can be slightly discredited because it refers to lesions on the brain, implying that the mental inability to write would occur as a result of a stroke or trauma.
In an attempt to narrow the focus of the causes of this linguistic discomfort, researchers explore the fact that writer’s block often relates to the struggle to produce a story. A study conducted by neuroscience and biomedical physics researchers in 2005 found that writing and creativity are associated with the right prefrontal cortex, which is important for semantics in linguistic contexts. Because of this, writer’s block might be a result of a lack of activity in this region; however, there is still no absolute clarification as to what might cause this inactive state.
Some researchers have chosen to look at artistry and ingenuity. Cognitive neuroscientist Heather Berlin states that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain essential for improvising, connecting to one’s identity and self-criticism. Berlin explains writers’ block is basically losing a sense of self, which can occur when people write so naturally that words flow without a step of cognition.
Still, there is a lack of clarity on what exactly occurs in the cerebral system to make writers hit a mental wall. This is likely because writing abilities manifest themselves so differently in everyone. Researchers led by Martin Lotze of University of Geifswalf in Germany used fMRI scanners to assess brain activity while writing, finding that there were notable differences between their participants, proving how subjective writing and creativity are for each individual. To conclude, the answers are still ambiguous, and we do not have a definitive explanation to the disturbing phenomenon that causes such an annoying slump, meaning the best solution we have is perseverance.
References
Broca’s area is the brain’s scriptwriter, shaping speech, study finds — 02/17/2015. Johns Hopkins Medicine, based in Baltimore, Maryland. (2015, February 17). Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/brocas_area_is_the_brains_scriptwriter_shaping_speech_study_finds
Castillo, M. (2013). Writer’s block. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 35(6), 1043–1044. https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.a3729
Flaherty, A. (2005). The midnight disease: The drive to write, writer’s block, and the creative brain. Houghton Mifflin.
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Howard-Jones, P. A., Blakemore, S.-J., Samuel, E. A., Summers, I. R., & Claxton, G. (2005). Semantic divergence and creative story generation: An fmri investigation. Cognitive Brain Research, 25(1), 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.05.013
Shockman, E. (2016, April 5). Creative block? here’s the neuroscience of how to fix that. The World from PRX. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://theworld.org/stories/2016-04-05/creative-block-here-s-neuroscience-how-fix
Stanborough, R. J. (2020, April 21). Agraphia: Symptoms, causes, treatment & more. Healthline. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/agraphia#:~:text=Alexia%20vs.-,Aphasia,sometimes%20called%20%E2%80%9Cword%20blindness.%E2%80%9D
Zimmer, C. (2014, June 20). This is your brain on writing — The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/science/researching-the-brain-of-writers.html
