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Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2?? diameter)and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• I like It Like That Handout

Time
45 minutes

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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Finally, generate ideas using these word analogies:
• Lock all merchandise in display cases (from “disappearing merchandise”).
• Install a system so that people must pay for merchandise on their way out to unlock an exit door. People who don’t buy anything subject themselves to personal inspections (from “money collectors”).
• Place video cameras on merchandise counters (from “viewing boxes”).
• Provide educational seminars in schools on the pitfalls of shoplifting (from “substituting values”).
• Place monitors throughout the store that show shoplifters being arrested (from “visual image capturing devices”).
• Project onto the walls pictures of previous customers who were caught shoplifting (from “illumination projection”).
• Put all merchandise in vending machines (from “hidden recesses”).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Chain Alike Handout
Assume you are the manager of a department store. Your assistant has informed you that the store’s losses due to shoplifting are greater than ever. To help resolve this problem, you decide to try the Chain Alike activity.

• Customers
• Merchandise
• Money
• Security
• Observing customers

Next, list subattributes:
• Name: Shoplifting
• Customers: Children, elderly, middle-aged, rich, poor, educated, uneducated
• Merchandise: Electronics in display cases, clothing on shelves and racks
• Money: Dollar bills, coins, credit cards, debt, charging, exchange rates
• Security: Guards, cameras, alarms, lighting, electronic sensors
• Observing Customers:Watching, unobtrusive, disguises, equipment

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

You state the problem as “How could we prevent shoplifting in our store?” Next, you describe the major principle or process as prevention. You then make a list of things in nature that involve the concept of prevention:
• Most birds build their nests in trees to prevent predators from reaching the nests.
• Some animals change the color of their skin to blend in with their environment and prevent attacks from enemies.
• Squirrels put away nuts for the winter to prevent starvation during the cold months.
• Many animal couples take turns guarding their nests to prevent harm to their offspring.
• Camels store large quantities of water in their bodies to prevent thirst and dehydration.
• Turtles quickly pull into their shells to prevent predators from biting their heads or legs.
• Mother Nature installs a strong sex drive in most animals to prevent extinction of the species.
• Many plants turn toward a light source to prevent loss of growth (the so-called phototropic response).
• Leaves drop off many trees to prevent the trees from having to provide nourishment during the winter months.
• Many animals make loud noises to prevent enemies from attacking.

These comparisons might suggest the following ideas:
• Install cameras in ceilings to watch for shoplifters.
• Have security personnel pose as shoppers to blend in and nab any shoplifters.
• Save extra money to make up for stolen merchandise.
• Have employees rotate turns looking for shoplifters.
• Encourage customers to turn in shoplifters by having a lottery among customers who report shoplifting. The winner receives an ocean cruise.
• Install a sensor so that all the doors close automatically when the device detects that someone is trying to leave the store with stolen merchandise.
• Offer employees rewards to encourage them to help perpetuate profits for the store by catching shoplifters.• Have all the store’s lights begin flashing whenever someone attempts to leave with
stolen items.
• “Drop” very expensive items into tall boxes to prevent people from reaching the items. Instead, expensive items must be retrieved electronically by a clerk.
• Install an alarm that sounds whenever someone tries to pick up an item before a clerk has turned off the alarm.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Bionic Ideas Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Chain Alike [54]
• I Like It Like That [55]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Bionic Ideas Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have the groups state the problem as clearly as possible using an action verb and an object (for example, how to increase sales) and write it down on a flip chart.
3. Tell them to describe the major principle or process that underlies the problem. Cite, as an example, that increasing sales involves the principle of getting more of something.
4. Ask them to think of similar principles in nature (that is, biological or botanical analogies).
5. Instruct them to use these similar principles or processes to stimulate new ideas, writing them on Post-it® notes (one idea per note) to place on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Some people may have trouble generating analogies for this exercise. One way to help is to have the participants brainstorm more analogies than they might use. Another way to help would be to provide a list of processes and principles found in biology (for example, osmosis, cell structures). Such lists would be available in biology texts or on the Internet.

Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Such expressions enrich and enliven language and interpersonal communication in particular. Analogies also allow us to express ourselves creatively. Thus, all analogies are creative products.

Analogies can help explain difficult concepts and solve problems. For instance, educators use analogies extensively when trying to teach difficult concepts. Teachers pick one topic familiar to students and compare it with an unfamiliar topic. This enables students to understand the new topic more clearly based on their familiarity with the first topic. Outside of the classroom, we also may use analogies when trying to explain a difficult
subject to someone.

Analogies have broad applicability in the business world. One of the most famous examples involves the use of analogies to develop Pringles® potato chips. Aclient of the Cambridge consulting firm Synectics, Inc., (Gordon, 1961) gave the firm a problem of how to put more potato chips on supermarket shelves. Regular bags of potato chips contain a lot of air and take up valuable space. If the product could be compressed, the company
could increase its sales volume.

To solve this problem, firm members thought of other things in life that are compressed. One that stood out was leaves. When crushed and mixed with water, the leaves would still be there but would use less space. So the firm applied this concept to potato chips by mixing water with dehydrated potato flour, shaping the chips, stacking them, and putting them in small, cylindrical containers. Voila! An elegant solution using analogical thinking.

The activities that follow are based on this same process of applying analogies, but these activities add a few twists. The only exception is the I Like It Like That [55] exercise, which provides a more structured approach to analogical thinking.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Turn Around Handout
Assume you are the president of a bank and want to attract new customers. You might list the following assumptions:
• Potential customers have money.
• Placing money in the bank satisfies security needs.
• Many potential customers are confused by banking procedures.
• Banks lend money to make money.
• People have to wait in line to get money.
• When you withdraw your money, it is not really the same money you deposited originally.
• Banks keep money in vaults.
Next, reverse these assumptions as shown in the following examples:
• Potential customers have no money.
• Putting money in the bank makes people insecure.
• Potential customers all are knowledgeable bankers.
• Banks lend money to lose money.
• People never have to wait to get money.
• Banks keep money in the open.
Finally, use these reversals to suggest ideas:
• Emphasize the lowest interest loans in town.
• Stress security measures taken to protect the customers’ money.
• Develop commercials showing the professional expertise of the bank’s officers and staff.
• Give customers who recruit other customers a higher interest rate.
• Offer home ATMs.
• Place a see-through bank vault door in the center of the bank.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Instruct the groups to state their problems simply and clearly and write them on a flip chart for all to see.
3. Read the following aloud: “Reverse the direction of your problem statement. This reversal doesn’t have to be a direct reversal of any particular problem aspect. You may change the verb, the goal, or any words in the definition. Thus, reversal is defined broadly as any change in a problem statement.”
4. Tell them to write down on a flip chart each reversal as a new (possibly sillysounding) problem statement, beginning with the phrase, “How might we. . .? 5. Direct them to use each reversal as a stimulus for new ideas, write the ideas on Post-it® Notes, and place them on a flip chart for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Reversals have great potential for all-purpose idea generation. They provide an easy way to “force” people to view an initial problem differently. They figuratively force one out of a current “thinking box” and into another with the ability to trigger new ideas. You may want to emphasize that a reversal, as used in this exercise, does not have to be a direct or literal change. Changing any aspect of a problem often is all that is required.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Problem Reversals Handout
Suppose you want to design a new soda can. Possible reversals include the following problem statements, each beginning with the same phrase. How might we design . . .
• an old soda can (classic picture or bottle shape)?
• a soda bottle?
• a soda can?
• a new beer can?
• a new trash can?
Next, use these reversals to help think of ideas:
• Acan with a classic logo or picture
• Acan in the shape of a bottle
• Acan that decomposes after use
• Acan with two compartments, with one side containing soda and one beer
• Acan that beeps after being emptied until it is deposited in a recycling bin. The beeping stops after sensors are activated when the can is placed in the bin.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

This can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees outcome can be avoided by entering the forest from a different direction. Change direction and we change perspectives. Instead of being blocked by our initial, unproductive perspectives, we will discover new ways of seeing our problems. New ideas then will flow.

Problem reversals have been widely used ever since brainstorming was popularized by Alex Osborn in the 1930s. Creativity consultant Edward de Bono (1972) also advocated reversals as one way to achieve his concept of “lateral thinking.”

Stand-up comedians and cartoonists often use reversals to create the unexpected. Just look at Gary Larson’s “The Far Side.” One of his cartoons, for instance, depicts rifle-holding bears hunting people.

Everyday creative problem solving also benefits from reversing a problem statement. Apopular approach to law enforcement is to reverse the problem of going out and getting the bad guys. Some police officers instead think of ways to get the bad guys to come to them.

Sounds far-fetched, doesn’t it? Why would wanted criminals come to the police? One result of reversing thinking on this problem is for police to send out invitations to a special “party.” The “guests” are arrested when they show up. Another is to notify wanted people they have won a prize and must show up in person to claim it. Thus, a simple change in problem definition provides a hot idea.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Problem Reversals Handout

Time
30 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Our assumptions about the way we think things should be influence the way we generate ideas to solve problems. Unfortunately, most of these “shoulds” constrain our thinking and result in less creative ideas. Moreover, shoulds limit the number of solution categories we might consider. For instance, if we accept the notion that chocolate candy should be sold only in bars, all
our ideas for chocolate candy will be based on bar products.

To overcome this creative thinking obstacle, Doug Hall (1994) designed Law Breaker as an activity to generate ideas by breaking assumptions about the way things should be.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Law Breaker Handout

Time
30 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Grab bag activities actually involve two different types of idea stimulators. The first type, “backward,” includes activities that involve reversing or turning around a problem in some way. The second, “just alike only different,” contains activities based on analogical thinking; that is, they generate ideas by focusing on similarities between a problem and something else.

Because these two types force us to look at our problems differently, these activities are especially useful for creating unique perspectives. Thus, the activities in this chapter possess considerable diversity in their approaches to generating ideas.

NOTE: FOR ALL ACTIVITIES, REMIND PARTICIPANTS
TO DEFER JUDGMENT WHILE GENERATING IDEAS.

“Backward”Activities: Reversals
Backward activities stimulate your brain by forcing you to reverse problem aspects and view things differently. This opposite tactic is not what most people expect to use when generating ideas. The typical reaction is to plunge right in and attack a problem by generating solutions—definitely a direct approach. The point is, however, that reversals avoid the tendency to lock in on just one way of viewing a problem. Divergent, creative thinking requires many problem viewpoints.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

A car is reflection of the owner. When people see your car, they can guess your personality. For instance, if you own a sport car, people might see you as a dinamic and spiritful person. Thus, modifying a car to your personal style is somehow needed to let other have a glimpse of your personality.

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Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• What if. . . ? Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Get Crazy [5]
• Imaginary Mentor [42]
• We Have Met the Problem and It Is We [48]

Procedure
1. Read the above Background information to the participants.
2. Distribute the What if. . . ? Handout, review the example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
3. Instruct the participants to brainstorm within their groups by saying the
following: “Stretch your problem in as many ways as you can think of by asking ‘What if. . . ?’ Assume anything is possible. Don’t worry about what won’t work or why something can’t be implemented. Just let your mind go. Have someone in your group write down all of the ‘What if. . . ?’ statements on a flip chart.”
4. After they are finished writing, say the following: “Return to reality and examine each question while thinking, ‘Well, we can’t do that, but maybe we
can. . . .’ Brainstorm ideas by finishing this sentence and generate more practical ideas. Record all your ideas individually on Post-it® Notes and place them on flip-chart paper.”

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

It really irritates me when people knock me over and my insides spill out all
over the carpet. I just hate all the messes. And they’re not even my fault.
“There is one nice thing about being a wastebasket. I just love it when some
hotshot tries to impress his friends by throwing a paper wad in me from across the room. If the paper wad hits my rim, I sometimes can jiggle a little and knock it to the floor. This makes the hotshot look so foolish!”
This diatribe might spark the following ideas for improving a wastebasket:

• Abuilt-in trash compactor
• Acontinuous roll of plastic lining that can be removed easily every time the
wastebasket is emptied
• Abuilt-in slot for a fragrance dispenser
• Suction cups, clamps, or Velcro® for attaching the wastebasket to the floor or a desk to prevent accidental spills
• Abasketball-type net that can be raised above the rim for practicing paper wad shots

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

• ELVIS SEEN HONKING HORNS OF PINK CADILLACS
• CAR THIEF HIDES CAR IN HIS PANTS
• PREVIOUSLY STOLEN CAR DRIVES SELF AWAY FROM THIEF
• STOLEN CAR BLOWS UP CLEVELAND

These headlines then prompt the following ideas:
• Car starts only when driver sings a specified Elvis song.
• Car starts only when driver’s rear end fits specially molded car seat
• Hot-wired cars stop running after one minute
• Car started without special code sprays knockout gas in face of driver

We Have Met the Problem and It Is We
Background
Aprimary counseling skill is empathy—the ability to see and feel something from another’s perspective. Some people say we can’t really understand how others feel about something unless we can walk in their shoes and see the world with their eyes. “Change perspectives and you change understanding” is a principle that underlies many idea generation activities and applies especially well to this one.

Try to become our problems and we’ll create new perspectives that may help spark new ideas. Of course, we can’t literally become our problems. We can, however, bring life to our problems and alter how we see them. For this reason, We Have Met the Enemy and It Is We (with a nod to cartoonist Walt Kelly and his Pogo character) will probably work best with problems involving inanimate objects. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it with people problems; it just may not be as effective.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Helated Activities
• ALikely Story [15]
• Fairy Tale Time [40]

Procedure
1. Distribute at least two tabloid publications to each group.
2. Distribute the Tabloid Tales Handout, review the example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
3. Instruct each group to list four key facts about their problem, product, service, or process.
4. Tell them to distort one aspect of each fact and make it sensational or more provocative by stating it as a tabloid headline.
5. For inspiration, suggest that participants thumb through the tabloids.
6. Have them use the distorted facts and review of the tabloids to generate practical ideas.
7. Direct them to write their ideas on Post-it® Notes and place them on the flip chart for evaluation later.

Debrief/Discussion
This can be a fun exercise for the participants. As some research has suggested, humor can enhance the creative output of groups. And many tabloid headlines and stories certainly can provoke mirth. However, the ideas in this exercise, while facilitated by humor, mostly will emerge from the headlines. This is because they typically are unrelated to the problem and thus capable of triggering unique ideas. Because of these two elements, be sure to encourage the participants to have fun (although they may not need much encouragement).

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Handout
• Skybridging Handout

Time
20 minutes

Related Activities
• Brain Mapping [36]
• Idea Links [41]

Procedure
1. Tell each group to tape together two sheets of flip-chart paper, side-by-side, to a wall or other hard surface such as a table.
2. Distribute the Skybridging Handout, review the example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
3. Have them write down, on the left side, one to three words that define where they are today with respect to a current challenge (for example, if product improvement is the concern, they would list a current product’s status).
4. Have them use one to three words and write them down, on the right side of the paper, where they would like to be with respect to the challenge (for example, what is the ideal result?).
5. Instruct them to draw a straight line between the current and desired states. Tell them to write on this line a sure thing and a boring thing, both of which represent ways to achieve the desired state.
6. Instruct them to draw another connecting line that bends in the middle, as shown in Figure 7.4. On the left side of the line, they should list an obvious idea; on the right side, a safe idea. Have them continue drawing lines and listing ideas as shown in the figure until they have generated all possible ideas. Note that, as they list ideas, they should try working from right to left on some of the lines.
7. After they have finished listing ideas, tell them to examine them and make any impractical ideas more practical, write all practical ideas on Post-it® Notes, and place them on a flip chart for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
You might want to note that words on the arches become more impractical the higher up they are. The diagram makes it relatively easy to see the range of ideas. Another thing to emphasize during this exercise is that the participants don’t have to be too concerned with the “correctness” of their words or how concrete or abstract the ideas might be. The important thing is to generate a diversity of ideas.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Skybridging
Background

This technique involves working both forward and backward when generating ideas. Engineers call this method “reverse engineering.” Doug Hall (1994) calls it Skybridging. It is based on a general definition of a problem as a gap between a current and a desired state of affairs. That is, we examine “what is” and “what should be” and then try to close the gap by working toward the goal and then back toward the current problem state. Thus, there may be many different roads to an objective.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

These images, in turn, help communicate meaning and increase understanding. Just as our senses allow us to experience different stimuli, sensory images can help us experience the different perspectives needed to create ideas.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1/2?? diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes
• Three sheets each of 8.5?? x 11?? paper and pens or pencils for each participant

Handout
• Sense Making Ideas Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Say Cheese [44]
• We Have Met the Problem and It is We [48]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Procedure
1. Read the following to participants and ask them to respond individually:

“Imagine you are looking at your problem through the viewfinder of a camera. Frame the picture and adjust the focus to view the entire problem in sharp detail. Move your mind forward or backward to adjust the focus. Add light to improve your view. Then make the image blurry to change erspective. Finally, add different lenses such as telephoto or wide angle to change perspectives again. Continue to make adjustments until your problem is centered clearly in your mind’s eye. Push your mental shutter-release button and allow a picture of the problem to develop in your mind. Study the picture and try to absorb all relevant details. Write down on your paper any interesting features such as size, shape, texture, smells, movement. Finally, examine your descriptions and use them to prompt ideas.”

2. Have each participant share his or her ideas, in turn, with the other group members, write them on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note), and place them on a flip chart to be evaluated later. Encourage them to consider any new ideas that might be prompted from others’ ideas.

Debrief/Discussion
This technique is very similar to Imaginary Mentor [42] in that participants must rely on their visualization skills to help think of ideas. If any participants seem to struggle with creating ideas, tell them to try “playing off” of others’ ideas. That is, let them know that they don’t have to worry about their visualization abilities; instead, they can try to think of other ideas based on those produced by others (of course, they still can think of their own ideas!).

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Lotus Blossom Handout
Suppose your problem involves ways to improve a wristwatch. Write “Improve a wristwatch” in the center of a sheet of paper. Then write eight related concepts in surrounding circles: (a) watch hands, (b) wrist strap, (c) date, (d) time, (e) second hand, (f) battery, (g) appointments, and (h) face. Next, generate ideas for each of these elements.

• Watch hands—different shapes on ends, different colors, different designs
• Wrist strap—buckles, metal, different colors, transparent, different widths
• Date—flashing, multicolored, icons for months, written out
• Time—voice activated, voice response, flashing lights
• Second hand—digital, complementary color, gold plated, variable speed
• Battery—recharge in wall outlet, owner can replace
• Appointments—record appointments, beeper reminder, link appointments with other watches
• Face—celebrity faces, pictures of famous landmarks, spinning face

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

This technique takes advantage of visualization, free association, and a structured approach to creating idea stimuli. Yasuo Matsumura, president of Clover Management Research (Chiba City, Japan) developed the Lotus Blossom Method of generating ideas (also called the MY technique, after his Japanese initials).

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout • Lotus Blossom Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Brain Mapping [36]
• Doodles [37]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

If you answered yes to the first two questions, you may want to delay treatment. Apparently, many people listen to an inner voice for guidance. For instance, General Douglas MacArthur supposedly conjured up his hero-father for advice on military strategy. The poet Milton called his inner guide “Celestial Patroness” and described how she helped him compose his writings.

I’m not suggesting that we all have a little person living inside us. Instead, I believe we all have subconscious motives, impulses, feelings, and images. All this material has tremendous potential as a vast, untapped reservoir of creativity.

The problem is that we can’t always access our subconscious on demand. We have no set of commands or buttons to push to enter our subconscious minds. Instead, we have to enter them more indirectly. One way to access our subconscious thoughts is to create a personal, internal mentor.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

These words prompt ideas such as putting a chemical on the blades to blow scented air (from “butter”) and making a fan with gold blades (from “dough”).
Note: Although the connection between the words may not appear to be logical, that is O.K. Free association does not have to “make sense.” For instance, in the example immediately above, the word “butter” follows the word “better.” When I thought of butter, it was because that is what saying a word similar in sound made me think of. The connections between “butter” and “bread” and “dough” are more transparent. However, following “dough” with “blow” was based only on rhyming.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

4. Focus to register a memory. Recognize the positive and negative influences that impact on your ability to remember.

5. Stay motivated. Scientists, athletes, writers, artists, computer scientists— they do not forget what they’re supposed to do. Their motivation is so high that total concentration is a given, and the notion that they will lose track of what they’re doing is unthinkable. In fact, on the rare occasion that it does occur— when a tennis star swings and completely misses the ball, or a baseball player takes his eye off the ball and makes an error in the field— we are surprised, even shocked. These maestros never forget their goal, and their focus is so strong that they can lose track of the passage of time.

And in your own life, when you are really enjoying a movie does your attention waver and lose track of what’s happening? Of course not. You are so engrossed in the movie’s details that forgetting isn’t an issue. The same thing applies to reading a book that fascinates you. Motivation is what generates a high degree of concentration, and this leads to excellent recall of the event. But if you’re not motivated to remember what you need to remember, here are a couple of tips:

a. Place the event in context to give it meaning. Focus on why you need to remember. Think about the positive aspects of the event and relate it to something else you like and know well. For example, if you’re in a boring meeting, focus on someone you know or like in the room
and link the points that you need to remember to imaginary actions carried out by this person.

b. Practice repetition. Even if you’re not very motivated, repeating things in your mind will help you register the event. If you hear a piece of music often enough, and this includes music you don’t really like, the tune will start playing in your head. That is how your hippocampus
operates: if it receives a stimulus often enough, it gets registered as a piece of memory.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Based on this story, here are a few sample ideas for reducing employee theft:
• Install hidden video cameras that record everything employees do (from “visually challenged mice”).
• Have a subliminal audiotape that periodically reminds employees not to steal (from “stepsisters . . . tell her to bake a pumpkin pie instead”).
• Use voice-recognition locks on storage areas where too many keys might exist (from “laugh in her face”).
• Provide rewards to customers who report incidents of theft (from “they decide to toast each other”).
• Have weekly tea or coffee breaks where managers solicit theft-reduction ideas (from “pour some punch into a cup”).
• Install body temperature sensors that notify security whenever an unauthorized employee enters an “off limits” area (from “bolts out the door with the mice in hot pursuit”).
• Offer a free “makeover” for employees who report shoplifting or theft (from “The pumpkin turns into a beautiful maiden”).
• Recruit an employee from another division to work undercover and report on theft problems (from “sneak into the castle kitchen”).
• Install locks with retina identification that works only with certain employees—an alarm sounds if anyone else tries to open the locks (from “her magic wand only works with mice and pumpkins).
• Have all employees submit to a voice stress analyzer to determine if they are telling the truth about theft (from “The farmer rushes in to say goodbye to his dying wife”).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

The Kentucky Nuns Controversy
In a study of nuns residing in a convent, David Snowdon and his colleagues from the University of Lexington in Kentucky examined the autobiographical essays that all the candidate nuns were required to write when they joined the convent. The young nuns who had low “idea
density” (number of ideas per every ten words) were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (diag nosed by brain autopsy) in their old age, compared to nuns who had written essays with high idea density when they joined the convent.

Does this mean that the template for developing Alzheimer’s disease in old age is already set when we are young? We know that there is a strong genetic component to this disease, but for some reason it does not show up clinically until we are much older. Could it be that the educational process, and the additional mental challenges that galvanize us in many of our occupations, can stave off the
illness for years, maybe even an extra decade? If that were true, it would represent one of the most intriguing interactions between genetics and environment.

But if you step back and think about this issue a little, you will recognize a few flaws in this tale. First, “idea density” is a poorly studied concept that does not directly follow from education or intelligence. Second, based on the results of the nuns study, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease should be far greater in underdeveloped countries with low levels of education and high levels of illiteracy, but cross-national studies show that this is definitely not the case. Stay tuned as further research helps to clarify this puzzle.

Techniques to Improve Your Memory

There are many books devoted to memory improvement by using a variety of tricks and techniques. I will not discuss techniques used by high school and college students to cram for exams, and instead will focus only on those methods that can help prevent age-related memory loss in people above the age of forty.

1. Pay attention. Pay attention to what needs to be learned or remembered. This seems obvious, but it’s easy to lose track and forget things when you are pulled in many directions by personal or career demands. Reducing stress, and making a strong effort to maintain your concentration whenever necessary, are essential to improving your memory.
2. Heighten your sensory awareness. Heightened sensory awareness is essential to maintaining peak attention. Auditory memory makes use of the patterns, the rhythms of speech. Simple phrases, connected words that can be strung into a tune, these are techniques used by
advertisers to zero in on your sensory awareness and get you to remember. The Nike, or Michael Jordan, phrase “Just do it!” is something most of you will always remember, even if you have mild memory loss. Or the small elderly woman yelling, “Where’s the beef?’’ in the hamburger ad. Three factors help imprint these memories in your brain:

a. The dramatic nature of their content.
b. The emotions they evoke in you.
c. Frequent repetition that helps create a permanent auditory memory.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Being visually challenged, the mice can’t see too well, however. Instead of
going to the castle, they go to a poor farmer’s cottage. The farmer’s wife chases away the mice with her carving knife. (Did you ever see such a sight in your life?) Unfortunately, Mrs. Farmer slips on the mice tails and falls on her knife. The farmer rushes in to say goodbye to his dying wife and decides to make a pumpkin pie with the pumpkin the nice mice brought.

The Fairy Godmother has been watching all of this. She sees the farmer raise
his dead wife’s knife to carve the pumpkin. Suddenly there is a . . . POOF! The pumpkin turns into a beautiful maiden, thanks to FG. The farmer is awed by Cinder’s beauty and asks her to marry him. Cinder agrees and they decide to toast each other with pumpkin punch in the punch bowl.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

How Education Affects Memory: Rosa’s Story
Rosa Gonzalez, a sixty-four-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic, was brought by her daughter into our Memory Disorders Center for evaluation of her declining memory. Rosa Gonzalez had forgotten to turn off the stove on one occasion and had begun to forget the names of distant relatives. Otherwise, she was functioning quite well at home, managing her daily chores without any difficulties. The neurological, psychiatric, and brain imaging workup revealed no significant abnormalities, but her neuropsychological test results threw us into a quandary. She scored in the range that would merit a diagnosis of dementia. However, her subpar scores were most prominent in naming, language, and general knowledge. She couldn’t name any of the past five American presidents. From a set of ten pictures of objects, she couldn’t name five: a camel, dominoes, a pretzel, a tennis racquet, and an igloo. On the Selective Reminding Test, which requires repeated learning and recall of a list of common nouns (like apple, chair, sky), she scored slightly below normal for someone of her age.

Rosa was tested in Spanish by a native Spanish-speaker. We expected Rosa to have difficulties in general knowledge and naming, because the tests are culturally biased against someone who did not grow up in the United States. However, tests of memory are more immune from cultural effects, and her below normal performance on the test requiring recall of a list of common nouns suggested a real deficit. Rosa Gonzalez supposedly had eight years of education, but on further discussion with her daughter it became clear that she’d had only four years of formal schooling.

Education is well known to have a major impact on performance for most cognitive tests, though less so for memory. I thought that this was probably age-related memory loss and not early dementia but wasn’t sure. During the next four years, Rosa Gonzalez did not worsen in her neuropsychological test performance, confirming that she indeed did have memory loss due to aging and not a dementing process like Alzheimer’s disease.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes
• Copies of common fairy tales such as “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Tom Thumb,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White,” and “Rumpelstiltskin”

Handout
• Fairy Tale Time Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• ALikely Story [15]
• Tabloid Tales [47]
• Super Heroes [80]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Fairy Tale Time Handout and copies of the fairy tales, review the exercise example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Tell participants to select one of the fairy tales and have one person read it aloud.
3. Have them write down, on the flip chart, the story’s major elements (characters, actions, dialogue, plot, morals, events).
4. Instruct them to use these elements as stimuli for triggering ideas.
5. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
One major advantage of this technique is that it can allow a group to really express its creativity in developing a story or playing off of a known fairy tale. The fact that most fairy tales are unrelated to most problem challenges can help produce unique perspectives. If time is available, ask the participants if they think it would be more productive to make up their own fairy tales, modify existing ones, or use existing ones without changing
them. Have them discuss why any such preferences might exist.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Variation
• If time is available, ask the participants to write their own fairy tales and repeat Steps 3 and 4 above.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Regulate aerobic and anaerobic exercises to your age, health, and tolerance level.

Aerobic: brisk walking thirty minutes, jogging twenty-five minutes, swimming twenty minutes, formal exercise program in aerobics classes.

Mixed aerobic and anaerobic: running, tennis, exercise equipment (stationary cycle, StairMaster, treadmill, NordicTrack, newer, low-impact workout machines).

Before you lift weights, start with at least twenty minutes of aerobic or anaerobic cardiovascular fitness exercise (any of the options listed above).

Yoga and related exercises are excellent for mobility but burn few calories.

Keep a regular routine: don’t overexert one week and become a couch potato the next.

Stop if breathing difficulty or palpitations or faintness develops.

The bottom line is that proper diet and exercise make up the fundamental foundations of a sound program to prevent memory loss due to the aging process.

CHAPTER 6
Train Your Brain to Remember

Never Stop Learning

In the mid-1990s, a professor at one of my alma maters, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India, planted himself at my doorstep in New York. He was on a trip to
Rio de Janeiro for an international conference and had arranged an “essential, educational ” detour in North America before proceeding south. During his stay with me, he observed various facets of our
department at Columbia University in action. Before he left for Rio, he summarized his New York experience.

“Here in America, you people keep learning all the time. From your interns and residents all the way to your senior faculty at the top. In India, we are just as good as the people in the United States at the stage when we finish residency training, but we tend to stop learning after we get a permanent faculty position. Your learning curve is a straight line that keeps going up, whereas ours climbs early on but then slows down and completely levels off. That is why you have accomplished so much more than your former classmates, who were just as good as you were, until you left and came to the States.”

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Although modern technology has diminished its importance, story telling still has the potential to help solve problems. Stories from the past can help suggest ideas for today’s problems. Create a story and we create stimuli that can trigger new thoughts and concepts. The richer and more elaborate our stories, the richer and more elaborate the stimuli.

One special type of story, with great potential for sparking ideas, is the fairy tale—a story of magical events with a moral. Such stories are excellent sources of idea stimuli for
all sorts of problems. Because they serve as a source of unrelated stimuli, stories do not have to be related to the problem or faithful to the original fairy tale. In fact, it sometimes is beneficial if the story is as different as possible.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

After a good round of physical exercise, you feel exhausted. At the same time, you feel energized, even a little high. This uplift is due to the release of brain endorphins, which are chemicals that attach themselves to opiate receptors, the same receptors that attract morphine and heroin. Endorphin release heightens attention and vigi- lance, so your cognitive radar becomes a little sharper. This effect is short-lived, but regular exercise can prolong this effect.

Studies in animals show that exercise increases the availability of substances in the brain called neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor, which stimulate the formation of new connections among nerve cells. Increased connections among nerve cells may indirectly protect against, or at least delay, degeneration of nerve cells during the aging process.

Regular physical exercise not only improves one’s general feeling of well-being and quality of life, but it also has preventive and therapeutic properties against most of the major maladies that affect us as we grow older: heart disease, arthritis, and memory loss.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

1. Effects on circulation in the brain.
2. Release of endorphins.
3. Impact on nerve cell branching within the brain.

Exercise Improves Your Circulation and Mood
Can exercise increase “brain tone’’ by improving blood circulation and thus enhance memory? We know that regular exercise over a sustained period of time can reduce the formation of cholesterolrich plaques that can block blood vessels, sometimes even dissolving plaques that have already been formed, and thereby decrease the risk of both heart attacks and strokes. Just as lack of exercise leads to fat deposition and plaque formation in arteries, which can block blood circulation, exactly the opposite process may occur when a sound exercise regimen is implemented.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Promemory Diet Action Steps
Decrease intake of saturated fats such as red meat, pizza, desserts.
Maintain your water and fluid (nonalcohol) intake.
Eat fruits and vegetables, which are vital sources of antioxidants.
Take a multivitamin tablet daily.
Supplement with vitamin E and consider vitamins A and C as well.

Keep Exercising
Even very old people can benefit from a rigorous exercise program. Maria Fiatarone, a geriatrician at Tufts University, published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in which a hundred frail, elderly nursing home residents (averaging eighty-seven years old) were randomized (equal chances of entering one treatment condition or another, like tossing a coin and seeing if it’s heads or tails) to be in an exercise program that included progressive resistance weight training, intensive nutritional supplementation, a combination of the exercise program and nutritional supplementation, or a comparison (control) group that did not receive weight training. Compared to the control group, people in the exercise group more than doubled their leg strength in eight weeks. Perhaps even more important, nutritional supplementation alone did not do much good for physical strength and
stamina, but the exercise plus nutritional supplementation group performed as well as the exercise only group.

The results of this study were striking, and the advantages of regular exercise are now universally accepted as part of any good health program, regardless of age. A recent study by Kramer and colleagues (1999) also produced impressive results: in 174 previously sedentary people sixty to seventy-five years old, regular walking led to improved performance on cognitive tests of executive function (memory was not systematically assessed in that study). As with diet, exercise should be a lifelong effort and not cease abruptly when you reach fifty or sixty or seventy. The body is a dynamic system and needs constant physical pruning and reshaping to perform optimally.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Exaggerate That Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• Law Breaker [50]
• Problem Reversals [51]
• Turn Around [52]

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Tell them to list the major criteria (objectives) they would use to evaluate potential solutions to their problem challenges.
3. Instruct them to exaggerate or stretch each criterion in any way possible. Encourage them to avoid any concern with how “correct” their exaggerations are. There is no such thing as correct with this technique.
4. Have them use each exaggeration as a stimulus to spark new ideas, write them down on Post-it® Notes, and place on a flip chart for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Vitamin C: Was Linus Pauling Right after All?
Linus Pauling, who won two Nobel Prizes, began to be considered a quack after he advocated taking huge doses of vitamin C to fight the common cold and to tackle a host of other diseases. More recently, his original arguments have been vindicated as the free radical toxicity theory has taken hold. Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is an antioxidant and potent free radical scavenger, and may be able to block elements of the aging process, including memory loss. Oranges, grapefruit, berries of all
types, grapes, and other citrus fruits contain lots of vitamin C, so deficiency of this vitamin is extremely rare. Many people supplement their diet with 1 to 5 grams of vitamin C daily, but its effect in preventing memory loss remains to be tested in a long-term clinical trial. Nevertheless, vitamin C’s broad antiaging effects make it a useful component of the Memory Program. Its main side effect is increased stomach acidity and irritation.

Vitamin E: The Best-Studied Antioxidant
Among the antioxidants, vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) has received the most attention. A study of Alzheimer’s patients showed that 2,000 units, of vitamin E taken daily was associated with a six- to nine-month delay in reaching functional end points such as taking care of personal hygiene or being placed in a nursing home. Vitamin E is now being tested in people with mild cognitive impairment, and it may have a positive effect on this group of people as well. My expectation is that the antioxidant properties of vitamin E will be even more helpful to those who have a good memory but wish to prevent future age-related memory loss. A daily dose of vitamin E is a central component of the Memory Program.

Vitamin E is known to boost T cell function, which is important for the proper functioning of the immune system, which defends the body against bacteria, viruses, and toxins. Vitamin E may also indirectly protect against heart disease and cancer. It is present in soy-bean oil, margarine, nuts, wheat germ, and seeds, but the amounts contained in these natural foods are insufficient to produce a strong antiaging or promemory effect. You need to take vitamin E capsules to get this added kick. The Alzheimer’s study utilized 2,000 units of vitamin E daily, but this is a high dose that may increase the risk of bleeding, because vitamin E is an anticoagulant. Until systematic studies are conducted to compare different vitamin E doses in the prevention and treatment of memory loss, I suggest that you stick to a daily capsule of 800 units (400 units if you want to be more conservative). I myself follow this strategy.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Exaggerate That
Background
Have you ever stretched the truth? Come on, now—be truthful. Most people have exaggerated something, at some time in their lives, even if it’s only a slight distortion. Exaggerations not only make us feel better, they also can add excitement to our interactions. The more extreme and vivid our exaggerations, the more attention they will attract.

Each instance of truth stretching is a stimulus. And stimuli can help generate ideas. There must be the makings of an idea generation activity here somewhere! And there is. It’s known as Exaggerated Objectives (Olson, 1980). With it, you generate ideas by listing problem criteria, exaggerating them in any way possible, and then using the exaggerations as stimuli to prompt ideas.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Maintain Your Fluid Intake
Water is essential for life. But as we grow older, the brains regulation of the thirst mechanism begins to waver, and it sometimes even forgets to signal that we should drink. Talk about a part of the brain itself having a poor memory! This can become a big problem for elderly people living alone, who easily become dehydrated, which in turn leads to severe medical complications and even death. Sound nutrition requires a daily fluid intake between thirty-six to sixty-four ounces (three to five
glasses of water) daily; drink more in the summer and when you’re exercising, less in the winter and when you’re sedentary.

Vitamins: Diet Plus Supplements for a Promemory Effect

The beauty of vitamins is that they are completely natural substances essential for daily bodily functioning, and hence there is little danger in taking extra amounts, with a few exceptions. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables provides sufficient vitamins and minerals to prevent nutritional deficiencies, but a proactive intervention for memory loss requires supplementation well above the recommended FDA daily requirements. In other words, a healthy diet with proper nutrition is
excellent for maintaining general health, but specific supplements are needed to obtain a promemory effect.

Destroyers of Free Radicals
The free radical theory of aging and memory loss lies behind the use of vitamin C and vitamin E, as well as vitamin A or beta-carotene. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble vitamins, whereas the B complex vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are broken down mainly in the liver, which has a limited capacity to handle these compounds. Therefore, if taken in large amounts, fat-soluble vitamins like A and E can become toxic (vitamin D is needed for bone formation, and vitamin K is part of the normal blood-clotting process; these are not directly relevant to memory). In contrast, the water-soluble vitamins are essentially nontoxic because any excess is promptly flushed out by the kidneys into the urine. You need to understand this distinction if you are taking, or plan to take, massive doses of vitamins.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Avoid Saturated Fats
A saturated fat-rich diet can indirectly lead to memory loss. High cholesterol levels lead to fatty plaques that deposit themselves on the inner walls of arteries and slow down blood flow in the brain.
If this slowing of flow occurs in a small artery (as is common), blood clots gradually form and cause a ministroke, and depending on which part of the brain is damaged, cognitive deficits can occur. If hippocampal or specific frontal lobe nerve cells are affected, memory loss will be the result. The best time to focus on dietary preventive techniques is before these lesions develop, because after a ministroke, the dead nerve cells cannot be regenerated. Another reason for cutting back on saturated fats is that they increase the number of free radicals, which are toxic to most brain cells and can produce memory loss.

What’s Good for Your Heart Is Good for Your Brain
A diet that is good for the heart is equally good for the brain. Foods that are low in saturated fats and high in fiber content and vitamins and minerals are ideal to prevent heart disease and stroke, and decrease free radical formation. The following table provides a broad overview of common foods and their relative nutritional content, and their potential impact on memory. Butter, margarine, and desserts are among the worst offenders, as is red meat. I strongly advise you to cook with oils high in unsaturated fats: canola, sunflower, corn, or olive oil. Walnuts contain a lot of “good” cholesterol and unsaturated fatty acids, but most nuts, including peanuts, are fairly high in saturated fat content and hence bad for you. Next come milk products with high concentrations of fat, particularly cheese. Milk itself and yogurt also contain some saturated fats, but in lower concentrations. Low-fat yogurt is an improvement but still contains some fats and cholesterol.

Egg whites are made up of albumin, which is a near-perfect protein source, but the yellow yolk is pure cholesterol. I recommend chicken without the skin, which contains a lot of saturated fat. Fish not only has the advantage of high protein and low fat content, but some species like cod and halibut contain the “good” fats (including omega-3 fatty acids) and cholesterol, which may actually reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. In fact, the fish-eating Japanese have one of the lowest rates of heart attacks in the world. So the old saying that fish is good for your heart and for your brain isn’t too far off the mark.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

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Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Essence of the Problem Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Name Change [9]
• Switcheroo [11]
• What’s the Problem? [70]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Essence of the Problem Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Tell the group members to write down the problem challenge on a flip chart visible for all to see.
3. Ask the participants to write down, individually, on a Post-it® Note, what they think is the essence of the problem, in the form of a word or brief phrase. Tell them to focus on the objective as demonstrated in the handout.
4. Have them pass this note to the person on their right.
5. Instruct them to review the note passed to them and then write down another word or phrase on a new note, and keep it without passing it. Each group member now should have two Post-it® Notes containing “essence” words, one from the person on their left and the one they just wrote. (Note: There may be duplication among the group members, but this is to be expected and requires no special action.)
6. Ask the group members to take turns sharing their two words or phrases and invite the other group members to use these words as stimuli to help brainstorm ideas. Tell them not to worry if their initial ideas are not directly related to the words. Free association is welcome so that one word leads to another.
7. Have them write down their ideas on Post-it® Notes and place them on flip charts for later evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

For years, I have watched such odd maneuvers with the distant curiosity of a physician who includes dietary advice as a prime component in his repertoire. But a few years ago, one of these
newfangled culinary approaches struck a raw nerve in me.

Aggressive Dieting May Carry Risks: Lou’s Story

A fifty-two-year-old psychiatrist-friend of mine, Lou, has always had a weight problem. So when I visited him and his family in suburban Westchester County, New York, in early 1998, I was quite surprised by what I saw. He had lost at least thirty pounds, and while not yet slim, he was getting pretty close. Lou proudly informed me that he was on a protein-rich and fatty food diet with no carbohydrates. No cereal, wheat, corn, rice, pasta, sugar, or potatoes. It seemed like an unnatural
challenge to the normal course of healthy bodily metabolism, but I was pleased by his successful effort to shed a few pounds. In fact, more than a few.

A month later, I got a frantic telephone call from his wife, who informed me that her husband had just suffered a full-blown heart attack. I dropped what I was doing to help her during this emergency. Her husband underwent a balloon angioplasty and was able to gradually get back to work within a few weeks. ‘‘Low-carb” is now a taboo word in conversations in their house, because she feels that the diet precipitated her husband’s heart attack. My friend also happens to have a strong family history of heart disease, making it hard to determine exactly what caused his heart attack. Given this uncertainty, I cannot say that the diet was the culprit. However, from a physiologic standpoint, we know that most cells in the body, and nearly all the cells in the brain, use carbohydrates like glucose or other simple sugars like fructose and galactose as their main energy source. For fats and proteins to be used as an energy source, they first have to be converted to glucose by specialized enzymes that parade up and down a series of dancing biochemical pathways. A diet that excludes carbohydrates puts extra pressure on the enzymes that lubricate this chemical maze, and they are now forced to work overtime on fats and proteins instead of on the carbohydrates that they prefer to face. This
upsetting of the normal balance leads to weight loss, which can be dramatic, as occurred in my friend’s case.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

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Each problem has an essence that defines what is and what can be. By examining the “what is,” it is possible to explore the “what can be.” That is, understanding essence makes it possible to extract potential ideas from problem statements, because all problems exist on a continuum of abstraction. Thus, the essence of a given problem is that broad concept behind it. The essence of reducing crime, for instance, might be prevention.”

In this case, the “what is” could be “incidence of crime” and the “what can be” might be “reduced incidence of crime.” This activity is very similar to What’s the Problem? [70] in concept, but different in execution. The basic principle of searching for an “essence” is in both. When using What’s the
Problem?, attention is focused on increasingly abstract levels of the original problem’s verb. For instance, a problem of how to increase parking would focus on progressively more abstract ways to increase things (not just parking). When using Essence of the Problem, in contrast, attention is focused on different perceptions of the “essence” of “increase parking.”

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Customize Your Memory Program
You should tailor the Memory Program to your own needs. For example, it is too expensive and cumbersome, and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, to take a medication cocktail of ginkgo biloba, vitamins A, C, and E, donepezil (Aricept), phosphatidylserine, selegiline, a COX II inhibitor like Celebrex or Vioxx, melatonin, and estrogen. Rational, practical choices among these various options are required. I will discuss the pros and cons of these choices, taking into account differences among individuals that will include a careful analysis of the risk-benefit ratio for each one of you. In the chapter that describes the entire Memory Program in detail later in the book, the optimal strategies within the program are specifically targeted for different groups of people:

1. People with mild memory loss versus people with currently normal memory who wish to prevent future loss.
2. People in the age group forty to fifty-nine versus those who are sixty and older, each described separately for the above two groups.
3. Men and women, described separately for each of the above categories.

This classification will help you develop and implement an individualized program for yourself to fight age-related memory loss. Before you go through the rest of the book, you should be clear as to whether you have a normal memory or already suffer from mild memory loss. Base this judgment mainly on your memory test performance in chapter 1 and don’t rely only on your own subjective evaluation or the opinions of family and friends. I frequently return to this distinction in the rest of
the book, and knowing whether you have a normal memory or mild memory loss will help you decide which advice does and does not apply to you.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

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I am emphasizing potentially reversible causes of memory loss precisely because they can often be fully reversed. For the more common problem of age-related memory loss, neither general health measures nor specific medications provide a perfect solution. These approaches will help slow down or block further decline in your memory, but they are unlikely to bring your memory back to what it was when you were twenty years old. This key fact makes it all the more important that you consider adopting this Memory Program before you develop significant memory loss.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Debrief/Discussion
This can be a fun activity if participants are not hindered by a fear of ridicule for lack of natural artistic talent. You might remind them that some of the best symbols (that is, most useful for stimulating ideas) are those drawn by people without artistic talent. You also might conduct a discussion on the value of deferring judgment when producing any creative output. Too much analysis and criticism (whether internal or external) can be detrimental
to creative activities. Since there obviously is no “correct” way to draw the
symbols, there should be little hesitation in drawing them. Much the same can be said about preliminary ideas in the formative stage.

Also consider having the participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Variation
• Have the participants draw three or four symbols individually and then share them with the rest of the group to use as idea stimuli.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

The 666 activity is the creation of Doug Hall (1994). It is based on principles of combination and free association and is somewhat similar to Circle of Opportunity [23] and Mad Scientist [27]. The problem elements used, however, are not organized into logical categories. As in Mad Scientist, you use dice to select elements to combine.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, one white, one green, and one red die (or any three dice of different colors),two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• 666 Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Bi-Wordal [22]
• Circle of Opportunity [23]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Mad Scientist [27]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes Free Association Activities: “Blue Skies” 173

Handout
• Doodles Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Picture Tickler [17]
• Rorschach Revisionist [18]
• Ideatoons [26]
• Drawing Room [59]
• Modular Brainstorming [62]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Grandma Still Has a Great Memory
But what evidence is there to support the dim view that most people will suffer from memory loss as they grow older? As a matter of fact, there has been considerable research on this topic. While a few people retain a stellar memory into their eighties and nineties, studies of middle-aged and older people consistently demonstrate that the vast majority show a gradual decline in their memory over time. When someone says that his or her grandmother has an outstanding memory, it usually means that her memory is much better than that of other people of her age, but it may still represent a decline from when she was younger. This is what we have observed in the Memory Disorders Center at Columbia University. Therefore, since age-related memory loss is likely to affect most of you in the years to come, you should begin to implement preventive strategies at this stage. And if you already have
mild memory loss, you should get started on the Memory Program immediately.

The Three Main Elements in the Memory Program
There are three broad components to the Memory Program that I will describe in detail in the rest of this book:

1. Proactive general health measures that include a proper diet with appropriate nutritional supplements, regular moderate physical exercise, and practical training aids and techniques to boost your ability to remember.
2. Identifying specific causes of memory loss, many of which can be completely reversed if treated correctly. These include depression, stress, alcohol, hormonal abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, and brain toxicity resulting from specific over-the-counter and prescription
medications. Preventing stroke, particularly ministrokes, is another important element in this part of the Memory Program.
3. Medications to improve your memory. These include a variety of promemory medications— alternative, over-the-counter, and prescription. Some of them are useful in preventing or treating mild memory loss, others have questionable utility, and still others either don’t work or are too toxic to use on a daily basis. I will review the evidence for and against each of these medications to help provide a sound basis for their inclusion or exclusion from the Memory Program.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

As you examine this Brain Map, don’t expect to find all the elements placed in a logical way. For instance, I placed the ideas for awakening or helping you sleep under the “sleeping” category because that’s where I thought of them. It would have made more sense to put them under the “mattress” category. But remember, it doesn’t really matter how you generate ideas, just so you get them out.

Doodles
Background

You’ve probably heard the expression “That’s usin’ the ol’ noodle!” It means, of course, that you were able to apply your brainpower effectively. Well, noodle power can also help us generate ideas with doodles.

You know how to doodle, don’t you? Just start scribbling on a sheet of paper and express your creative urges. Let your pen or pencil take off and draw swirls, loops, circles, boxes, arrows, spirals, or whatever feels right. You already may have practice doodling. Most of us doodle while talking on the phone or listening to a boring speech. (Did you ever notice that there seems to be a direct correlation between how boring a speech is and how elaborate your doodles are?)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Have participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Variation
• Assign two groups to brainstorm ideas on the same challenge. Have one group use Brain Mapping and the other a conventional outline form. Compare results and reactions when finished and discuss reasons for any differences. Ask group members to discuss what difference word choices might have on the outcome. How different would the results have been if other words had been used? It is possible that different words or branches would not have made any significant difference if there were a large number of words and branches. Ask the participants if they think that conclusion
is valid.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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In this chapter, I introduce the basic outline of the Memory Program. In subsequent chapters, I go through the various elements that constitute the Memory Program, giving you a detailed description and explanation of the science and clinical basis behind the practical recommendations, and how you should go about making the decision to implement each component in your own life. I then bring all this information together in a chapter devoted to describing the Memory Program in detail. I urge
you to read this book sequentially and not skip to the later chapter that describes the program itself, because much of what you need there won’t be clear if you haven’t read the earlier chapters.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

SAMM I Am Handout
After examining the matrix, you might come up with the following ideas:
• Install electronic credit card machines at each table (much like those at many automobile service stations).
• Eliminate paper meal checks. Allow regular customers to run a tab.
• Eliminate credit card papers. Handle credit card purchases electronically for customers with PDAs. Customers link up their PDAs with those of the restaurant. The transaction is then handled electronically: the customer’s bank account is debited and the restaurant’s account is instantly credited.
• Give preferred customers special credit cards that look like brass plates. When customers are ready to pay their bills, they use the brass plates (restaurant credit cards).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Einstein’s Brain
Therefore, from a theoretical perspective, the association areas in the parahippocampus and the frontal lobes should be better developed in highly creative people. The initial autopsy evaluation of Albert Einstein’s brain revealed that it was a normal size, and the association areas in his cerebral cortex were not large. But a recent reexamination showed that his brain lacked the Sylvian fissure, which borders the temporal lobe, and had a slight enlargement in the lower part of the temporal lobe near the association areas. These results were given big play in the media, but they don’t really resolve any issues. Maybe Einstein wasn’t the best prototype to study, because he made quantum leaps to develop entirely new fields virtually from scratch, leaving bread-and-butter associative
thinkers behind in the dust. Maybe the unique connections within his brain were simply beyond the detection capability of standard neuropathologic methods.

The Nobel Prize: Old Winners, Young Winners
In general, aging does have a negative impact on creativity, and this is probably due to the decay in association cortex nerve cells over time. Nobel Prize winners invariably complete their groundbreaking work in their thirties and forties, although the rest of the world may take a few
decades to catch on and give them their just reward. But creativity does not disappear as you grow older. Rather, it gets modified by a lifetime of experience that results in your balancing new ideas with common sense and judgment, leading to what is commonly called wisdom. As a matter of fact, some people continue to be creative even after developing severe memory loss. After Willem de Kooning developed Alzheimer’s disease, he remained a productive painter into his eighties and nineties. The quality of his paintings changed, and the precise line of his brush strokes became blurry. The art critics, who were unaware of his brain disorder, announced a new creative phase in the painter’s career.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Brain Mapping Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Idea Links [41]
• Lotus Blossom [43]
• Skybridging [46]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Brain Mapping Handout, review it with the participants, and
answer any questions they may have.
2. Tell them to list, on a flip chart, all major problem elements. They should include relevant people, processes, issues, time schedules, expectations, outcomes—anything that helps them understand the challenge.
3. Instruct each group to tape three pieces of flip chart paper on a wall so that the sheets are side-by-side. If a wall is not available, have them put the paper on a table.
4. Have them select the most central, core problem element of those they listed and write it down on the center of a sheet of flip-chart paper. This element should capture their primary concern.
5. Tell them to draw a box or other more appropriate shape around this concern. For instance, if your concern is employee tardiness, you might draw a clock around the problem statement.
6. Direct them to draw a line about four inches long, extending from one side of the central shape, and write a related word on the line.
7. Say, “Depending on what you think of next, (a) draw another line extending from the central shape, or (b) draw a line related to a subtopic (or subattribute) for the first line.”
8. Tell them to continue drawing lines and adding topics until they have run out of ideas.
9. Tell them to write down these ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Aging Changes Your Mental Abilities

Reaction time to an event slows
Dealing with multiple stimuli and tasks becomes difficult
Thinking slows
Learning new information becomes difficult
Remembering names becomes more difficult
Short-term memory slowly deteriorates
Intelligence and long-term memory are preserved, including memory for music and other artistic memories
Common sense, planning, organizational skills, and judgment improve. You develop wisdom.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

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Aging does not mean you have to:

Lose interest in doing things.
Lose your memories permanently.
Get depressed.
Focus on death more than on life.
Think that it is no longer possible to change.
Be satisfied with being bored.
View the rest of your life as a downhill course.

Successful aging involves:

A positive outlook.
Continuing to maintain interests and hobbies.
Looking forward to change and having a willingness to adapt.
Maintaining strong relationships and social bonds.
Maintaining high self-esteem.
Bouncing back from adversity.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Take the time to sink into a “deep think.” The activities in this chapter are based on the principle of free association. They rely on our ability to let go and generate one idea or concept from another—to flit about in our minds. Each activity helps structure this process a little differently. As a result, each
activity has the potential to create many different perspectives and types of ideas.

However, it’s up to us to make the activities work. The more we let go, the more we will boost our brainpower. And the more we boost our brainpower, the more ideas we’ll produce.

Before trying a free association technique, think a little about how we generate ideas.
Try to get into the appropriate mind-set and think about how easy it can be to flow from one thought to the next. Then just let your mind go.

NOTE: FOR ALL ACTIVITIES, REMIND PARTICIPANTS
TO DEFER JUDGMENT WHILE GENERATING IDEAS.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Before I complete her story, put on your diagnostic hat for a moment. Is this normal aging? Is this mild memory loss? Or is this early Alzheimer’s disease? And where does “senility’’ fit into the picture?

Esther Erickson does not fit well into any diagnostic category. She is precisely the kind of patient who would have been rated as being on the way to “senility” if she had come to see a doctor fifty years ago. Nowadays, we don’t like to use the term senility because it blurs the distinctions between mild memory loss and dementia. Also, the old concept of senility implied that it was caused by hardening or blocking of arteries and their smaller branches. However, recent research has shown that age-related memory loss is usually not caused by diseases of arteries or other blood vessels in the brain.

A year later, Esther died suddenly of a heart attack. The brain autopsy showed no evidence of stroke other than in the basal ganglia, consistent with the clinical and MRI results. The only other abnormality was an occasional amyloid plaque without any neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, both of which are visible only under a microscope, are the pathologic features of Alzheimer’s disease. But with aging, an occasional amyloid plaque can appear even in the absence of any symptoms of memory loss. So while her autopsy told us that she did not have Alzheimer’s disease, we couldn’t rule out the possibility that it would have developed if she had lived for another five to ten years.

I think it is best to drop the term senility because it doesn’t tell us anything beyond the fact that the person is old and has memory loss.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• SAMM I Am Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• Circle of Opportunity [23]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Mad Scientist [27]
• 666 [34]

Procedure
1. Have each group obtain a sheet of flip-chart paper and tape it lengthwise to a wall or lay it down on a table.
2. Distribute the SAMM I Am Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
3. Tell them to list the major process activities and then ways to modify any process (for example, speed up, eliminate, rearrange), as shown in the handout.
4. Have them draw a matrix with process steps listed on the left and potential modifications listed along the top.
5. Instruct them to examine each cell (the intersection of steps and modifications) and use them to suggest possible ideas/modifications for that step.
6. Tell them to write down their ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Everything you read in the previous paragraph is based on free association. I started with the words “blue skies” and let loose. I had no idea where my thoughts would take me. I tried to think in the general area of idea generation, but I avoided any preconceived thoughts.

The paragraph may not be logical, but it is creative, and it contains many stimuli. That’s the idea. I was able to create many thoughts and perspectives from the initial stimulus of “blue skies.” Each sentence in the paragraph has the potential to stimulate additional thoughts. Even the most cliché-ridden sentence has that potential.

Stimuli trigger associations, which trigger ideas. That’s how the human mind works. We flit from one concept to another. Think about it. It’s not that difficult. We can think of anything we want. That’s a lot of power packed into one convoluted mass of gray matter. And it’s ours. All we have to do is harness it.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Back when I was at Yale, I met Anil Deolalikar, an economist who was then a junior faculty member. Later, he got married and settled down in Seattle. When I visited him there, his daughter was barely three years old. One morning, he played a game in which he showed her several large cards filled with red polka dots closely packed across the white surface. One card had sixty-seven a third seventy-one, and so on. Each time he flashed the card in front of her, she would immediately
blurt out the right number of dots. For the life of me, I couldn’t make out the differences between the number of red dots on these cards, and neither could Anil. I was impressed, because clearly his threeyear-
old daughter wasn’t familiar with the concept of numbers, let alone the meaning of sixty-nine or seventy-one. Anil explained to me that his daughter wasn’t really unique— very young children normally possess a nearly perfect visual photographic memory. This ability is lost when they grow older, perhaps because it is displaced by the development of language.

This experience increased my awareness of the fact that there are many untapped resources within each one of us. Cultivating these skills is essential to developing and maintaining our intellectual faculties, including memory. Even though prime time for learning is when you are young, learning and memory can still be enhanced in middle age and beyond, provided you undertake the right steps.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

George Burns drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, and did a few more exciting things on the side. Nevertheless, he lived to be over a hundred; obviously he had good longevity genes. Inherent genetic variability influences not only longevity but also intellectual functions and memory, so that a fifty-year-old may have the brain of an eighty-five-year-old, and vice versa. But in addition to genetic influences, environmental factors can magnify, and sometimes directly cause, memory loss as you grow older. These effects can be directly altered, unlike your genes. I will focus on these environmental, usually reversible, factors in a later section in this book.

Aging Weakens Recent Memory
Do you remember what you ate for lunch today? How about yesterday? And how about a week ago? For most of you, whatever happened today is still in active memory, yesterday is hovering above the “memory trash,” and the meal from a week ago is already in the trash and likely gone for good. The time factor is crucial; as you go further back in time, memories begin to vanish. The paradox is that as you grow older, it is not the old memories that disappear but more often the recent ones. Most recent memories— even if they are closer to consciousness and hence more “active”— are not hardwired in your brain as firmly as old memories, so you can understand why lapses in recent memory occur during the aging process.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Word Diamond Handout
Suppose you are losing scientists to your competitors. In particular, you want to encourage more professional employees to remain in the research and development (R&D) department. First, select four words or phrases: encourage, employees, remain, and R&D. Next arrange them in the shape of a diamond, as shown in Figure 6.4.

Finally, use various combinations to suggest ideas:
• Give incentive rewards for employees who achieve special professional recognition (from “employees/encourage”).
• Match up younger employees who are more likely to leave with older employees and form a buddy program (from “employees/encourage”).
• Establish two career tracks—one managerial and one nonmanagerial—to take into account different professional growth needs (from “employees/remain”).
• Develop a “Pride in R&D” public relations campaign to promote team spirit (from “R&D/employees”).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

By itself, this theory does not explain why we age the way we do. Many bodily functions do not have natural biological clocks, and only a few of the brain’s functions, particularly sleep, are under this type of rhythmic control. Even the heart, a structure that requires near-perfect rhythmic
performance to ensure survival, is not affected very much by circadian (twenty-four-hour) rhythms.

Free Radicals Are Toxic
That’s what some people said in the 1960s and 1970s. But jokes aside, what exactly are free radicals? Free radicals are formed when an atom or molecule carries an unpaired electron. This extra negative electrical charge launches a cascade of chemical reactions that eventually lead to cell death. Free radicals are constantly produced by chemical reactions throughout the body, and both stress and a diet high in saturated fats increase free radical formation. The most common free radicals are hydrogen peroxide, which is formed when a molecule of water gets an extra oxygen atom, as well as oxygen itself.

Oxygen is essential for life, but the addition of an unpaired electron makes it toxic to cells in the body. Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Hyde, and life-giving oxygen metamorphoses into a merciless killer.

If toxic free radicals are continually being formed in our bodies, how do we survive? As with everything else, nature has provided a counterbalance to deal with this threat. Enzymes called free radical scavengers, notably superoxide dismutase, routinely destroy the free radicals that are formed. These enzymes decline with age, and a gradual imbalance develops, with free radicals gaining the upper hand. Many therapies are based on the idea that decreasing free radical toxicity will slow down the aging process. For example, vitamin E is the most widely used antioxidant, and it destroys the bad oxygen when it appears in the body. Melatonin also possesses some antioxidant properties, as does the prescription medication selegiline (Deprenyl). These substances can help prevent the ravages of the aging process, and memory loss in particular.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Word Diamond Handout

Time
20 minutes

Related Activities
• Bi-Wordal [22]
• Circle of Opportunity [23]
• Ideas in a Box [25]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Word Diamond Handout, review it with the participants, and
answer any questions they may have.
2. Tell the groups to state their problems so that they contain at least four major problem attributes or elements, including both nouns and verbs.
3. Have them select four major words or phrases from this statement and write them on a flip chart, arranging the words or phrases in the shape of a diamond. There should be one word at each vertex (point) of the diamond.
4. Tell them to select one of the four words or phrases, combine it with another, and write down any ideas prompted.
5. Ask them to continue selecting and combining words until they have tried generating ideas from all possible combinations.
6. Have them write down their ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Word Diamond
Background
Hot new ideas shine and sparkle with radiant brilliance. They illuminate their surroundings and blind lesser ideas. Everyone wants a shiny, multifaceted new idea, but you can’t always get what you want. Sometimes you have to settle for a so-so idea.

The Word Diamond technique won’t ensure that all your ideas will sparkle. It will, however, provide you with another systematic approach to idea generation. And it’s a breeze to implement.

This technique originally was developed by VanGundy (1983) as a simple combination procedure using elements of a problem statement. Thus, it is similar to Bi-Wordal [22]. Instead of using alternative word meanings, however, Word Diamond generates ideas by combining words in the problem statement in different ways.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
666 evokes an alchemy of the creative process: A“brew” of stimuli is stirred together to craft multiple ideas for resolving a challenge. The three columns of stimuli provide a fertile matrix of word combinations for group members to use as springboards for generating ideas. Seeing multiple words together this way can help participants free-associate and make unique combinations. The game aspect of rolling dice also makes this an appealing exercise.

Have the participants debrief using the following questions: • What was most helpful about this exercise? • What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

For UK investors that interesting to buy a gold and silver, you can go to BullionByPost.Co.Uk. Gold and silver bullion will be selling based on the market price and later you can sell it even higher. If the investors want to buy gold bar, this site has three selections of gold bars. They have one ounce, 100 hundred gram, 1 kilo for the gold bars. Whereas, for the silver bars they have 1 kilo and 5 kilo and both of bars completed with the info about the price.

And all those three gold bars are ready in stock. Gold bars and silver bars are manufactured by London Bullion Market and cooperate with several partners. Both of these products are always new. Therefore, you can ask more information from the customer service.

The answer is simple: memory is a dynamic, not a static, process. There are several ways by which your memory storage keeps expanding:

1. As you learn more, and learn more efficiently, the nerve cells responsible for memory develop new tricks and become more expert at importing new knowledge into the available nerve cells.

2. Few of us have taxed our memories to such an extent that all the memory nerve cells are clogged up and overflowing with knowledge, though if you’re a quiz or game show expert you may come fairly close.

3. Finally, there is an obvious solution when you need more memory: drag the useless stuff to the trash, choose “empty trash” from the pop-up menu, and a few megabytes of memory storage immediately open up in your brain.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Debrief/Discussion
One of the best features of this activity is its ability to create unique stimuli using related problem words. The simple juxtapositioning of a preposition between two related stimuli helps provoke associations—often visual ones—that two related words together might not produce. In this respect, Preppy Thoughts has the potential to create an experience similar to one using unrelated stimuli. After the participants have finished using this
exercise, you might ask them if they experienced visual images more than they normally do with other approaches.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Dr. Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize winner, works a few floors above my office in the same research institute. For several decades, Kandel has studied a species of snail called aplysia, which looks like a small black blob with ears. Aplysia has large nerve cells that lend themselves to experiments.
Kandel’s groundbreaking studies have shown that many nerve cells in aplysia, and in more complex species, retain the property of plasticity, which means that they can change their structure or function over time. The nerve cells do this by sprouting new branches called dendrites and forming contacts with other nerve cells to compensate for those that have been lost. Using a different approach, Bruce McEwen’s laboratory at Rockefeller University demonstrated what was once thought to be impossible: plasticity and regeneration of nerve cells in the hippocampus in animal studies.

As an analogy, we know that people who are born blind develop an exquisite sense of touch and hearing. For those who constantly use Braille and become expert at it, the brain region responsible for controlling the one finger used for reading physically grows in size. This type of compensation may also occur following memory loss, depending on the cause.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Fortunately, all is not lost. The Chain Alike activity attacks problems from multiple perspectives. And that’s good. Chain Alike is based on the Attribute Analogy Chains procedure developed by Koberg and Bagnall (1976). Ideas are generated by listing problem attributes, developing analogies for each attribute, and then using the analogies to prompt ideas.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2?? diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes
• (Optional) One paper or electronic thesaurus for each group

Handout
• Chain Alike Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• Bionic Ideas [53]
• I Like It Like That [55]

Procedure                                                                                                              1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.                                                                               2. Tape a sheet of flip-chart paper lengthwise on a wall or table.                  3. Read the following instructions aloud: “On the left side of the paper, list in a single column all major problem attributes (for example, name, form, parts, shape, structure, processes, materials, functions). For each attribute, list several subattributes that describe the attributes. Thus, ‘round’ and ‘square’ would be examples of two types of shapes. Write these in a line to the right of each attribute. “On a separate sheet of paper, write down several analogies or words similar in meaning for each subattribute. The word ‘round,’ for example, might spark ‘circular,’ ‘a dog chasing its tail,’ and ‘a rolling ball. You may use paper or electronic thesauri to help select these words.”
4. Tell them to examine each word analogy as a group, see what ideas are triggered, write them on Post-it® Notes (one per note), and place them on flip-chart paper for evaluation.

One specific type of analogy is known as “bionics.” Whereas general analogies reflect similarities anywhere in life, the Bionic Ideas exercise looks to Mother Nature for similarities. Why invent the wheel if Mother Nature has already done it?

Research labs have resolved a variety of electronic, thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical problems using Bionic Ideas. For example, the eye of a beetle was used as an analogy to develop an aircraft ground-speed altitude indicator. Alexander Graham Bell used characteristics of the human ear to invent the telephone, and rattlesnake temperature- sensing organs helped suggest the guidance system for the Sidewinder heatseeking
missile.

One famous analogy involved a product that is analogous to the common cocklebur. Ahunter walking through a field noticed how cockleburs caught on his trousers using a hook and loop mechanism. This closure system suggested the concept of Velcro®. An entire industry developed from this simple observation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each
Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Turn Around Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Exaggerate That [39]
• Law Breaker [50]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Turn Around Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Instruct the groups to state their problems simply and clearly and write them on a flip chart for all to see.
3. Tell them to list all assumptions about their problems on a flip chart. Remind them that even very obvious assumptions might be valuable.
4. Tell them to reverse each assumption in any way possible (as done in the handout) and write each one down on flip-chart paper.
5. Tell them to use each assumption as a trigger for new ideas, write each idea on a Post-it® Note, and place them on flip-chart paper for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Procedure
1. Distribute the Law Breaker Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Instruct the groups to list all possible assumptions about their problems.
3. Tell them to break each assumption. Specifically, have them ask why the assumption is made about a particular aspect of a problem and write it down on flip-chart paper.
4. Direct them to use the broken assumptions to stimulate new ideas, write them on Post-it® Notes, and place them on a flip chart for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Law Breaker Handout
Suppose you want to generate ideas for a new chocolate candy bar. First, list assumptions regarding candy bars:
• Rectangular bar form
• Solid brown in color
• Uniform sweetness
• Uniform taste
• May contain either peanuts or almonds in addition to chocolate, but nothing else
• Wrapped in aluminum foil
• Melts in the sun
• Weighs no more than three ounces

Next, generate ideas by breaking any of these “laws” governing chocolate candy bars. Here are some possible ideas:
• Triangular-shaped bar
• Different shades of brown in the same product
• Variable sweetness in different parts of the product
• Different fillings in the center
• Wrap in “theme” papers (for example, dinosaurs, space travel)
• High heat resistance for eating in the sun
• Variable weights ranging from one ounce to ten pounds—all with names reflecting the weights (for example, “air” bar, “monster” bar)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?
What if. . . ? Handout

What if you were a car dealer who wanted to increase repeat business? To think of ideas,   you might begin “Whatiffing” as follows:
• What if I gave repeat customers a free car?
• What if prospective repeat customers had to beg to let me sell them a new car?
• What if prospective repeat customers tried to pay double the price for a new car?
• What if a customer’s current car hypnotized the customer into buying another car?
• What if new cars followed people around town until the people bought them?
Next, use these questions as idea triggers. Here are some sample ideas:
• I can’t give repeat customers a free car, but I could give them a substantial discount.
• I can’t get repeat customers to beg me to sell them a new car, but I could contact customers on a regular basis to see if they have any problems. Such constant attention may encourage repeat sales.
• I can’t double the price for a new car, but I could offer to pay customers double the difference of any better car deal they can get from another dealer.
• Acustomer’s car won’t hypnotize the customer into buying another car, but I could mount a relentless advertising campaign using all media.
• New cars won’t follow customers around, but I could offer repeat customers free use of a cellular car phone for one year.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• We Have Met the Problem and It Is We Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Stereotype [10]
• Imaginary Mentor [42]
• What if. . . ? [49]

Procedure
1. Distribute the We Have Met the Enemy and It Is We Handout, review the example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Recite the following instructions to the groups: “Think about what your problem would say, think, and feel about itself and its relation to its environment. What bugs it? What does it like? What are its major concerns, challenges, and opportunities? Write down your responses on a flip chart.”
3. Tell them to use their descriptions as stimuli to brainstorm ideas, write them on Post-it® Notes, and place them on the flip chart for evaluation.
Variation • Have individual group members take turns speaking the part of whatever object is chosen.

Debrief/Discussion
This is an especially useful exercise for people who are good at fantasizing and being playful. Because it requires users to suspend belief about inanimate objects talking, not everyone may excel at using it. However, most groups will have one or two people who can, and that’s usually all it takes. Other group members then can use their thoughts to ignite ideas.
Consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

You sigh and begin looking around for a distraction. You glance to your left at the magazine rack and you see it: “GIRL, 10, GIVES BIRTH TO CALF THAT LOOKS LIKE ELVIS.” The headline sears into your brain and you shake your head as you struggle to reassert your rationality. You read on:
• WIFE MAKES SALAD DRESSING OF HUSBAND IN BLENDER
• BABY BORN WITH THREE HEADS, SIX TAILS, AND BLUE EYES
• WOMAN DIVORCES FROG—CLAIMS NO PRINCE
• BIGFOOT SPOTTED DANCING WITH ELVIS
• MAN GIVES BIRTH TO VW
• NEW DIET GROWS EXTRA TOES
• TRUCKER’S LUNG EXPLODES WHILE HE WAS SMOKING ON ROAD
• ALIENS RESPONSIBLE FOR LIGHT BULB BURNOUTS

You’ve just been victimized by tabloid headlines. But don’t fret. You can salvage something positive from your experience by using tabloid headlines to prompt ideas. Doug Hall (1994) developed Tabloid Tales to help people distort facts and gain new perspectives on their problems.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Free Association Activities: “Blue Skies” 207

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes
• An assortment of tabloid weekly newspapers such as The Star, The National Enquirer, and, especially, Weekly News

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
To help participants relate to this technique, you first might have them experience different items using their senses. For instance, you might place a number of objects varying in size and texture into a paper bag and have participants try to identify them using only their sense of touch. Or ask them to identify visually an object in a picture when only a small part of the object is visible. Although this technique may not be as “all-purpose” as
others, it could be good enough to spark some useful ideas—and that’s all it takes sometimes! Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:                                                                                        • What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Frame. Focus. Click. There the images are. It’s almost as if we photograph them with a camera. Van- Gundy (1983) used this comparison to suggest a procedure for stimulating ideas using an imaginary camera.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1/2?? diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes
• Three sheets each of 8.5?? x 11?? paper and pens or pencils for each participant

Time
30 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Stereotype [10]
• We Have Met the Problem and It Is We [48]
• Super Heroes [80]

Procedure
1. Instruct the participants verbally as follows:
• Release all your tension and try to relax as much as possible.
• Visualize a soft, glowing white light surrounding your body. Allow the light to make you feel secure and comfortable.
• Think of your favorite place (house, mountain, forest, stream, boat).

• Visualize yourself walking into this place. Notice all the details. Try to imagine what it looks like. Experience any sounds, textures, or smells.

Absorb as much as you can.                                                                            • Imagine your personal mentor walking toward you. Look closely at his or her
face. What are you experiencing? Think of any special feelings or emotions.
Include as much detail as possible.
• Say to your mentor, “Please be my guide and help me think of new ideas. Lead
me in resolving my problem.”
• Tell your mentor about your problem. Give him or her as much relevant information
as you can. Try to keep your interaction realistic. Listen carefully whenever
your mentor speaks to you. Don’t be discouraged if ideas don’t pop out
suddenly. It takes time.
2. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place
them on flip charts for evaluation.
Debrief/Discussion
It is difficult to fathom the full potential of the human mind, especially the subconscious.
We should try to appreciate its ability to help us resolve problems. Imaginary Mentor is a
good start. However, some people may have difficulty being engaged by this technique. It
may be too abstract or esoteric and not concrete enough for them to respond with new
ideas. Try to engage the participants in a discussion about the usefulness of such visually
oriented approaches and what types of people might benefit most from them.
Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
Idea Links can be a fun technique as well as a creative thinking exercise. It is easy to use and can result in many ideas. It also would be ideal as a warmup exercise to loosen up participants. An interesting question to ask is whether or not participants found themselves evaluating their free associations. If done “correctly,” there should be no judging about the “correctness” of a free association. Any word should qualify; the words do not need to be justified logically.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Variation
• To add a little zest to this exercise, have individual participants write down their free associations by themselves as quickly as possible. Then have them take turns and write their results on the flip-chart paper for the group to use as idea triggers.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Hold your thought. You will be glad to know that Five Star has fast processing. They process credit card quickly and will solve your problems. You will surely get the best payment solution with their service.

Do not waste your time choosing other service. Get the best one available. Get this service by Five Star. You will not regret it. You will be trill to see such easy access that they provide.

Cinderella (aka “Cinder”), a beautiful young maiden, is treated badly by her two stepsisters. She must do all the cooking and cleaning while they busy themselves with fancy clothes and social events. One day it is announced that the prince is holding a ball to find a wife. The wicked stepsisters are certain the prince will want to select one of them. [So far, so good. Nothing really different here. But then. . . .] Although Cinder says she would like to go, the stepsisters laugh in her face and tell her to bake a pumpkin pie instead.

The evening of the ball arrives and the stepsisters leave Cinder to bake her pie. Instead, Cinder decides to change clothes first. And then she eats some salad with dressing, while dressing. As Cinder leafs through her meal while bemoaning her fate, her Fairy Godmother (FG) appears and grants her a wish. Cinder’s stepsisters never allowed her to eat her favorite vegetable, so she asks her FG to turn her into a rutabaga. FG smirks and tells Cinder that her magic wand only works with mice and pumpkins. “O.K., fine,” says Cinder as she tosses her salad over her shoulder. “I suppose I shall have to be a pumpkin, then. Mice are not nice.”

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Have participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Emphasize how this technique differs from all of the others in that it is designed to remove the obstacles we often face by becoming too close to our problems—becoming too familiar, so that our very understanding of challenges works against us in resolving them. Ask group members to provide examples from their lives of similar situations and to discuss the validity of this premise.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?
Free Association Activities: “Blue Skies” 179

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

After you have examined each doodle, the following ideas might come to mind:                                                                                                               • Have “Dinner with a Local Celebrity” nights. After customers are seated in the restaurant between certain hours, a lottery is held and the winner gets to have dinner with a local celebrity.
• Ask customers to brainstorm ideas to increase business. Give free dinners
to those who suggest the best ideas.
• Offer special “sampler” meals in malls.
• Install small video monitors on tables so customers can watch their food being prepared in the kitchen.
• Offer evening river cruises with appetizers at the restaurant, the entrée on
the boat, and dessert back at the restaurant.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Don’t Wait Until It Is Too Late
Prevention is the best strategy against the aging process, but our society often prefers to ignore problems until they strike us in the face. In some cases, we can get away with it, as the United States
government managed to do with the federal budget deficit in the 1990s, waiting for the other shoe to drop before swinging into a corrective action mode. But maintaining good health is a different matter altogether.

Taking preventive action in your forties and fifties is a whole lot better than waking up for the first time in your sixties or seventies to discover that you’ve developed memory loss, a condition that gradually crept up on you while you ignored it. After age-related memory loss has set in, taking action at a late stage is not very effective because the death of nerve cells in the brain is largely irreversible. All that can be done is to prevent further damage, not rescue what has already been lost.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Outlines are based on a “left brain” process. To improve on this situation, we need a “right brain” process. We have two brain hemispheres: a logical, sequential, analytical left brain and an intuitive, holistic, creative right brain. Every time we solve a problem we use both sides of our brains. Sometimes we use the left a little more and sometimes the right.

Tony Buzan (1976) developed Brain Mapping to capitalize on the strengths of our right brains. He originally conceived of this technique as a tool to help students take notes. He soon found, however, that Brain Mapping was useful for a variety of activities, including idea generation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Idea Links Handout

Time
20 minutes

Related Activities
• Noun Hounds [29]
• Skybridging [46]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

— SAMUEL JOHNSON

AGE-RELATED MEMORY LOSS occurs in all mammals, from mice to humans. Research has narrowed down the myriad biological theories of aging into a few that are backed by scientific evidence: genetically programmed cell death, disruption of biological clocks, and free radical toxicity.

Programmed Death of Cells
The theory of programmed cell death states that every cell in the body is genetically programmed to die at a certain point in time, and that this time frame is specific for each type of cell. Many cells in the body regularly die, but other reproducing cells make up the deficit. Erythrocytes, or red blood cells, that carry hemoglobin have an average life span of only 120 days, but stem cells in the bone marrow continually develop into new erythrocytes and enter the bloodstream to make up for this loss. But in cells that do not reproduce and are meant to last a lifetime, especially those in the brain, programmed cell death may play a major role. Just as there are genes that tell each cell to synthesize the right kinds of proteins to maintain life, other genes are programmed to turn off protein synthesis and destroy the cell. Currently, we do not know what triggers these “suicide ’’ genes to come alive as we grow older. If the genes that trigger programmed cell death are successfully blocked, the human life span can be greatly prolonged. But what will society be like if new genetic therapies make people live to the age of 150 or 200 years? If in addition to increased longevity there is a corresponding improvement in quality of life, then the ensuing problems won’t be as overwhelming as we now imagine.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Nerve impulses from our senses first pass through a filter that screens the information and ignores what is unimportant. If the information survives this first gauntlet, it is sent via nerve cells to the hippocampus and surrounding regions. Each specialized neuron in the hippocampus records an element of the fact or event, and these nerve cells link all the components together to form a composite memory trace. This memory trace is housed in thousands of nerve cells, probably in proteins and ribonucleic acids (RNA).

How Short-Term Converts to Long-Term Memory
If the memory is important enough, or if the same event repeats many times over a long period, the short-term memory trace residing within these hippocampal nerve cells is eventually moved into permanent, long-term storage. The hippocampus has broad-band connections— fiber optic rather than regular copper wire— to the frontal lobes, where many long-term memories are stored (some longterm memories remain in the hippocampus).

The Web of Memory
Each memory is a complex web of material that mixes facts, sensations, and emotions. When a strong emotion accompanies an event, you release more of the chemical transmitters that communicate among nerve cells to help form memories. Emotional states represent an important “internal’’ environmental cue for memory. Think of the emotion-laden memories that flooded through your mind at your graduation, your wedding, when you had major conflicts with family
members, or when you lost someone close to you. These memories stay hardwired forever in your brain, ready to be recalled whenever the occasion arises. On the other hand, you remember only fragments of less important and less emotional events, such as the details of a boring business trip or meeting; the threads of the spider’s web have broken because of lack of interest and disuse.

Over time, long-term memory tends to get pushed from consciousness into the subconscious. Then a simple cue, an odd association, a chance meeting, can activate the sleeping spider’s web and fire the neuronal circuits, resurrecting the long-term memory that had seemingly evaporated from your mind.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Facts about the Human Brain

It makes up 2 percent of body weight.
It consumes 25 percent of the body’s glucose and oxygen for its energy needs.
It contains around 100 billion neurons, also called nerve cells.
Each neuron communicates via chemical messengers with hundreds of other nerve cells.
The brain may contain up to 60 trillion pieces of memory.
Mainly short-term, and some long-term, memories are located in the hippocampal and other parts of the temporal lobe.
Many long-term memories have migrated from the hippocampus to reside in the frontal lobe.
Loss of nerve cells in the temporal lobe, and in parts of the frontal lobe, leads to memory loss.

Short-Term versus Long-Term Memory
Explicit memory can be short-term (seconds to hours) or long-term (days to years). short-term memory has limited capacity, but long-term memory has a lot of available disk space to store data. A simple example illustrates this point: you may find it difficult to repeat more than two new telephone numbers recited consecutively to you, but you can easily recall several telephone numbers that are in long-term storage in your brain. This simple fact tells you that the mechanisms by which the brain stores short-term and long-term memories must be different.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Implicit versus Explicit Memory

Memory can be classified into implicit and explicit categories. When you open your car door, turn on the ignition, and start driving, do you actually make a conscious effort to remember how to perform this sequence of actions? Of course not. The memory of how to drive a car is already hardwired and automatic, and you usually don’t need to pay any attention to it. The memory of how to drive a car required conscious ‘‘explicit” mental effort when you first took driving lessons, but it is now “implicit” or automatic. This “macro” memory with many hardwired components has room for flexibility— for example, when you drive a rental car or a friend’s automobile. It takes you a couple of moments to adjust to the new vehicle, to identify the positioning of the dashboard and driving controls, but soon you get the hang of it and you’re off without a care in the world. But your macro memory of how to drive a car cannot make huge shifts, as any automobile driver who tries to ride a motorbike for the first time can testify. So the nerve cells that store this information are not made of concrete or steel, but neither are they like a bowl of jelly— maybe more like a hard lump of Plasticine that changes its shape only with considerable force.

Skills and habits come under implicit memory. Classical conditioning and other types of memory, which also fall into this implicit category, are related to simple reflex reactions, for example, jumping away when touching a hot object, that we execute automatically in our everyday lives. But when you think of “memory, ” you probably think of something else altogether: discrete events, like recalling someone’s birthday or where you went on vacation a few years ago. This type of memory is
called “episodic” or “event-related” or “explicit” memory. You have to make a conscious effort to retrieve the explicit memory of a fact or event, unlike the implicit memory of knowing how to drive a car. In this book, I generally use the word memory as it is commonly understood: explicit memory of both short-term and long-term specific events.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Preppy Thoughts will help provide this variety by introducing action words into combinations. The basic procedure originally was suggested by Crovitz (1970) using a technique known as Relational Algorithms. The Preppy Thoughts activity provides the same stimulation using random selections of relational words (for example, prepositions) that are inserted between a problem verb and object.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Preppy Thoughts Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Bi-Wordal [22]
• Combo Chatter [24]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Functional MRI is a new technique that involves looking at changes in hemoglobin oxygen saturation (indicates brain tissue oxygen use), usually while the subject is performing a test of attention or memory. Functional MRI is in its infancy but may well become the wave of the future. A major problem is that its results are worthless if people cannot keep their heads completely still while they lie in the scanner.

The decision about which brain imaging technique to use remains in the hands of your physician. Nonetheless, if you have memory loss, knowing the basics outlined here will make you a more informed consumer about the role of these brain imaging procedures in diagnosing the cause of your memory loss.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

MRI works on a different principle. A strong magnetic field is applied around the head, and the distance traveled by individual protons (subatomic particles) in response to the magnetic field is measured in various parts of the brain. The MRI’s computers use this information to produce clear, fine-grained images of internal brain structures. Unlike CT, MRI involves no radiation exposure. In any case, the risk of damage from radiation is low for the brain because it has few dividing or reproducing cells, making DNA damage unlikely.

Claustrophobia can develop in the MRI machine, which makes a loud banging noise. “Open” MRI is a method recently developed for people who have claustrophobia, but because it is open (the head is only partially enclosed) the magnetic field used is weaker and the sensitivity of the technique is much lower than that of a regular MRI.

Both SPECT and PET involve the intravenous injection of a radioactive tracer that is taken up by the brain. A combination of high-resolution cameras and sophisticated computers produces a 3-D image of radioactive tracer counts, representing blood flow or glucose metabolism (consumption), throughout the brain. SPECT or PET can reveal subtle deficits in blood flow or glucose consumption that have not led to changes in brain structure— the subject may still have a normal MRI. The first patient described in the introduction, David Finestone, had a subtle blood flow deficit on SPECT in the presence of a normal MRI, and this information proved very useful in his clinical management.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Use the lists in this chapter to check if you have symptoms of mild or severe memory loss, and if you have functional impairment due to memory loss.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses, separating them into the verbal and nonverbal (spatial, 3-D) memory categories, based on the Subjective Memory Questionnaire.

Have someone give you the memory tests in this chapter. Classify yourself according to the post-test instructions into one of three categories: no memory loss, subtle to mild memory loss, severe memory loss.

If your memory has worsened considerably over time, or if you have symptoms of severe memory loss, or if you scored very poorly on the memory tests, you should consult a neurologist or psychiatrist, preferably with the input of a neuropsychologist. If you have access,
go to the memory disorders clinic at your local major academic medical center.

If your memory has not worsened considerably over time and you do not have severe symptoms and you scored well on the memory tests, or if you have only minimal to mild deficits on the memory tests, medical consultation is not essential. In essence, if you have no memory loss or
mild memory loss, you should read further to understand and implement the Memory Program in your daily life.

Imaging Your Brain to Diagnose Memory Loss
While neuropsychological testing is critical to define the extent of memory loss, brain imaging is
often more helpful in identifying the type of brain abnormality that may be causing the memory loss.
Brain imaging techniques broadly fall into two categories: structural (CT and MRI) and functional
(SPECT and positron-emission tomography, or PET).

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Parts Purge Handout
Suppose you want to improve a table lamp. First, list major attributes and subattributes:
• Name: table lamp
• Parts: base, bulb, cord, shade, switch
• Shapes: round, cylindrical, pleated
• Functions: illuminates, heats, collects dust
• Material: cloth, metal, rubber

Next, free-associate using one or more of the attributes. For example:
• Table lamp: lantern, cow, tipsy, shed, fire, Chicago
• Base: acid, soda, water, bottle, drink
• Switch: spank, paddle, ping pong, table, games
• Illuminates: lights, sky, stars, rockets, gravity
• Metal: heavy, light, air, breath, oxygen

Finally, use these free associations to generate ideas to improve a table lamp:
• Alampshade with shutters to create different lighting effects (from “lantern”)
• Alamp with a swivel base to allow reading light adjustments (from “tipsy”)
• Lampshades with panoramic pictures of major cities (from “Chicago”)
• Alamp with video games built in (from “games”)
• Amagnetically levitated lamp (from “gravity”)
• Ahovercraft lamp that can be moved easily around a large table (from “air”)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Gender

You may be wondering about the third leg of the triad: age, education, and gender. In fact, there are subtle differences: women score slightly better on tests of verbal memory, and men score slightly better on tests of nonverbal memory (unusual shapes and diagrams that cannot be “coded” verbally for recall) and mathematical ability. However, these differences are very small and may result more from bias during the educational process than from a true genetic influence.

If You Get Neuropsychological Testing

If you get neuropsychological testing, you should find out from the neuropsychologist if the actual raw scores were used to make the interpretation or if they were adjusted for age and other factors. If
you do well with or without age and education adjustments, your mental faculties are in excellent condition. If you need such adjustments to raise you into the normal range for people at your age and education level, then you probably have subtle age-related memory loss. If you score poorly, whether age and education adjustments are made, your memory loss is severe enough that you should go see a physician (if you haven’t already).

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Parts Purge Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Noun Hounds [29]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Parts Purge Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have each group obtain a sheet of flip-chart paper and tape it lengthwise to a wall or lay it down on a table.
3. Tell them to follow the example and list major problem attributes across the top, and then list subattributes next to each major attribute.
4. Instruct them to take turns and select one of the subattributes and write down the first word they can think of. That is, to free-associate by writing down a second word stimulated by the first, and so forth until that person has listed four or five words for each subattribute.
5. Tell them to repeat Step 4, but have another group member do the free-associating and continue doing this until all group members have been involved or no more words remain to use for free association.
6. Direct all group members to use the free associations to stimulate ideas.
7. Tell them to write down their ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Each test taps into a slightly different aspect of memory. A neuropsychologist typically administers a whole range of tests and looks for consistent patterns of deficits. If the subject performs well in all except one test, it may be due to a lapse in concentration. On the other hand, if someone scores consistently below normal on several memory tests, further investigation is necessary.

Factors That Affect Your Memory Test Performance

Three well-recognized factors can influence performance on memory tests: age, education, and gender.

Age
Since it is “normal’’ for memory test scores to worsen as people grow older, the standard test scores are adjusted downward to get the “norms” for that age group. Therefore, a “normal” ninety-year-old
person may actually score worse on the standardized memory tests than a fifty-year-old person with moderate memory loss.

These age-adjusted test scores are used to help distinguish a clinical disorder from normal test performance within a particular age group. The flip side, of course, is the risk of dismissing worsening memory as “normal” for a person’s age and doing nothing about it.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Combinations 7, 9, and 21 are crossed out since they represent existing products (bread in a bag, cookies in a bag, and cookies in a box). Combinations 4, 10, 11, 15, 18, and 20, however, are circled since they represent potential new product ideas. For instance, these combinations might suggest the following ideas:                                                                 • Adip in an aerosol spray that can be sprayed on bread or crackers (#4)
• Vegetable dip in a designer bag for individual dipping (#10)
• Different juices in a bag that can be drunk by squeezing, pouring, or using a straw (#11)
• Cookies in a tube—similar to potato chips in a cardboard cylinder (#15)
• Gravy in a tube, especially for children who can use it to write letters and draw pictures on their food (#18)
• Box steak lunches that can be reheated in microwavable packages (#20)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
This exercise may be a little too structured and complicated for some. Doing it as a group should help since participants can help each other. Another negative feature is that it relies on related stimuli so that many ideas may not be unique (unless there are creative participants who can make them so). On the other hand, its very structure and relatively systematic approach to combining stimuli provide it with the potential for fairly large quantities of ideas. One area in which this exercise might prove to be especially valuable
would be during market research.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

You, the reader, should now go back and start reading again from the point where you stopped and handed the book over to the tester.

On the list of words test, the maximum score is 12. If you scored in the 8 to 12 range at the initial presentation (immediate recall) and recalled 6 to 12 words correctly fifteen minutes later (delayed recall), you have an excellent memory. Among people with average memory, those in their forties will usually recall 5 to 8 words after the fifteen-minute delay, while people in their sixties to seventies will usually get 4 to 6 words right on delayed recall. The delayed recall score is more important than the immediate recall score. Some people with a good memory don’t pay enough attention to the initial list presentation but later are able to remember the majority of the words that they recited initially.

Interpreting Your Test Results

These memory tests are not foolproof and do not adequately substitute for neuropsychological testing, but they do provide a useful guide to categorize memory loss.

1. NO MEMORY LOSS. If you remembered 3 out of 3 objects on the MMS memory subtest and scored 5 or more on delayed recall on the 12-word list-learning task, you don’t have memory loss. Nonetheless, as you grow older, there is a good chance that your memory will decline, even if it is sound right now. Therefore, I recommend that you read on and learn more about taking proactive action against future memory loss.

2. SUBTLE TO MILD MEMORY LOSS. If you recalled 2 out of 3 objects on the MMS, or if you had a delayed recall score of 3 to 4 on the list-learning task, you probably have subtle to mild memory loss. Note that scoring well on one (but not both) of the two tests still suggests
subtle memory loss.

3. SEVERE MEMORY LOSS. If you remembered none or only 1 out of 3 objects on the MMS subtest, or had a delayed recall score of only 2 or less out of 12 words, you absolutely must go see your doctor, and the Memory Program is not for you. These recommendations also apply to anyone else who takes these tests, for example, one of your parents.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Two heuristics help make idea generation more efficient. The first assumes that most ideas can be described using a two-word combination. For instance, the words “toaster/tart” represent a combination that might suggest a breakfast food product. The second heuristic is that some combinations will be viewed as more interesting than others. In particular, combinations that come from different categories have a greater chance
of suggesting unique ideas than combinations from similar categories. As an example, the combination “ice cream/cereal” might be perceived as more interesting than the combination “vegetables/fruits.”

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Parts Is Parts Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Mad Scientist [27]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

The tests described here require a second person to administer them. Hints and prompts are not allowed during these tests, which is why it is sometimes better to ask someone other than a family member or close friend to be the tester. Ideally, the tests should be administered by trained neuropsychologists or other professionals, but they are simple enough for a nonprofessional to administer, as long as he or she carefully follows the required rules for administering the tests.

The tester should now take over and read the following sections, then administer the tests to you, one by one. Only after you’ve completed these tests are you allowed to read the remainder of this chapter. If you do not follow these instructions strictly, the tests are completely invalid. Therefore, if you’re going to take these two tests, ask the tester to carefully read the following section and understand what he/she needs to do before giving you the test. Stop reading here and hand this book over to the tester, who will need a pencil.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Parts Is Parts
Background
Sometimes creativity is a hit-or-miss proposition. Random stimuli may or may not spark ideas. Free associations are relatively unpredictable. You really don’t know how you’ll respond to a particular stimulus until you encounter it. Then, once you respond, you don’t know if the resulting ideas will be winners.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. Unpredictability keeps things interesting and makes the occasional hot idea all the more exciting. There are times, however, when you might want to generate ideas a little more systematically. That’s where Parts Is Parts might help.

Parts Is Parts is based on the “Heuristic Ideation Technique (HIT)” developed by Edward Tauber (1972). It generates ideas by creating heuristics or rules of thumb. (A rule of thumb is a guideline that increases the chances of achieving a certain outcome.) Heuristics then are used to structure the idea generation process.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

If you have trouble remembering words or things that people tell you, you have poor verbal memory— information coded as words in the brain is not retained and retrieved well. In most people, verbal memory depends on proper functioning of the left half of the brain. If you scored 2 to 5 (or higher) for trouble remembering where you put your keys or losing your way when going to a place you’ve been before, your visuospatial or three-dimensional (3-D) memory is not up to the mark. In
most people, this type of “nonverbal” memory depends on proper functioning of the right half of the brain.

The second part of the questionnaire evaluates the use of mnemonics and related techniques. Using mnemonics to compensate for a memory deficit may indicate a problem, but if you consciously use mnemonics to improve a basically sound memory, then scoring high on this part of
the questionnaire doesn’t mean very much. So the mnemonics section is harder to interpret than the first section.

There are other problems with all self-administered questionnaires of this type. Some worrywarts with an excellent memory will give themselves terrible scores, while others who blithely report no
memory complaints on this questionnaire may score poorly on objective tests. So the selfadministered memory questionnaire requires follow-up with objective memory tests in order to get a true picture.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

If you have severe memory loss then you should see a doctor. In our specialty center, neurologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists work closely together, using a team approach. Until the average physician gets better at recognizing the types and causes of memory loss, your best option is to go to one of these specialized academic medical centers that employs a team approach. There are now a large number of these centers serving virtually every major urban, and even semiurban, area in the United States (listed in the appendix). If you do not have ready access to one of these centers, consult a neurologist or psychiatrist, or your primary care physician. Inquire if they have experience in diagnosing and treating memory loss and dementia.

If you have no memory loss, or mild memory loss not due to a specific reversible cause, you probably do not need to consult any physician and can go ahead with learning about and implementing the Memory Program in this book. But to identify exactly where you stand on the spectrum of memory loss, you need to take the following memory tests and see how well you perform on them.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

The Noun Hounds technique works in a similar manner. You start with a random noun and then go from one association to the next until you generate a sufficient numberof ideas.

Noun Hounds (also called Modifier Noun Associations) originally was developed by VanGundy (1983, 1988) to generate new product ideas using a random noun and a modifier unrelated to the problem. You then free-associate from this combination to generate ideas.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Noun Hounds Handout

Time
30 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Seeing Your Doctor for Memory Loss
Any one of the following categories of professionals can evaluate memory loss:

PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS (internists, family practitioners) can identify the medical causes of memory loss (e.g., hormonal abnormality or medication toxicity), but they often miss the early signs of subtle to mild memory loss because most are not very skilled at testing for it.

NEUROLOGISTS are physicians trained in the diagnosis and evaluation of neurological disorders such as stroke and multiple sclerosis. They are generally good at identifying early signs of memory loss. However, only some neurologists have developed expertise in diagnosing and treating memory disorders.

PSYCHIATRISTS have a medical degree and specialize in the treatment of mental disorders. They are excellent at identifying causes such as depression underlying memory loss. However, like most neurologists, most psychiatrists are not skilled at diagnosing and treating memory
disorders.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGISTS have a Ph.D. and not a medical degree. They are expert at administering tests of cognitive function, including memory, and interpreting the test results as normal or abnormal. They usually work in collaboration with a primary care physician, neurologist, or psychiatrist.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Debrief/Discussion
Amajor limitation of this exercise is its reliance on only the verb and the noun in a problem challenge statement. It might be more advantageous to experiment with different verbs and nouns. Nevertheless, because the word combinations typically are unique juxtapositions, the potential exists for unique ideas as well. This exercise also involves relatively little time, so that is another factor in its favor.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Noun Action Handout
Consider a problem of improving a telephone. In this case, the problem involves the verb “improve” and the noun “telephone.” If you switch the noun and verb you get “telephoning improvements.” This combination might suggest the idea of a telephone that repairs itself automatically or a special toll-free number so customers can call the manufacturer with improvement ideas.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Early, Usually Benign, Signs of Memory Loss

Forgetting names
Forgetting a few items on a shopping list
Misplacing keys, wallets, handbags
Forgetting to turn off the stove once
Losing your way in a giant mall
Not recognizing someone you met a long time ago

Signs of Severe Memory Loss

Getting lost in a familiar place
Losing your way when driving a familiar route
Forgetting important appointments repeatedly
Forgetting to turn off the stove on several occasions
Repeating the same questions over and over again
Difficulty in understanding words or in speaking fluently
Not knowing the date or time

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Forgetting names is a widespread, almost universal, phenomenon. Some of you may agree with my self-serving explanation that there is a strong genetic component. However, forgetting names is not in itself a clinical syndrome, and few researchers have exerted much time or energy to get to the root of this problem, genetic or otherwise. There has been one remarkable exception: Albert DaMasio, a neurologist who is a giant in his field.

The Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
In a compelling paper published in the journal Nature, DaMasio and his colleagues showed that the areas of the brain that encode and store memories of proper nouns are distinct from those responsible
for other kinds of nouns, even though these regions are physically very close to one another and are near the hippocampus, which forms part of the temporal lobe in the brain. His work has taught us a great deal about how different elements of memory are stored and helps explain the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. If memories for different types of words are stored in different groups of nerve cells, these nerve cells need to communicate with one another to produce a composite memory of the entire object or person that is rich in detail. If this communication does not occur, you may recall one element of the memory but not another, and the missing component remains on the tip of the tongue. This process of retrieval is not entirely conscious, because the “missing link” may suddenly resurface when your mind is preoccupied with something else, which somehow gives the nerve cells a better opportunity to communicate.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Preppy Thoughts Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Bi-Wordal [22]
• Combo Chatter [24]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Forgetting Names
I have always tended to forget the names of people when I am introduced to them for the first time. I am sure that many of the people I met were convinced that I forgot their names because I didn’t
really care one way or another. In some cases this was true. But even when I do make a conscious effort to remember a name, I often cannot retain it unless it is repeated back to me. Even more embarrassing is when I meet someone who crossed my path some months or years ago and I discover that I am absolutely clueless about that person’s name. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you have had similar experiences, though hopefully not as often as I’ve had.

Before I started studying memory loss, I preferred to forget this personal flaw. However, at the back of my mind was the memory of how my mother used to constantly joke about my late father’s inability to remember names. I grew up in Calcutta, India, and my father would regularly call Mr. Chatterjee by the name of Mr. Banerjee while

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Next, free-associate using one or more of the attributes. For example:
• Table lamp: lantern, cow, tipsy, shed, fire, Chicago
• Base: acid, soda, water, bottle, drink
• Switch: spank, paddle, ping pong, table, games
• Illuminates: lights, sky, stars, rockets, gravity
• Metal: heavy, light, air, breath, oxygen

Finally, use these free associations to generate ideas to improve a table lamp:
• Alampshade with shutters to create different lighting effects (from “lantern”)
• Alamp with a swivel base to allow reading light adjustments (from “tipsy”)
• Lampshades with panoramic pictures of major cities (from “Chicago”)
• Alamp with video games built in (from “games”)
• Amagnetically levitated lamp (from “gravity”)
• Ahovercraft lamp that can be moved easily around a large table (from “air”)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

WOODY ALLEN ONCE SAID that the brain was his second favorite organ. While the brain may indeed be the number two choice for many of us, it is by far our most important organ, and memory is one of its most critical functions.

In this part of the book, you will learn how to assess your memory and determine whether it is normal or abnormal. You will also learn about the basic processes underlying memory formation and retrieval in the brain, and how aging affects these processes. This information will help you fully understand the reasoning behind the different elements in the Memory Program.

Everyone Forgets
Some of us forget names; others cannot recall places they’ve been to before. Our ability to associate names, faces, and places in the context of time helps us to reinforce our memories. Lost memories that suddenly resurface indicate that our brains store much more information than we are aware of in everyday life. Sigmund Freud was convinced that the root cause of “forgetting” is an unconscious conflict that creates a mental block when we consciously try to remember.

While this theory may apply to some people, as we grow older there is a different type of memory loss that affects most of us. This memory loss is a direct result of the aging process.

Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power

Procedure
1. Distribute the Parts Purge Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have each group obtain a sheet of flip-chart paper and tape it lengthwise to a wall or lay it down on a table.
3. Tell them to follow the example and list major problem attributes across the top, and then list subattributes next to each major attribute.
4. Instruct them to take turns and select one of the subattributes and write down the first word they can think of. That is, to free-associate by writing down a second word stimulated by the first, and so forth until that person has listed four or five words for each subattribute.
5. Tell them to repeat Step 4, but have another group member do the free-associating and continue doing this until all group members have been involved or no more words remain to use for free association.
6. Direct all group members to use the free associations to stimulate ideas.
7. Tell them to write down their ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Parts Purge uses both related and unrelated problem stimuli. This can make it a versatile activity to apply to a variety of types of problems with a variety of brainstorming personality types (that is, people who prefer one type of stimulation over another). The required free associations and reliance on all group members can help push out thinking boundaries and engage the participants more than in less structured brainstorming activities.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

If you are interested, just check out theholmgroupaz.com. This website will be able to help you find the best deal on the Paradise Valley Real Estate.

Living here, you can enjoy the best golf course on the exclusive resorts and also many other advanced facilities. So call them the Holmz group anytime you need help with your investment plan and let them assist you through the entire process.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Parts Purge
Background
If you like to free-associate, you’ll like the Parts Purge technique. It  originally was developed by VanGundy (1992) as Attribute Association Chains. You can use this activity to generate ideas by listing problem attributes, free-associating from each attribute, and then using the free associations as stimuli for ideas. It’s as simple as that: free-associate on
problem parts and generate, generate, generate.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Parts Purge Handout

Time
45 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Parts Is Parts Handout

Time
60 minutes

Related Activities
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Mad Scientist [27]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Parts Is Parts Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have participants lay a sheet of flip-chart paper on a table or tape it to a wall lengthwise.
3. Tell them to create an idea generation grid containing attributes from two problem areas as shown in Table 6.3. An example would be a grid that contains packaging formats (e.g., bag, boil-in-bag, box, pan, jar, can, tube) and different food forms (e.g., cookie, biscuit, gravy, bread, dressing, steak, juice, dips). Another example might involve ways to increase museum attendance using attributes such as performance arts (e.g., improvisation, ballet, acting) and memberships (e.g., a “frequent attender” status, backstage visits, or special discounts on products).
4. Direct them to assign numbers to each possible combination (e.g., bag/dip = 1; box/steak = 2; bag/juice = 3; tube/gravy = 4). Or, using the museum example: ballet/backstage = 1; acting/discounts = 2.
5. Tell them to examine all the combinations and eliminate any already commercialized or now being used.
6. Have them circle combinations with the greatest potential.
7. Direct the participants to create brief statements for each of the remaining combinations. Emphasize that they should include reasons.         8. Ask them to select the best combinations and transform them into marketable ideas.
9. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. Unpredictability keeps things interesting and makes the occasional hot idea all the more exciting. There are times, however, when you might want to generate ideas a little more systematically. That’s where Parts Is Parts might help.

Parts Is Parts is based on the “Heuristic Ideation Technique (HIT)” developed by Edward Tauber (1972). It generates ideas by creating heuristics or rules of thumb. (A rule of thumb is a guideline that increases the chances of achieving a certain outcome.) Heuristics then are used to structure the idea generation process.

Tauber believes that heuristics can make idea generation more efficient and ensure that only the best idea candidates will be considered. Although HIT originally was intended for new product idea generation, it also will work for a variety of other problems.

Two heuristics help make idea generation more efficient. The first assumes that most ideas can be described using a two-word combination. For instance, the words “toaster/tart” represent a combination that might suggest a breakfast food product. The second heuristic is that some combinations will be viewed as more interesting than others. In particular, combinations that come from different categories have a greater chance
of suggesting unique ideas than combinations from similar categories. As an example, the combination “ice cream/cereal” might be perceived as more interesting than the combination “vegetables/fruits.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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Worldwide Sports Travel will help you enjoy your time and impress your client for your business purpose. Contact them on their phone number or email them for more details.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Noun Hounds Handout
Suppose your objective is to improve a flashlight. For your modifier and noun you think of the combination “rising elephants.” Next you free-associate: leaping trunks, swiveling suitcases, twisting airplanes, flapping wings. You then use these combinations to suggest the following ideas:                                                                                                               • Atelescopic flashlight capable of holding a variable number of batteries (from “rising elephants”)
• Astorage compartment for small objects such as a spare bulb (from “leaping trunks”)                                                                                               • Ahovercraft flashlight that floats above the ground or water (from “twisting airplanes”)                                                                                                         • Aflashlight with shutters for signaling (from “flapping wings”)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Handout
• Noun Hounds Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Parts Purge [31]

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Read aloud the following instructions: “Think of any noun (person, place, thing, quality, or action) and a word to modify it. These words should not be related directly to the challenge. Include some contradictory or just plain silly combinations. For instance: flying geese, glowing apples, silent springs, intelligent shrimp, falling stars, rising elephants, quivering rocks. Write down these combinations on a sheet of flip-chart paper.”
3. Tell them to select one of the noun-modifier combinations and free-associate from it, writing down whatever comes to mind, with each idea leading to the next.
4. Direct them to use the noun-modifier combinations and all the associations as stimuli to generate ideas.
5. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Noun Hounds
Background
Bloodhounds are used to track people and animals. They search for a scent, lock onto it, and then pursue their quarry relentlessly. Hounds go from one scent to the next until they achieve their objective.

The Noun Hounds technique works in a similar manner. You start with a random noun and then go from one association to the next until you generate a sufficient number of ideas.

Noun Hounds (also called Modifier Noun Associations) originally was developed by VanGundy (1983, 1988) to generate new product ideas using a random noun and a modifier unrelated to the problem. You then free-associate from this combination to generate ideas.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have groups write down their challenges on the top of a flip chart and underline a verb and a noun (typically the objective, but it doesn’t have to be). If possible have them use a different colored marker for the underline.
3. Tell them to switch the verb and noun and use the combination to suggest ideas. For instance, a challenge to improve spotty customer service might be restated as: “servicing spotty customers.” This then might suggest an idea of concentrating service on infrequent customers.
4. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
Amajor limitation of this exercise is its reliance on only the verb and the noun in a problem challenge statement. It might be more advantageous to experiment with different verbs and nouns. Nevertheless, because the word combinations typically are unique juxtapositions, the potential exists for unique ideas as well. This exercise also involves relatively little time, so that is another factor in its favor.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

In a similar way, the same basic word can communicate different meanings depending on how it is used and in what form. Nouns can become verbs and vice versa. It all depends on how you use them.

You can take advantage of this versatility of words to help generate ideas. Specifically, you can experiment with different noun and verb relationships and see what ideas emerge.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes.

Handout
• Noun Action Handout

Time
20 minutes

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Mad Scientist Handout To illustrate this exercise, assume that your group has been assigned the challenge of improving a briefcase. Someone in your group rolls the green die and gets a 4 (“weird”) and rolls the red die and gets a 1 (“storage”). You then can use the words in these categories as stimuli by examining single words or combining different words from the two categories. Here are some sample ideas from these two categories:
• An Elvis briefcase shaped like a guitar with a picture of the “King” on the side (from “Elvis”)
• Acompartment with a cold pack to keep food from spoiling (from “pickles” and “pockets”)
• Folding legs to turn a briefcase into a display case (from “frogs”)
• Abriefcase with a built-in, battery-powered compact disc player (from “Madonna” and “boxes”)

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, one green and one red die (or any two dice of different colors), two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes.

Handout
• Mad Scientist Handout

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Circle of Opportunity [23]
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Ideas in a Box [25]

Procedure
1. Distribute the Mad Scientist Handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Have each group take a sheet of flip-chart paper and lay it on a table or tape it to a wall, lengthwise.
3. Read aloud the following: “List six general categories across the paper for the Green Die categories. Four or five categories should be related directly to the problem. The others may be unrelated or even somewhat whimsical.
For each general category, list below it four or five examples, such as the briefcase materials shown in Table 6.2. Do the same thing for the Red Die categories, as shown in Table 6.2. As you can see from the table, it’s O.K. to use some of the same categories as in the Green Die list.”
4. Tell them to roll a green die (or designate a white die as “green”) and select a category based on the number shown.
5. Tell them to roll a red die (or designate a white die as “red”) and select a category based on the number shown.
6. Have them look over the lists from both categories and generate ideas by combining one word from each category (or using any of the single words as stimuli).
7. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Here are some sample ideas:
• Abox with two chambers: one for crackers and one for cheese spread (from the box and package opening symbols).
• Abox with disposable, tear-off closures. Use each closure strip only once (from the box and closure symbols).
• Nested package linings with a vacuum in between (from the package opening and package lining symbols).
• Put a cheese cutter inside each package so consumers can stamp out pieces of cheese to conform to the shape of different crackers (from the package opening and closure).

Mad Scientist
Background
This technique, developed by Doug Hall (1994), is similar to Circle of Opportunity [23]. Instead of using a circle, however, Mad Scientist uses Green Die and Red Die lists of problem attributes. Attribute lists for each die are numbered 1 through 6. The attributes for Mad Scientist differ from those used for Circle of Opportunity in two ways: (1) Mad Scientist categories are more general and (2) some of the categories may be completely unrelated to the problem. The procedure for combining attributes also is different: Circle of Opportunity combines two different attributes from the circle, whereas Mad Scientist combines two different lists of attributes.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Debrief/Discussion
This technique can be quite stimulating and fun to do in a group. It works especially well for people who free-associate well and can think symbolically. On the other hand, people who expect literal perspectives may have difficulty. Fortunately, most groups contain at least a couple of people who can help stimulate others. It is especially important that you
encourage the participants to have fun. If time is available, you might ask them to discuss how easy it was for them to use the symbols.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

The architects developed abstract visual symbols that substituted for words. Each symbol represented a particular problem attribute. The symbols helped bring out potential relationships between attributes that, when identified, could trigger ideas. For instance, vertical arrows might point toward a curved line at the top of a page. This symbol might then suggest different ways of supporting or building an arch.

Michael Michalko (1991) adopted this visual approach and used it to describe Ideatoons—graphic problem representations. (This technique is also similar to the Symbolic Representation activity developed by VanGundy, 1983.) You don’t need to be an artist to use Ideatoons—you just need the ability to draw anything remotely resembling something else.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes..

Time
45 minutes

Related Activities
• Picture Tickler [17]
• Rorschach Revisionist [18]
• Doodles [37]
• Drawing Room [59]
• Modular Brainstorming [62]

Handout
• Ideatoons Handout

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Ideas in a Box Handout
Suppose you are director of packaging design for Snafu Snack Food Company. Sales of your Cheesy Chunk Crackers have been slipping. Market research indicates supermarket consumers consider two criteria when buying cheese cracker products: (1) ability of the package to catch their eyes and (2) value-added or unique features.

You have been directed to redesign the current box to emphasize value-added features. Your boss gives you free rein to make changes, so you decide to use Ideas in a Box to help spark ideas. You set up a matrix as shown in Table 6.1.

Container Shapes                                 Container Materials
Cylindrical                                            Cardboard
Spherical                                              Plastic
Rectangular                                          Metal
Pyramidal                                             Combinations

Types of Closures                                Lining Materials
Ziploc®                                                Wax paper
Clips                                                    Aluminum foil
Adhesive                                             Regular paper
Screw cap                                            Cellophane
Table 6.1. Ideas in a Box Matrix

Next, select one subattribute from each column. For instance, you might design a cylindrical package made of plastic with a screw top and an aluminum foil lining. Or you might select a spherical container made of combinations of materials with clips for closures and a cellophane lining. You get the idea. Although Ideas in a Box may not always prompt unique ideas, it will help you search systematically for possible combinations.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes.

Handout
• Ideas in a Box Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Circle of Opportunity [23]
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Parts Is Parts [30]
• 666 [34]
• Word Diamond [35]

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout to participants, review it with them, and ask for any questions they might have.
2. Have each group obtain a sheet of flip-chart paper and tape it lengthwise to a wall or lay it down on a table.
3. Tell them to list major problem attributes across the top of the sheet of paper.                                                                                                             4. Direct them to list potential or existing subattributes for each category.
5. Have them combine one or more subattributes from each category and use the combination to suggest ideas.
6. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.
7. Select another combination of subattributes and use it to generate ideas.
8. Have them continue this process until you have generated all possible ideas.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Variation
• If time is available, have individual group members generate their own lists of words for the group to use as idea triggers.

Debrief/Discussion
This can be a useful technique for at least two reasons: (1) it has the  potential to create many different perspectives and (2) it combines elements of both related and unrelated stimuli. That is, it uses attributes related directly to the problem and combines these attributes to create a more or less unrelated stimulus. Thus, it helps create perspective changes not possible with activities that rely on a single stimulus.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

The typical new-product process involves generating ideas, selecting the best ones, developing them into workable products, and then assigning them names. Combo Chatter reverses that process somewhat: instead of generating ideas and then names for the ideas, it generates names and then the ideas. For instance, if a company wants to improve the toaster they market, they might think of a toaster made of see-through plastic and

name it, “BreadView.” Combo Chatter might produce the same see-through product but do it using the words “bread” and “view” in juxtaposition. Although this example applies to new product improvements, that doesn’t mean it is appropriate only for new product development. It can work very well for almost any challenge.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes.

Handout
• Combo Chatter Handout

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Parts Is Parts [30]
• 666 [34]
• Word Diamond [35]

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

you roll both dice and get the number 10 (materials) for the second attribute. You free-associate using these attributes: plastic, hidden, bulletproof vest, case-hardened steel, alarms, motion detectors, and video cameras. These free associations might help you think of such ideas as:                                • Installing hidden security pockets in a briefcase                                         • Constructing the briefcase out of bulletproof materials so it can be used as a shield                                                                                                       • Installing an alarm and motion detectors to go off whenever someone unauthorized tries to move the briefcase

You roll a die again and get the number 6 (padding) and then both dice and get the number 9 (colors).

Your free associations are soft, spongy, pockets, and rainbow. From these associations you think of the following ideas:
• Amulticolored briefcase
• Different colors for each file of an expanding filing pocket
• Apadded handle in a contrasting color
• Apadded compartment in a contrasting color for use when carrying a notebook computer so you can remove the compartment when you aren’t carrying the computer and save space

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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Debrief/Discussion
This is an excellent exercise to use after a break or at the end of the day when people start getting tired. Its drawing requirements, visual elements, and throwing dice can help provide some needed energy—especially if group members take turns drawing or throwing the dice.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

All gambling involves some form of randomness. Chance makes things interesting. It determines whether we win or lose. We can’t control chance, but we can try to capitalize on it and use it to our advantage. We can use randomness, for example, to help  rompt
ideas. In particular, random combinations of problem attributes can create  ssociations that lead to breakthrough ideas.

The Circle of Opportunity activity, created by Michael Michalko (1991), is based on  the random combination of problem attributes.

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: a set of die, markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes

Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Parts Is Parts [30]
• 666 [34]
• Word Diamond [35]
• ALikely Story [15]

Handout
• Circle of Opportunity Handout

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

What if we now substitute a synonym for the word “increase”? We look in a hardbound or computer software thesaurus and look at several choices: advance, boost, jump, raise, hike, magnify, and snowball. Then we experiment with different combinations of these words with the word “money.” Thus, we can generate combinations such as “boost/money,” “jump/money,” “hike/money,” and “magnify/money.”

If we can substitute synonyms for one of the words, then we also can substitute for the other. In this case, a thesaurus provides such substitutes for the word “money” as cash, currency, greenbacks, dough, wampum, and income. Next, we combine the word “increase” with these words and get such combinations as “increase/greenbacks” and “increase/wampum.”

All these combinations can stimulate ideas. For instance, we could have employees volunteer their time to help with automobile emergencies and solicit donations from those they help (from “boost/money”). Or we could ask artistic employees to design and sell jewelry to raise funds (from “increase/wampum”). You get the idea.

But wait. There’s more. We don’t have to be limited to the words “increase” or “money” in combinations. We also could use any of the other synonyms on the lists. For instance: Increase Money Advance Cash Boost Currency  ump Greenbacks Hike Dough Magnify Wampum Snowball Income

To generate ideas on how to increase money, we select words randomly from each column, combine them, and use the new meaning to spark ideas.  That’s all there is to it. Here are some sample ideas:
• Sponsor a walk or run where participants contribute $5 for each mile they travel (from “hike/cash”).
• Use payroll deductions for contributions (from “advance/income”).
• Sponsor a carnival with shell games. People bet on the outcome. The proceeds go to charity (from “jump/currency”).
• Give donors T-shirts with modified pictures of the denominations they contributed (from “magnify/greenbacks”).
• Sell snow cones and doughnuts (from “snowball/dough”).

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Although we can experience mental blocks when trying to solve problems, the blocks exist often only because of the words we have chosen to use. Thus, the difficulty is not that we can’t think of creative ideas; it might be due more to how we state a problem. This technique illustrates this point rather nicely.

To further demonstrate the important role of initial problem statements, you might ask participants to trade their finished activities with each other or try to resolve the challenge of another group and see how the outcome might differ.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Objectives
• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible
• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants
Small groups of four to seven people each Materials,Supplies,and Equipment
• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart sheets
• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots (1?2” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it® Notes                                • One thesaurus for each group

Handout
• Bi-Wordal Handout
Time
30 minutes

Related Activities
• Combo Chatter [24]
• Ideas in a Box [25]
• Parts Is Parts [30]
• 666 [34]
• Word Diamond [35]

Procedure
1. Prior to the session, distribute to all participants one copy each of the Bi-Wordal Handout and ask them to read it.
2. Start the session by reviewing the handout and ask if there are any questions.
3. Have each group state their problem challenge so that it involves a verb and an object.
4. Tell the group members to select the verb and object, write them on a flip chart, and look up alternative meanings (synonyms) for each in a thesaurus.
5. Have them write the other meanings in a column below the verb and subject.
6. Instruct them to select one word from each column and use the combination to trigger ideas.
7. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Procedure
1. Distribute the handout, review it with the participants, and answer any questions they may have.
2. Read aloud the following instructions: “Think of any noun (person, place, thing, quality, or action) and a word to modify it. These words should not be related directly to the challenge. Include some contradictory or just plain silly combinations. For instance: flying geese, glowing apples, silent springs, intelligent shrimp, falling stars, rising elephants, quivering rocks. Write down these combinations on a sheet of flip-chart paper.”
3. Tell them to select one of the noun-modifier combinations and free-associate from it, writing down whatever comes to mind, with each idea leading to the next.
4. Direct them to use the noun-modifier combinations and all the associations as stimuli to generate ideas.
5. Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it® Notes (one idea per note) and place them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion
This exercise easily can provide unique perspectives by the word combinations as well as a spirit of “silliness” the combinations might provoke within a group. It will work especially well with individuals who are relatively uninhibited verbally and/or can free-associate with little concern for the “correctness” of their associations.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

Each combination is a stimulus that has the power to prompt any number of associations. And associations can help spark ideas. Thus, whatever we combine—whether related or unrelated to a problem—has the ability to yield creativity.

The activities in this chapter rely on the principle of combination and the stimuli and associations that result. Some activities combine things related to the problem, some combine things unrelated to the problem, and some combine related and unrelated things.

Combination activities are a little like “ticklers” (Chapter 5) in that both activities use various stimuli. The difference lies in how we respond to the stimuli. Ticklers provide direct stimulation; combinations stimulate more indirectly by joining together various elements in new ways.
NOTE: FOR ALL ACTIVITES, REMIND PARTICPANTS
TO DEFER JUDGMENT WHILE GENERATING IDEAS.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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Debrief/Discussion
One positive feature of this exercise is its use of tangible objects. Thus, it is well suited for those with less ability to visualize and free-associate. The use of an actual object that can be seen and touched makes it easier for some to relate to and play off of for stimulation. If you want to lead a discussion, you could ask the groups to compare differences in using
unrelated words, pictures, or objects as idea triggers.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:
• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

Tickler Things Handout
Assume you are an executive flying to a hotel site with several staff members. You want more ideas for attracting customers. One of your managers suggests using an airplane seat as the stimulus object. Right away, Nan (Ms. Creativity) Smith suggests recliner chairs in hotel rooms. Other staff members chime in with such ideas as stereo headsets in rooms and special beds with mattresses that can be raised and lowered.

You next challenge your staff members to use an airplane as a stimulus. Nan  immediately suggests theme hotel rooms such as aeronautical or outer space rooms. Even Robert (Mr. Analytical) Jones has an idea: join with an airline to offer special discounts for people who fly the airline and stay at your hotel.

Taken From : Pfeiffer 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity

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