Visual Notes Nadia Ruiz at THU 2024
It wasn’t on the official schedule. But it turned into one of the most memorable and impactful sessions of THU 2024.
We were all gathered in the hall of the Design Hotel—at least 40 of us, seated on the floor, leaning against pillars, some sketching, others just listening.
Nadia Ruiz is a researcher and sociologist whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, emotion, and creative practice. Her background in behavioral profiling gave the session a grounded, forensic edge: she wasn’t just talking about inspiration or artistic identity—she was explaining how our brains, as creative individuals, can trick us into patterns of avoidance, burnout, or overperformance.
My illustrated notes from the lecture illustrate how neuroscience, psychology, and culture form a matrix we all operate within. Traits like imagination, sensitivity, or emotional regulation aren’t fixed—they emerge from this triangle, shaped by both biology and experience.
One of her most striking points was about the amygdala—the part of the brain responsible for processing fear and emotional memory. She described it as a gatekeeper that decides what gets stored and what gets blocked. For many creatives, particularly those with complex emotional landscapes, this can lead to behavioral loops: procrastination, overidentification with critique, or emotional withdrawal. And yet, she argued, this same structure also makes us uniquely imaginative and empathetic.
Ruiz also introduced the idea of silent negotiation—the constant, unspoken dialogue between what we want to express and what we believe is acceptable or valued. This negotiation plays out in every sketch, story, prototype, or lecture we give.
That evening, the boundaries between lecture and conversation, between science and storytelling, between individual and collective experience, all dissolved. It wasn’t just a talk—it was a shared moment of insight, and for many of us, a reminder that knowing how our brains work is not separate from making good art. It is the work.
For those interested in exploring the scientific basis of these ideas further, I recommend:
Fox, Kieran & Beaty, Roger. (2019). Mind-wandering as creative thinking: neural, psychological, and theoretical considerations. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 27. 123-130. 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.10.009.