Larry Vandervert is a retired college professor and has published and edited works in the neurosciences, creativity, innovation, child prodigy giftedness, and science in general. His major research interest is in how, through practice, and in collaboration with the cerebral cortex, the cognitive functions of the brain’s cerebellum constantly optimize both mental and behavioral performance. In his publications he has applied the findings of recent brain-imaging studies of the cerebellum to creativity (2003, 2007, 2015), the evolution of language (2011), of culture (2016), of child prodigies (2016), of play (2017), and the cerebellum’s prominent role in the rise of Homo
sapiens (2018). The cerebellum prominent role in creativity to appear in
Encyclopedia of Creativity (3rd ed.) (available late December, 2018). Dr. Vandervert is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association since 1992 (retired), and now writes under the egis of American Nonlinear Systems. He presently lives in Spokane, WA, USA.
Professor Vandervert argues that the cerebellum refines the brain’s knowledge of all cause-and-effect relationships related to movement and thought. He proposes that sequence detection in the cerebellum more than any other brain process led early humans to stone-tool manufacture, then to advances in technology, and to science. In other words, it is the cerebellum that provides the breakthroughs (experienced ad insight and intuition) necessary to the creativity behind the rise of Homo
sapiens.
See his newest article on the rise of Homo
sapiens (2018) free on the Internet here:
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2018.00408
