Creativity often arises from the meeting of the seemingly unrelated. Being able to see the connection between two seemingly completely unrelated things is one of the most powerful skills in human thinking.
This ability is called bisociation, a concept coined by Arthur Koestler in the book The Act of Creation back in 1964. He believed that true creativity is not about thinking “outside the box” but rather about thinking between boxes, being able to switch between different thought worlds and create something new at the intersection.
Building bridges in the brain
Bisociation is basically about building mental bridges between worlds of ideas that would otherwise not meet. When we connect two areas that seem to have nothing to do with each other, new association pathways are created in the brain. Research in neuroscience shows that creative processes activate both the brain’s default mode network, which is used for daydreaming and free association, and the so-called executive control network, which is used for logical thinking and decision-making. Creativity is about connecting different parts of the brain that don’t normally work together.
A study from Harvard (Beaty et al., PNAS, 2018) showed that people with high creative ability had stronger connections between these networks. This suggests that training in associating unexpected ideas actually strengthens the neural networks that enable creative thinking. Bisociation is therefore not just a playful thought experiment, but a concrete mental exercise that shapes the structure of the brain.
Examples of unexpected combinations
Imagine combining a coffee cup and a drone. At first glance, they have nothing in common, but when you start thinking about them together, new possibilities arise. Perhaps a coffee drone that delivers hot drinks to office workers without them leaving their desks. Or a sensory mug that analyzes the temperature of the drink and sends data via a drone to a system that optimizes energy consumption in a building.
Or combining a paintbrush and a satellite. How could art and space technology meet? Perhaps in the form of satellites painting the Earth with light data in real time, as an artistic way to visualize climate change. When we allow ourselves to think in these ways, the brain begins to build new paths between areas that were previously separate.
Bisociation as mental training
Practising bisociation can be compared to solving crosswords. When you solve a crossword, you train your language skills, logic and memory. You switch between different ways of thinking to find the right word and match letters that at first seem to not go together. In the same way, bisociation trains your ability to find new connections. The difference is that the crossword has a correct answer, while bisociation has no limits on what can be correct.
Creative training through bisociation is like giving the brain a gym session for flexibility. It learns to quickly switch perspectives, connect ideas in new ways and find unexpected solutions. It is precisely this mental agility that makes some people perceived as naturally creative. But in reality, it is a matter of training.
Bisociation in everyday life
Bisociation doesn’t have to be limited to art or innovation. It can be applied to everyday situations to find new ways to solve problems. For example, if you’re trying to improve teamwork, ask yourself: how would a jazz band handle this? Musicians in a band often communicate intuitively, improvise, and adapt to each other. Transferred to an office, the same principle can lead to more dynamic and flexible ways of working.
Or think about how nature solves problems. By combining observations from biology with technology, we’ve created biomimetic solutions like self-cleaning surfaces inspired by lotus leaves or durable materials inspired by spider silk. These are practical examples of bisociation in the service of science.
When chance helps
It can be difficult to consciously create completely new combinations because the brain naturally seeks order and recognition. One way to get around this is to use chance as a tool. Look up two random words in a book or on the internet and try to find a connection between them. This exercise forces the brain to create bridges between concepts that are not naturally connected, which strengthens creativity over time.
Research has shown that when we are forced to create meaning from the meaningless, the brain’s frontal cortex and hippocampus are activated, areas that are central to both creative and analytical thinking. Coincidence then becomes a catalyst for new ideas, not an obstacle.
Practicing seeing the invisible
Ultimately, bisociation is about seeing what is not yet there. Those who practice combining unexpected ideas also practice their ability to imagine the future. Many of history’s great innovations have arisen through precisely this type of connection. James Dyson combined the principle of a sawdust separator with a vacuum cleaner. Johannes Gutenberg combined the wine press with the technology with metal casting and created the printing press.
Creativity is rarely a bolt from the blue. It is the result of many small sparks that arise when different ideas meet. Bisociation is a method for igniting these sparks more often.
Thinking between boxes
When we talk about creativity, we often say that you should think outside the box. But bisociation teaches us to think between the boxes. To move between different worlds, between the familiar and the unknown, between logic and imagination. There, in the in-between, the kind of ideas that change the way we see the world arise.
Practicing bisociation is therefore not just an exercise in creativity. It is an exercise in thinking. A reminder that we can build bridges between everything, if only we allow ourselves to see the connections that no one else sees yet.
