Brainfloating, developed in 1989 by designer, writer, and cultural scientist Harald Bream, is the umbrella term for various creativity techniques whose multisensory function is intended to engage the whole brain in the creative process.
Depending on the brainfloating technique (see Image-Text Potentiation, Creative Casting, Double Head, Triad, Shape Formation, Gestalt Impulses, Onomatopoeia, Simultaneous Action, Reverse Polarity), this is achieved in very different ways. For example, the different senses are combined in a new linguistic way or visualizations are expressed in movement.
The brainfloating principle is originally based on the outdated research view that specific functions are assigned to the individual brain hemispheres. The prevailing opinion was that the right hemisphere of the brain was responsible for creativity and intuition and the left for analytical thinking and language. However, there is consensus in contemporary research that such exclusive task-specific attributions are not accurate. While some task areas are represented more strongly by one hemisphere of the brain than the other, there are also areas that require both hemispheres equally. Ultimately, the only thing that is certain is that there are asymmetries in the distribution of tasks, i.e. that the brain hemispheres are involved to different extents depending on the function and task.
However, the state of research has no significant impact on brainfloating. Used as a creative technique, brainfloating has an activating effect on the brain in any case and allows thought patterns to be broken, so that new, fresh ideas can emerge.