The Importance of the Default Mode Network in Creativity-A Structural MRI Study

Semantic memory structure mediates the role of brain functional connectivity in creative writing

Associative theories of creativity posit that high-creativity individuals possess flexible semantic memory structures that allow broad access to varied information. However, the semantic memory structure characteristics and neural substrates of creative writing are unclear. Here, we explored the semantic network features and the predictive whole-brain functional connectivity associated with creative writing and generated mediation models. Participants completed two creative story continuation tasks. We found that keywords from written texts with superior creative writing performance encompassed more semantic categories and were highly interconnected and transferred efficiently. Connectome predictive modeling (CPM) was conducted with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to identify whole-brain functional connectivity patterns related to creative writing, dominated by default mode network (DMN). Semantic network features were found to mediate the relationship between brain functional connectivity and creative writing performance. These results highlight how semantic memory structure and the DMN-driven brain functional connectivity patterns support creative writing performance. Our findings extend prior research on the role of semantic memory structure and the DMN in creativity, expand upon previous research on semantic creativity, and provide insight into the cognitive and neural foundations of creative writing.

Creating together: An interbrain model of group creativity

Despite the growing interest in understanding creativity-the ability to produce novel and useful ideas-most research in the field focuses on examining the neural networks underlying creativity in isolated individuals. However, numerous creative breakthroughs in arts, sciences, and industries occur through social interactions, where ideas are generated collaboratively by dyads and groups. The accumulating evidence indicates that cooperative settings foster higher levels of creativity compared to individual settings, suggesting that social factors play a role in creativity.In this review, we synthesize the findings on individual and group creativity and propose a new brain model for understanding group creativity. We extend the twofold model of creativity and suggest that creativity in social setting involves an interplay between idea generation, social influence and flexibility. Building on this model we suggest that group creativity is mediated by activity as well as interbrain coupling in neural circuits associated with associative thinking (default mode network), flexibility (executive control network) and observation-execution (inferior frontal gyrus). By shifting the focus from isolated individuals to social settings, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of creativity and its neural mechanisms. This research direction holds the potential to uncover valuable insights into how group dynamics and social interactions facilitate the generation of creative ideas.

The human reward system encodes the subjective value of ideas during creative thinking

Creative thinking involves the evaluation of one's ideas in order to select the best one, but the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying this evaluation remain unclear. Using a combination of creativity and rating tasks, this study demonstrates that individuals attribute subjective values to their ideas, as a relative balance of their originality and adequacy. This relative balance depends on individual preferences and predicts individuals' creative abilities. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we find that the Default Mode and the Executive Control Networks respectively encode the originality and adequacy of ideas, and that the human reward system encodes their subjective value. Interestingly, the relative functional connectivity of the Default Mode and Executive Control Networks with the human reward system correlates with the relative balance of adequacy and originality in individuals' preferences. These results add valuation to the incomplete behavioral and neural accounts of creativity, offering perspectives on the influence of individual preferences on creative abilities.

Brainstorming: Interbrain coupling in groups forms the basis of group creativity

Although the impact of group dynamics on creativity is widely recognized, prior research has primarily concentrated on individuals in isolation from social context. To address this lacuna, we focus on groups as the fundamental unit of analysis. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine brain activity in groups of four during brainstorming discussions. We assessed interbrain coupling in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region linked to flexibility, and in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a region associated with imitation. Our findings demonstrate that creativity-focused discussions induced interbrain coupling both in regions related to flexibility and herding. Notably, interbrain coupling in the IFG was associated with more imitation of responses. Critically, while interbrain coupling in the DLPFC positively predicted group creativity, in the IFG it negatively predicted creativity. These findings suggest that increase in group mindsets of flexibility relative to herding is important for enhancing group creativity.

Creativity and consciousness in motion: The roundtrip of "mindful" and "mindless" processes in embodied creativity

In this opinion paper, we make a journey across different accounts of creativity that emphasize either the mindful, conscious and cognitive expression of creativity, or its mindless, unconscious and sensorimotor expression. We try to go beyond dichotomy, putting creativity in motion and outlining its embodied and enactive features. Based on the assumption that no creative act is purely conscious or purely unconscious, our discussion on creativity relies on the distinction of three types of creativity that complementarily contribute to the creative process through shifts in the activation of their substrates in the brain: the deliberate, spontaneous and flow types of creativity. The latter is a hybrid and embodied type, in which movement and physical activity meet creativity. We then focus on the most fascinating contribution of unconscious processes and mind wandering to spontaneous and flow modes of creativity, exploring what happens when the individual apparently takes a break from a deliberate and effortful search for solutions and the creative process progresses through an incubation phase. This phase and the overall creative process can be facilitated by physical activity which, depending on its features and context, can disengage the cognitive control network and free the mind from filters that constrain cognitive processes or, conversely, can engage attentional control on sensorimotor and cognitive task components in a mindful way. Lastly, we focus on the unique features of the outer natural environment of physical activity and of the inner environment during mindful movements that can restore capacities and boost creativity.

Creative flow as optimized processing: Evidence from brain oscillations during jazz improvisations by expert and non-expert musicians

Using a creative production task, jazz improvisation, we tested alternative hypotheses about the flow experience: (A) that it is a state of domain-specific processing optimized by experience and characterized by minimal interference from task-negative default-mode network (DMN) activity versus (B) that it recruits domain-general task-positive DMN activity supervised by the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN) to support ideation. We recorded jazz guitarists' electroencephalograms (EEGs) while they improvised to provided chord sequences. Their flow-states were measured with the Core Flow State Scale. Flow-related neural sources were reconstructed using SPM12. Over all musicians, high-flow (relative to low-flow) improvisations were associated with transient hypofrontality. High-experience musicians' high-flow improvisations showed reduced activity in posterior DMN nodes. Low-experience musicians showed no flow-related DMN or FPCN modulation. High-experience musicians also showed modality-specific left-hemisphere flow-related activity while low-experience musicians showed modality-specific right-hemisphere flow-related deactivations. These results are consistent with the idea that creative flow represents optimized domain-specific processing enabled by extensive practice paired with reduced cognitive control.

Free Your Mind: Creative Thinking Contributes to Overcoming Conflict-Related Biases

Conflicts between groups are difficult to resolve, partly because humans tend to be biased in judging outgroup members. The aim of the current article is to review findings on the link between creativity and conflict-related biases and to offer a model that views creative cognition as an ability that may contribute to overcoming conflict-related biases. Our proposed model conforms to the twofold model of creativity. According to this model, creativity involves a generation phase and an evaluation phase, and these phases correspond to the neural mechanisms that underlie conflict-related biases. Specifically, we contend that the generation phase of creativity affects conflict-related biases by exerting an influence on stereotypes and prejudice, outgroup-targeted emotions, and ingroup empathy biases, all of which rely on the default mode network. Conversely, the evaluation phase of creativity, which is usually associated with activation in the executive control network and action-observation system, may be related to herding behaviors. Building on the shared mechanisms of creativity and conflicts, we propose that studies examining creativity-based interventions may be effective in promoting reconciliation.

Individual Information Technology (IT) creativity: a conceptual and operational definition

Purpose

An organization’s competitive advantage can be strengthened if they are able to identify highly creative individuals. In fact, organizational success in the 21st century may depend upon a firm’s ability to identify highly creative individuals who are able to develop novel and useful ideas, which are the outcome of creativity. The authors posit that Information Technology (IT) plays a significant role in creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying the componential view of creativity, the authors propose the theoretically-derived concept of Individual IT Creativity (IITC). Utilizing a 5-phase methodology, the authors provide a theoretically-derived and rigorously-validated measure of IITC.

Findings

This study demonstrates that IITC is manifested in individuals who (1) possess IT expertise; (2) are motivated by IT tasks and (3) exhibit IT creativity-relevant processes. The authors then develop a scale to measure IITC and examine IITC within a broader nomological network.

Originality/value

This study facilitates the investigation of new streams of research into IITC, including new possible outcomes in addition to IT acceptance.

Motor restrictions impair divergent thinking during walking and during sitting

Creativity, specifically divergent thinking, has been shown to benefit from unrestrained walking. Despite these findings, it is not clear if it is the lack of restriction that leads to the improvement. Our goal was to explore the effects of motor restrictions on divergent thinking for different movement states. In addition, we assessed whether spontaneous eye blinks, which are linked to motor execution, also predict performance. In experiment 1, we compared the performance in Guilford’s alternate uses task (AUT) during walking vs. sitting, and analysed eye blink rates during both conditions. We found that AUT scores were higher during walking than sitting. Albeit eye blinks differed significantly between movement conditions (walking vs. sitting) and task phase (baseline vs. thinking vs. responding), they did not correlate with task performance. In experiment 2 and 3, participants either walked freely or in a restricted path, or sat freely or fixated on a screen. When the factor restriction was explicitly modulated, the effect of walking was reduced, while restriction showed a significant influence on the fluency scores. Importantly, we found a significant correlation between the rate of eye blinks and creativity scores between subjects, depending on the restriction condition. Our study shows a movement state-independent effect of restriction on divergent thinking. In other words, similar to unrestrained walking, unrestrained sitting also improves divergent thinking. Importantly, we discuss a mechanistic explanation of the effect of restriction on divergent thinking based on the increased size of the focus of attention and the consequent bias towards flexibility.

The neural basis of creative production: A cross-modal ALE meta-analysis

One of the central questions about the cognitive neuroscience of creativity is the extent to which creativity depends on either domain-specific or domain-general mechanisms. To address this question, we carried out two parallel activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses of creativity: 1) a motoric analysis that combined studies across five domains of creative production (verbalizing, music, movement, writing, and drawing), and 2) an analysis of the standard ideational task used to study divergent thinking, the Alternate Uses task. All experiments contained a contrast between a creative task and a matched non-creative or less-creative task that controlled for the sensorimotor demands of task performance. The activation profiles of the two meta-analyses were non-overlapping, but both pointed to a domain-specific interpretation in which creative production is, at least in part, an enhancement of sensorimotor brain areas involved in non-creative production. The most concordant areas of activation in the motoric meta-analysis were high-level motor areas such as the pre-supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus that interface motor planning and executive control, suggesting a means of uniting domain-specificity and -generality in creative production.

Well Recovered and More Creative? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Vacation and Creativity

The aim of this study was to investigate employees’ self-reported creativity before and after vacation and to examine the impact of recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, mastery, meaning, autonomy, affiliation) on changes in creativity. The DRAMMA model of Newman et al. provides the theoretical background of our approach. Longitudinal data was assessed with four repeated measurements. The study encompassed data from 274 white-collar workers. Analyses showed that employees subjectively perceive their creativity to benefit not immediately after their vacation but 2 weeks later. Detachment was significantly related to lower creativity within persons, while mastery experiences explained differences in creativity between persons. This study provides a detailed picture of changes in creativity around vacations.

Network oscillations imply the highest cognitive workload and lowest cognitive control during idea generation in open-ended creation tasks

Design is a ubiquitous, complex, and open-ended creation behaviour that triggers creativity. The brain dynamics underlying design is unclear, since a design process consists of many basic cognitive behaviours, such as problem understanding, idea generation, idea analysis, idea evaluation, and idea evolution. In this present study, we simulated the design process in a loosely controlled setting, aiming to quantify the design-related cognitive workload and control, identify EEG-defined large-scale brain networks, and uncover their temporal dynamics. The effectiveness of this loosely controlled setting was tested through comparing the results with validated findings available in the literature. Task-related power (TRP) analysis of delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands revealed that idea generation was associated with the highest cognitive workload and lowest cognitive control, compared to other design activities in the experiment, including problem understanding, idea evaluation, and self-rating. EEG microstate analysis supported this finding as microstate class C, being negatively associated with the cognitive control network, was the most prevalent in idea generation. Furthermore, EEG microstate sequence analysis demonstrated that idea generation was consistently associated with the shortest temporal correlation times concerning finite entropy rate, autoinformation function, and Hurst exponent. This finding suggests that during idea generation the interplay of functional brain networks is less restricted and the brain has more degrees of freedom in choosing the next network configuration than during other design activities. Taken together, the TRP and EEG microstate results lead to the conclusion that idea generation is associated with the highest cognitive workload and lowest cognitive control during open-ended creation task.

Scientific Creativity: Discovery and Invention as Combinatorial

Although scientific creativity has often been described as combinatorial, the description is usually insufficiently formulated to count as a precise scientific explanation. Therefore, the current article is devoted to elaborating a formalization defined by three combinatorial parameters: the initial probability p, the final utility u, and the scientist’s prior knowledge of that utility v. These parameters then lead logically to an 8-fold typology involving two forms of expertise, two irrational combinations, and four “blind” combinations. One of the latter provides the basis for the definition of personal creativity as c=(1−p)u(1−v), that is, the multiplicative product of originality, utility, and surprise. This three-criterion definition then has six critical implications. Those implications lead to a discussion of various combinatorial processes and procedures that include a treatment of the No Free Lunch Theorems regarding optimization algorithms as well as the creativity-maximizing phenomena of mind wandering and serendipity. The article closes with a discussion of how scientific creativity differs from artistic creativity. Besides the obvious contrasts in the ideas entering the combinatorial processes and procedures, scientific combinations, products, and communities strikingly differ from those typical of the arts. These differences also imply contrasts in developmental experiences and personality characteristics. In sum, the formal combinatorial analysis enhances our understanding of scientific creativity.

Spatiospectral brain networks reflective of improvisational experience

Musical improvisers are trained to categorize certain musical structures into functional classes, which is thought to facilitate improvisation. Using a novel auditory oddball paradigm (Goldman et al., 2020) which enables us to disassociate a deviant (i.e. musical chord inversion) from a consistent functional class, we recorded scalp EEG from a group of musicians who spanned a range of improvisational and classically trained experience. Using a spatiospectral based inter and intra network connectivity analysis, we found that improvisers showed a variety of differences in connectivity within and between large-scale cortical networks compared to classically trained musicians, as a function of deviant type. Inter-network connectivity in the alpha band, for a time window leading up to the behavioural response, was strongly linked to improvisation experience, with the default mode network acting as a hub. Spatiospectral networks post response were substantially different between improvisers and classically trained musicians, with greater inter-network connectivity (specific to the alpha and beta bands) seen in improvisers whereas those with more classical training had largely reduced inter-network activity (mostly in the gamma band). More generally, we interpret our findings in the context of network-level correlates of expectation violation as a function of subject expertise, and we discuss how these may generalize to other and more ecologically valid scenarios.

A Systematic Review of MRI Neuroimaging for Education Research

This study aims to disclose how the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) neuroimaging approach has been applied in education studies, and what kind of learning themes has been investigated in the reviewed MRI neuroimaging research. Based on the keywords “brain or neuroimaging or neuroscience” and “MRI or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) or white matter or gray matter or resting-state,” a total of 25 papers were selected from the subject areas “Educational Psychology” and “Education and Educational Research” from the Web of Science and Scopus from 2000 to 2019. Content analysis showed that MRI neuroimaging and learning were studied under the following three major topics and nine subtopics: cognitive function (language, creativity, music, physical activity), science education (mathematical learning, biology learning, physics learning), and brain development (parenting, personality development). As for the type of MRI neuroimaging research, the most frequently used approaches were functional MRI, followed by structural MRI and DTI, although the choice of approach was often motivated by the specific research question. Research development trends show that the neural plasticity theme has become more prominent recently. This study concludes that in educational research, the MRI neuroimaging approach provides objective and empirical evidence to connect learning processes, outcomes, and brain mechanisms.

EEG and fMRI Correlates of Insight: A Pilot Study

Insight is described as the sudden solution of a problem and is contrasted with an analytical, step-by-step approach. Traditionally, insight is thought to be associated with activity of the right hemisphere, whereas analytical solutions are thought to be associated with activity of the left hemisphere. However, empirical evidence as to the localization of insight-related brain activity is mixed and inconclusive. Some studies seem to confirm the traditional view, whereas others do not. Moreover, results of EEG and fMRI studies frequently contradict each other. In this study, EEG and fMRI data were recorded while subjects performed the remote association test and for each solved problem were asked to report whether the solution was reached analytically or insightfully. The data were analyzed in a 16-second fragment preceding the subject’s response. Source localization techniques were used in the analysis of EEG data. Based on EEG data, insightful as compared to analytical problem solving was accompanied by high-frequency synchronization in semantic cortical areas of the left hemisphere 10–12 s before the subject’s response. Based on fMRI data, however, insightful solutions were accompanied by increased activity in frontal and temporal regions of the right hemisphere. The results are interpreted in terms of different cognitive processes involved in insightful problem solving, which could be differently reflected in EEG and fMRI data.

EEG signals respond differently to idea generation, idea evolution and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment

Many neurocognitive studies endeavor to understand neural mechanisms of basic creative activities in strictly controlled experiments. However, little evidence is available regarding the neural mechanisms of interactions between basic activities underlying creativity in such experiments. Moreover, strictly controlled experiments might limit flexibility/freedom needed for creative exploration. Thus, this study investigated the whole-brain neuronal networks' interactions between three modes of thinking: idea generation, idea evolution, and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment. The loosely controlled creativity experiment will provide a degree of flexibility/freedom for participants to incubate creative ideas through extending response time from a few seconds to 3 min. In the experiment, participants accomplished a modified figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT-F) while their EEG signals were recorded. During idea generation, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that was immediately triggered by a sketch stimulus at first sight. During idea evolution, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that is radically distinctive from what was immediately triggered by the sketch stimulus. During the evaluation, a participant was instructed to evaluate difficulties of thinking and drawing during idea generation and evolution. It is expected that participants would use their experience to intuitively complete a sketch during idea generation while they could use more divergent and imaginative thinking to complete a possible creative sketch during idea evolution. Such an experimental design is named as a loosely controlled creativity experiment, which offers an approach to studying creativity in an ecologically valid manner. The validity of the loosely controlled creativity experiment could be verified through comparing its findings on phenomena that have been effectively studied by validated experimental research. It was found from our experiment that alpha power decreased significantly from rest to the three modes of thinking. These findings are consistent with that from visual creativity research based on event-related (de)synchronization (ERD/ERS) and task-related power changes (TRP). Specifically, in the lower alpha band (8-10 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly lower over almost the entire scalp during idea evolution compared to the other modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution requires less general attention demands than the other two modes of thinking since the lower alpha ERD has been reported as being more likely to reflect general task demands such as attentional processes. In the upper alpha band (10-12 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly higher over central sites during the evaluation compared to idea evolution. This finding indicated that evaluation involves more task-specific demands since the upper alpha ERD has been found as being more likely to reflect task-specific demands such as memory and intelligence, as was defined in the literature. In addition, new findings were obtained since the loosely controlled creativity experiment could activate multiple brain networks to accomplish the tasks involving the three modes of thinking. EEG microstate analysis was used to structure the unstructured EEG data to detect the activation of multiple brain networks. Combined EEG-fMRI and EEG source localization studies have indicated that EEG microstate classes are closely associated with the resting-state network as identified using fMRI. It was found that the default mode network was more active during idea evolution compared to the other two modes of thinking, while the cognitive control network was more active during the evaluation compared to the other two modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution might be more associated with unconscious and internal directed attention processes. Taken together, the loosely controlled creativity experiment with the support of EEG microstate analysis appears to offer an effective approach to investigating the real-world complex creativity activity.

A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation

There are conflicting findings regarding brain regions and networks underpinning creativity, with divergent thinking tasks commonly used to study this. A handful of meta-analyses have attempted to synthesise findings on neural mechanisms of divergent thinking. With the rapid proliferation of research and recent developments in fMRI meta-analysis approaches, it is timely to reassess the regions activated during divergent thinking creativity tasks. Of particular interest is examining the evidence regarding large-scale brain networks proposed to be key in divergent thinking and extending this work to consider the role of the semantic control network. Studies utilising fMRI with healthy participants completing divergent thinking tasks were systematically identified, with 20 studies meeting the criteria. Activation Likelihood Estimation was then used to integrate the neuroimaging results across studies. This revealed four clusters: the left inferior parietal lobe; the left inferior frontal and precentral gyrus; the superior and medial frontal gyrus and the right cerebellum. These regions are key in the semantic network, important for flexible retrieval of stored knowledge, highlighting the role of this network in divergent thinking.

The Opposite of Stress

Cognition is affected by psychophysiological states. While the influence of stress on cognition has been investigated intensively, less studies have addressed how the opposite of stress, a state of relaxation, affects cognition. We investigated whether the extent of parasympathetic activation is positively related to divergent thinking. Sixty healthy female participants were randomly allocated to a standardized vagus nerve massage (n = 19), a standardized soft shoulder massage (n = 22), or a resting control group (n = 19). Subsequently, participants completed the Alternative Uses Test (AUT), a measure of divergent thinking. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a vagally mediated heart rate variability component, was monitored throughout the experiment. The area under the curve with respect to the increase was calculated for RSA trajectories as an indicator of vagal tone during the relaxing intervention. Regressions tested the effect of vagal tone on AUT outcomes. We found an association between vagal tone and subsequent AUT outcomes. Yet, this association was no longer significant when controlling for the effect of the creative potential of an individual, which was strongly related to AUT outcomes. Being exploratory, we found a positive association between creative potential and vagal tone. These results imply that creative potential might be related to the capacity to relax.

Neuroanatomy of creative achievement

Very few studies have investigated neuroanatomical correlates of "everyday" creative achievement in cohorts of normal subjects. In previous research, we first showed that scores on the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ) were associated with lower cortical thickness within the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus (LOFG), and increased thickness of the right angular gyrus (AG) (Jung et al., 2010). Newer studies found the CAQ to be associated with decreased volume of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and that artistic and scientific creativity was associated with increased and decreased volumes within the executive control network and salience network (Shi et al., 2017). We desired to replicate and extend our previous study in a larger cohort (N ​= ​248), comprised of subjects studying and working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Subjects were young (Range ​= ​16-32; Mean age ​= ​21.8; s.d. ​= ​3.5) all of whom were administered the CAQ, from which we derived artistic and scientific creativity factors. All subjects underwent structural MRI on a 3 ​T scanner from which cortical thickness, area, and volume measures were obtained using FreeSurfer. Our results showed mostly cortical thinning in relation to total, scientific, and artistic creative achievement encompassing many regions involved in the cognitive control network (CCN) and default mode network (DMN).

Internet addiction and functional brain networks: task-related fMRI study

A common brain-related feature of addictions is the altered function of higher-order brain networks. Growing evidence suggests that Internet-related addictions are also associated with breakdown of functional brain networks. Taking into consideration the limited number of studies used in previous studies in Internet addiction (IA), our aim was to investigate the functional correlates of IA in the default mode network (DMN) and in the inhibitory control network (ICN). To observe these relationships, task-related fMRI responses to verbal Stroop and non-verbal Stroop-like tasks were measured in 60 healthy university students. The Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) was used to assess IA. We found significant deactivations in areas related to the DMN (precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus) and these areas were negatively correlated with PIUQ during incongruent stimuli. In Stroop task the incongruent_minus_congruent contrast showed positive correlation with PIUQ in areas related to the ICN (left inferior frontal gyrus, left frontal pole, left central opercular, left frontal opercular, left frontal orbital and left insular cortex). Altered DMN might explain some comorbid symptoms and might predict treatment outcomes, while altered ICN may be the reason for having difficulties in stopping and controlling overuse.

Neuroimaging predictors of creativity in healthy adults

Neuroimaging has revealed numerous neural predictors of individual differences in creativity; however, with most of these identified in only one study, sometimes involving very small samples, their reliability is uncertain. To contribute to a convergent cognitive neuroscience of creativity, we conducted a pre-registered conceptual replication and extension study in which we assessed previously reported predictors of creativity using a multimodal approach, incorporating volumetric, white matter, and functional connectivity neuroimaging data. We assessed sets of pre-registered predictors against prevailing measures of creativity, including visual and verbal tests of divergent thinking, everyday creative behaviour, and creative achievement. We then conducted whole-brain exploratory analyses. Greater creativity was broadly predicted by features of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL), including both local grey matter and white matter predictors in the IFG, the superior longitudinal fasciculus that connects them, and IFG-IPL functional connectivity. As IFG and IPL are important nodes within executive control and default mode networks (DMN), respectively, this result supports the view that executive modulation of DMN activity optimizes creative ideation. Furthermore, white matter integrity of the basal ganglia was also a generalizable creativity predictor, and exploratory analyses revealed the anterior lobe of the cerebellum and the parahippocampal gyrus to both be reliable predictors of creativity across neuroimaging modalities. This pattern aligns with proposals ascribing roles of working and long-term memory to problem-solving and imagination. Overall, our findings help to consolidate some, but not all, neural correlates of individual differences that have been discussed in the cognitive neuroimaging of creativity, yielding a subset that appear particularly promising for focused future investigation.

Two critical brain networks for generation and combination of remote associations

Recent functional imaging findings in humans indicate that creativity relies on spontaneous and controlled processes, possibly supported by the default mode and the fronto-parietal control networks, respectively. Here, we examined the ability to generate and combine remote semantic associations, in relation to creative abilities, in patients with focal frontal lesions. Voxel-based lesion-deficit mapping, disconnection-deficit mapping and network-based lesion-deficit approaches revealed critical prefrontal nodes and connections for distinct mechanisms related to creative cognition. Damage to the right medial prefrontal region, or its potential disrupting effect on the default mode network, affected the ability to generate remote ideas, likely by altering the organization of semantic associations. Damage to the left rostrolateral prefrontal region and its connections, or its potential disrupting effect on the left fronto-parietal control network, spared the ability to generate remote ideas but impaired the ability to appropriately combine remote ideas. Hence, the current findings suggest that damage to specific nodes within the default mode and fronto-parietal control networks led to a critical loss of verbal creative abilities by altering distinct cognitive mechanisms.

Investigating the Role of the Primary Motor Cortex in Musical Creativity: A Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Neuroscientific research has revealed interconnected brain networks implicated in musical creativity, such as the executive control network, the default mode network, and premotor cortices. The present study employed brain stimulation to evaluate the role of the primary motor cortex (M1) in creative and technically fluent jazz piano improvisations. We implemented transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to alter the neural activation patterns of the left hemispheric M1 whilst pianists performed improvisations with their right hand. Two groups of expert jazz pianists (n = 8 per group) performed five improvisations in each of two blocks. In Block 1, they improvised in the absence of brain stimulation. In Block 2, one group received inhibitory tDCS and the second group received excitatory tDCS while performing five new improvisations. Three independent expert-musicians judged the 160 performances on creativity and technical fluency using a 10-point Likert scale. As the M1 is involved in the acquisition and consolidation of motor skills and the control of hand orientation and velocity, we predicted that excitatory tDCS would increase the quality of improvisations relative to inhibitory tDCS. Indeed, improvisations under conditions of excitatory tDCS were rated as significantly more creative than those under conditions of inhibitory tDCS. A music analysis indicated that excitatory tDCS elicited improvisations with greater pitch range and number/variety of notes. Ratings of technical fluency did not differ significantly between tDCS groups. We discuss plausible mechanisms by which the M1 region contributes to musical creativity.

The neural underpinnings of cross-cultural differences in creativity

Whereas Western individualistic cultures emphasize uniqueness, collectivistic East-Asian cultures discourage it. Here we examined whether cross-cultural differences in creativity as measured by a task of divergent thinking (DT) are explained by enhanced activity in brain regions that mediate inhibitory control (e.g., the left inferior frontal gyrus [L-IFG]). We therefore predicted that the L-IFG would be "hyperactive" among individuals from East-Asian cultures compared to Western ones. In Study 1, Israeli and South Korean participants were compared on a classic DT task (AUT; "Alternate uses: Manual of instructions and interpretation"). Israelis generated more original ideas compared to South Koreans. In Study 2, Israeli participants and South Korean participants currently living in Israel were scanned while performing the AUT. In line with previous studies, the results indicate that generation of original ideas across cultures is associated with activation of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), which is part of the default mode network (DMN). As hypothesized, South Koreans showed enhanced activation of the L-IFG compared to Israelis. This enhanced activation was associated with lower originality scores. The cultural dimension of traditionalism, being higher in the South Korean sample than in the Israeli Sample, was related to enhance L-IFG activity, further supporting our hypothesis regarding cultural influences on inhibitory control. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis indicated that activation of the L-IFG was positively coupled with PCC activity among Israelis and with preSMA activity among South Koreans. The results suggest that cross-cultural differences in creativity might be explained by variations in inhibitory control.

Neural correlates of novelty and appropriateness processing in externally induced constraint relaxation

Novelty and appropriateness are considered the two fundamental features of creative thinking, including insight problem solving, which can be performed through chunk decomposition and constraint relaxation. Based on a previous study that separated the neural bases of novelty and appropriateness in chunk decomposition, in this study, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to further dissociate these mechanisms in constraint relaxation. Participants were guided to mentally represent the method of problem solving according to the externally provided solutions that were elaborately prepared in advance and systematically varied in their novelty and appropriateness for the given problem situation. The results showed that novelty processing was completed by the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and regions in the executive system (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [DLPFC]), whereas appropriateness processing was completed by the TPJ and regions in the episodic memory (hippocampus), emotion (amygdala), and reward systems (orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]). These results likely indicate that appropriateness processing can result in a more memorable and richer experience than novelty processing in constraint relaxation. The shared and distinct neural mechanisms of the features of novelty and appropriateness in constraint relaxation are discussed, enriching the representation of the change theory of insight.

Imagination and Creativity in Organizations

Scholars adopting a relational ontology of organisational creativity have shifted attention away from a preoccupation with individual minds towards that which is enacted, emergent, shared, unpredictable and contingent. This article follows suit, yet breaks new ground by reconsidering how the mind plays an active role in unfolding creative interactions by building a bridge between literature on organisational creativity, aesthetics and philosophy of imagination. I draw on English Romanticism to craft a theoretical model of organisational creativity as an aesthetic and relational process of shared imagining. This model demonstrates how organisational members use primary and secondary modes of imagination and creative expression to develop, materialise and share perceptions and images of possible futures. By elaborating on their interplay, this article contributes to literature by theorising an active and generative role of mind that does not have the ontological shortcomings of leading theories. In turn, this has a number of implications for literature on entrepreneurship and organisational creativity in terms of situating and embodying creative thinking, explaining the intentionality and motivation for creative actions, overcoming perceptual differences and changing practices and routines.

Participation of the left inferior frontal gyrus in human originality

Human creative cognition is commonly described as a twofold cyclic process that involves an idea generation phase and an idea evaluation phase. Although the evaluation phase makes a crucial contribution to originality, its underlying mechanisms have not received sufficient research attention. Here, we suggest that the left inferior frontal gyrus (lIFG) plays a major role in the interplay between the evaluation and generation networks and that inhibiting this region's activity may have an effect on "releasing" the generation neural network, resulting in greater originality. To examine the neural networks that mediate the generation and evaluation of ideas, we conducted an fMRI experiment on a group of healthy human participants (Study 1), in which we compared an idea generation task to an idea evaluation task. We found that evaluating the originality of ideas is indeed associated with a relative increase in lIFG activation, as opposed to generating original ideas. We further showed that temporarily inhibiting the lIFG using continuous theta-burst stimulation (Study 2) results in less strict evaluation on the one hand and increased originality scores on the other. Our findings provide converging evidence from multiple methods to show that the lIFG participates in evaluating the originality of ideas.

Creative females have larger white matter structures: Evidence from a large sample study

The importance of brain connectivity for creativity has been theoretically suggested and empirically demonstrated. Studies have shown sex differences in creativity measured by divergent thinking (CMDT) as well as sex differences in the structural correlates of CMDT. However, the relationships between regional white matter volume (rWMV) and CMDT and associated sex differences have never been directly investigated. In addition, structural studies have shown poor replicability and inaccuracy of multiple comparisons over the whole brain. To address these issues, we used the data from a large sample of healthy young adults (776 males and 560 females; mean age: 20.8 years, SD = 0.8). We investigated the relationship between CMDT and WMV using the newest version of voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We corrected for multiple comparisons over whole brain using the permutation-based method, which is known to be quite accurate and robust. Significant positive correlations between rWMV and CMDT scores were observed in widespread areas below the neocortex specifically in females. These associations with CMDT were not observed in analyses of fractional anisotropy using diffusion tensor imaging. Using rigorous methods, our findings further supported the importance of brain connectivity for creativity as well as its female-specific association. Hum Brain Mapp 38:414-430, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation

In this study, an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was used to conduct a quantitative investigation of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking. Based on the ALE results, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showed that distributed brain regions were more active under divergent thinking tasks (DTTs) than those under control tasks, but a large portion of the brain regions were deactivated. The ALE results indicated that the brain networks of the creative idea generation in DTTs may be composed of the lateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex [such as the inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and precuneus (BA 7)], anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (BA 32), and several regions in the temporal cortex [such as the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 39), and left fusiform gyrus (BA 37)]. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46) was related to selecting the loosely and remotely associated concepts and organizing them into creative ideas, whereas the ACC (BA 32) was related to observing and forming distant semantic associations in performing DTTs. The posterior parietal cortex may be involved in the semantic information related to the retrieval and buffering of the formed creative ideas, and several regions in the temporal cortex may be related to the stored long-term memory. In addition, the ALE results of the structural studies showed that divergent thinking was related to the dopaminergic system (e.g., left caudate and claustrum). Based on the ALE results, both fMRI and structural MRI studies could uncover the neural basis of divergent thinking from different aspects (e.g., specific cognitive processing and stable individual difference of cognitive capability).

Shaped by the Past: The Default Mode Network Supports Cognition that Is Independent of Immediate Perceptual Input

Although many different accounts of the functions of the default mode network (DMN) have been proposed, few can adequately account for the spectrum of different cognitive functions that utilize this network. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the hypothesis that the role of the DMN in higher order cognition is to allow cognition to be shaped by information from stored representations rather than information in the immediate environment. Using a novel task paradigm, we observed increased BOLD activity in regions of the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex when individuals made decisions on the location of shapes from the prior trial and decreased BOLD activity when individuals made decisions on the location of shapes on the current trial. These data are inconsistent with views of the DMN as a task-negative system or one that is sensitive only to stimuli with strong personal or emotional ties. Instead the involvement of the DMN when people make decisions about where a shape was, rather than where it is now, supports the hypothesis that the core hubs of the DMN allow cognition to be guided by information other than the immediate perceptual input. We propose that a variety of different forms of higher order thought (such as imagining the future or considering the perspective of another person) engage the DMN because these more complex introspective forms of higher order thought all depend on the capacity for cognition to be shaped by representations that are not present in the external environment.

Gray matter correlates of creative potential: a latent variable voxel-based morphometry study

There is increasing research interest in the structural and functional brain correlates underlying creative potential. Recent investigations found that interindividual differences in creative potential relate to volumetric differences in brain regions belonging to the default mode network, such as the precuneus. Yet, the complex interplay between creative potential, intelligence, and personality traits and their respective neural bases is still under debate. We investigated regional gray matter volume (rGMV) differences that can be associated with creative potential in a heterogeneous sample of N = 135 individuals using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). By means of latent variable modeling and consideration of recent psychometric advancements in creativity research, we sought to disentangle the effects of ideational originality and fluency as two independent indicators of creative potential. Intelligence and openness to experience were considered as common covariates of creative potential. The results confirmed and extended previous research: rGMV in the precuneus was associated with ideational originality, but not with ideational fluency. In addition, we found ideational originality to be correlated with rGMV in the caudate nucleus. The results indicate that the ability to produce original ideas is tied to default-mode as well as dopaminergic structures. These structural brain correlates of ideational originality were apparent throughout the whole range of intellectual ability and thus not moderated by intelligence. In contrast, structural correlates of ideational fluency, a quantitative marker of creative potential, were observed only in lower intelligent individuals in the cuneus/lingual gyrus.

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We studied gray matter correlates of creativity by means of voxel-based morphometry.

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Latent variables were used as predictors of regional gray matter volume.

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Creative potential was measured by means of ideational originality and fluency.

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Originality was correlated to gray matter in the precuneus and nucleus caudatus.

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Fluency was correlated to cuneus gray matter, but only in lower IQ individuals.