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Pomp J, Garlichs A, Kulvicius T, Tamosiunaite M, Wurm MF, Zahedi A, Wörgötter F, Schubotz RI. Action Segmentation in the Brain: The Role of Object-Action Associations. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1784-1806. [PMID: 38940741 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/29/2024]
Abstract
Motion information has been argued to be central to the subjective segmentation of observed actions. Concerning object-directed actions, object-associated action information might as well inform efficient action segmentation and prediction. The present study compared the segmentation and neural processing of object manipulations and equivalent dough ball manipulations to elucidate the effect of object-action associations. Behavioral data corroborated that objective relational changes in the form of (un-)touchings of objects, hand, and ground represent meaningful anchor points in subjective action segmentation rendering them objective marks of meaningful event boundaries. As expected, segmentation behavior became even more systematic for the weakly informative dough. fMRI data were modeled by critical subjective, and computer-vision-derived objective event boundaries. Whole-brain as well as planned ROI analyses showed that object information had significant effects on how the brain processes these boundaries. This was especially pronounced at untouchings, that is, events that announced the beginning of the upcoming action and might be the point where competing predictions are aligned with perceptual input to update the current action model. As expected, weak object-action associations at untouching events were accompanied by increased biological motion processing, whereas strong object-action associations came with an increased contextual associative information processing, as indicated by increased parahippocampal activity. Interestingly, anterior inferior parietal lobule activity increased for weak object-action associations at untouching events, presumably because of an unrestricted number of candidate actions for dough manipulation. Our findings offer new insights into the significance of objects for the segmentation of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Pomp
- University of Münster
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience
| | | | | | | | | | - Anoushiravan Zahedi
- University of Münster
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience
| | | | - Ricarda I Schubotz
- University of Münster
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience
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2
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Witczak O, Krzysik I, Bromberek-Dyzman K, Thierry G, Jończyk R. Controlling stimulus ambiguity reduces spurious creative ideation variance in a cyclic adaptation of the alternative uses task. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12492. [PMID: 38822043 PMCID: PMC11143269 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63225-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024] Open
Abstract
In the alternative uses task (AUT), a well-established creativity assessment, participants propose alternative uses for common items (e.g., a brick) within a 2-3 min timeframe. While idea evaluation is likely involved, the emphasis is strongly on idea generation. Here, we test the value of presenting a word overlapping an image compared to a word only prompt, and we introduce a cyclic adaptation of the AUT explicitly calling on participants to choose their best idea. In Experiment 1, as compared to word only, word + image prompts increased idea fluency but reduced idea originality and variability within a group of native Polish speakers. Thus, word + image prompts improve AUT baselining. In Experiment 2, different participants produced as many ideas as possible within two minutes (List) or their single best idea at the end of each of three 30 s ideation cycles (Cycle). Although originality did not differ between List and Cycle overall, the first three ideas in List were rated as less creative than the ideas in Cycle. Overall, we conclude that using disambiguating images reduces spurious interindividual variability in the AUT while introducing idea evaluation in the task allows us to assess creativity beyond idea generation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Guillaume Thierry
- Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Bangor University, Bangor, UK
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3
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Ding K, He R, Wang X, Chen Q, Kenett YN. Recognizing ideas generated in a creative task: the roles of the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex in facilitating self-generated learning. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae219. [PMID: 38798002 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2024] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Creative idea generation plays an important role in promoting successful memory formation. Yet, its underlying neural correlates remain unclear. We investigated the self-generated learning of creative ideas motivated by the schema-linked interactions between medial prefrontal and medial temporal regions framework. This was achieved by having participants generate ideas in the alternative uses task, self-evaluating their ideas based on novelty and source (i.e. new or old), and then later being tested on the recognition performance of the generated ideas. At the behavioral level, our results indicated superior performances in discriminating novel ideas, highlighting the novelty effect on memory. At the neural level, the regions-of-interest analyses revealed that successful recognition of novel ideas was associated with greater activations in the hippocampus (HPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during ideation. However, only activation in the right HPC was positively related to the successful recognition of novel ideas. Importantly, the weaker the connection between the right HPC and left mPFC, the higher the recognition accuracy of novel ideas. Moreover, activations in the right HPC and left mPFC were both effective predictors of successful recognition of novel ideas. These findings uniquely highlight the role of novelty in promoting self-generated learning of creative ideas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Ding
- Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Technicon City, 3200003, Haifa, Israel
| | - Ruizhi He
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, 400715, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, No. 2, Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, 400715, Chongqing, China
| | - Xi Wang
- Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, No. 10, Helmholtzstr, 01069, Dresden, Germany
| | - Qunlin Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, 400715, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, No. 2, Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, 400715, Chongqing, China
| | - Yoed N Kenett
- Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Technicon City, 3200003, Haifa, Israel
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4
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Kenett YN, Chrysikou EG, Bassett DS, Thompson-Schill SL. Neural Dynamics During the Generation and Evaluation of Creative and Non-Creative Ideas. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.15.589621. [PMID: 38659810 PMCID: PMC11042297 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.15.589621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
What are the neural dynamics that drive creative thinking? Recent studies have provided much insight into the neural mechanisms of creative thought. Specifically, the interaction between the executive control, default mode, and salience brain networks has been shown to be an important marker of individual differences in creative ability. However, how these different brain systems might be recruited dynamically during the two key components of the creative process-generation and evaluation of ideas-remains far from understood. In the current study we applied state-of-the-art network neuroscience methodologies to examine the neural dynamics related to the generation and evaluation of creative and non-creative ideas using a novel within-subjects design. Participants completed two functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions, taking place a week apart. In the first imaging session, participants generated either creative (alternative uses) or non-creative (common characteristics) responses to common objects. In the second imaging session, participants evaluated their own creative and non-creative responses to the same objects. Network neuroscience methods were applied to examine and directly compare reconfiguration, integration, and recruitment of brain networks during these four conditions. We found that generating creative ideas led to significantly higher network reconfiguration than generating non-creative ideas, whereas evaluating creative and non-creative ideas led to similar levels of network integration. Furthermore, we found that these differences were attributable to different dynamic patterns of neural activity across the executive control, default mode, and salience networks. This study is the first to show within-subject differences in neural dynamics related to generating and evaluating creative and non-creative ideas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoed N Kenett
- Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, 3200003
| | - Evangelia G Chrysikou
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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5
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Duval PE, Fornari E, Décaillet M, Ledoux JB, Beaty RE, Denervaud S. Creative thinking and brain network development in schoolchildren. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13389. [PMID: 36942648 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Fostering creative minds has always been a premise to ensure adaptation to new challenges of human civilization. While some alternative educational settings (i.e., Montessori) were shown to nurture creative skills, it is unknown how they impact underlying brain mechanisms across the school years. This study assessed creative thinking and resting-state functional connectivity via fMRI in 75 children (4-18 y.o.) enrolled either in Montessori or traditional schools. We found that pedagogy significantly influenced creative performance and underlying brain networks. Replicating past work, Montessori-schooled children showed higher scores on creative thinking tests. Using static functional connectivity analysis, we found that Montessori-schooled children showed decreased within-network functional connectivity of the salience network. Moreover, using dynamic functional connectivity, we found that traditionally-schooled children spent more time in a brain state characterized by high intra-default mode network connectivity. These findings suggest that pedagogy may influence brain networks relevant to creative thinking-particularly the default and salience networks. Further research is needed, like a longitudinal study, to verify these results given the implications for educational practitioners. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWV_5o8wB5g . RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Most executive jobs are prospected to be obsolete within several decades, so creative skills are seen as essential for the near future. School experience has been shown to play a role in creativity development, however, the underlying brain mechanisms remained under-investigated yet. Seventy-five 4-18 years-old children, from Montessori or traditional schools, performed a creativity task at the behavioral level, and a 6-min resting-state MR scan. We uniquely report preliminary evidence for the impact of pedagogy on functional brain networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Eon Duval
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Eleonora Fornari
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marion Décaillet
- Department Woman Mother-Child, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Baptiste Ledoux
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Roger E Beaty
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Solange Denervaud
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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6
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Lebuda I, Benedek M. A systematic framework of creative metacognition. Phys Life Rev 2023; 46:161-181. [PMID: 37478624 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Creative cognition does not just involve cognitive processes in direct service of the main task objective (e.g., idea generation), but also metacognitive processes that monitor and regulate cognition adaptively (e.g., evaluation of ideas and task performance, or development and selection of task strategies). Although metacognition is vital for creative performance, relevant work is sparse, which may be partly due to persistent ambiguities in the theoretical conceptualization of creative metacognition. Therefore, this article proposes a systematic framework of creative metacognition (CMC), which builds on recent advancements in metacognition theory and extends them to meet the specifics of creative cognition. The CMC framework consists of two dynamic components-monitoring and control-and a more static component of metacognitive knowledge, each subsuming metacognitive processes applying to the level of task, performance, and responses. We describe the presumed function of these metacognitive components in the creative process, present evidence in support of each, and discuss their association with related constructs, such as creative self-beliefs. We further highlight the dynamic interplay of metacognitive processes across task performance and identify promising avenues for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Izabela Lebuda
- University of Graz, Austria; University of Wrocław, Poland.
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7
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Matheson HE, Kenett YN, Gerver C, Beaty RE. Representing creative thought: A representational similarity analysis of creative idea generation and evaluation. Neuropsychologia 2023; 187:108587. [PMID: 37268289 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Dual process theories of creativity suggest that creative thought is supported by both a generation phase, where unconstrained ideas are generated and combined in novel ways, and an evaluation phase, where those ideas are filtered for usefulness in context. Neurocognitively, both the default mode network (DMN) and the executive control network (ECN) have been implicated in generation and evaluation, respectively. Importantly, generating and evaluating ideas implies that the same information, reflected in patterns of neural activity, must be present in both phases, suggesting that information should be 'reinstated' (i.e. multidimensional patterns must reappear) within and/or between network nodes. In the present study, we used representational similarity analysis (RSA) to investigate the extent to which nodes of the DMN and ECN reinstate information between a generation phase, in which participants generated novel or appropriate word associations to single nouns, and an evaluation phase, where we presented the associations back to participants to evaluate them. We showed strong evidence for reinstatement within the ECN dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex during the novel association task, and within the DMN medial prefrontal cortex during the appropriate association task. We additionally showed between network reinstatement between the ECN dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the DMN posterior parietal cortex during the novelty task. These results demonstrate the importance of both within- and between-informational reinstatement for generating and evaluating ideas, and implicate both the DMN and ECN in dual process models of creativity.
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8
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Ivancovsky T, Baror S, Bar M. A shared novelty-seeking basis for creativity and curiosity. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 47:e89. [PMID: 37547934 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23002807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Curiosity and creativity are central pillars of human growth and invention. Although they have been studied extensively in isolation, the relationship between them has not yet been established. We propose that both curiosity and creativity emanate from the same mechanism of novelty seeking. We first present a synthesis showing that curiosity and creativity are affected similarly by a number of key cognitive faculties such as memory, cognitive control, attention, and reward. We then review empirical evidence from neuroscience research, indicating that the same brain regions are involved in both curiosity and creativity, focusing on the interplay between three major brain networks: the default mode network, the salience network, and the executive control network. After substantiating the link between curiosity and creativity, we propose a novelty-seeking model (NSM) that underlies them and suggests that the manifestation of the NSM is governed by one's state of mind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Ivancovsky
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan,
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
| | - Shira Baror
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Moshe Bar
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan,
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9
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Perchtold-Stefan CM, Rominger C, Papousek I, Fink A. Functional EEG Alpha Activation Patterns During Malevolent Creativity. Neuroscience 2023; 522:98-108. [PMID: 37178782 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
On the dark side of creativity, creative ideation is intentionally used to damage others. This first EEG study on malevolent creativity investigated task-related power (TRP) changes in the alpha band while n = 89 participants (52 women, 37 men) generated original ideas for revenge in the psychometric Malevolent Creativity Test. TRP changes were assessed for different stages of the idea generation process and linked to performance indicators of malevolent creativity. This study revealed three crucial findings: 1) Malevolent creativity yielded topographically distinct alpha power increases similar to conventional creative ideation. 2) Time-related activity changes during malevolent creative ideation were reflected in early prefrontal and mid-stage temporal alpha power increases in individuals with higher malevolent creativity performance. This performance-related, time-sensitive pattern of TRP changes during malevolent creativity may reflect early conceptual expansion from prosocial to antisocial perspectives, and subsequent inhibition of dominant semantic associations in favor of novel revenge ideas. 3) The observed, right-lateralized alpha power increases over the entire ideation phase may denote an additional emotional load of creative ideation. Our study highlights the seminal role of EEG alpha oscillations as a biomarker for creativity, also when creative processes operate in a malevolent context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ilona Papousek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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10
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Grecucci A, Rastelli C, Bacci F, Melcher D, De Pisapia N. A Supervised Machine Learning Approach to Classify Brain Morphology of Professional Visual Artists versus Non-Artists. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:s23094199. [PMID: 37177406 PMCID: PMC10181039 DOI: 10.3390/s23094199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate whether there are structural differences in the brains of professional artists who received formal training in the visual arts and non-artists who did not have any formal training or professional experience in the visual arts, and whether these differences can be used to accurately classify individuals as being an artist or not. Previous research using functional MRI has suggested that general creativity involves a balance between the default mode network and the executive control network. However, it is not known whether there are structural differences between the brains of artists and non-artists. In this study, a machine learning method called Multi-Kernel Learning (MKL) was applied to gray matter images of 12 artists and 12 non-artists matched for age and gender. The results showed that the predictive model was able to correctly classify artists from non-artists with an accuracy of 79.17% (AUC 88%), and had the ability to predict new cases with an accuracy of 81.82%. The brain regions most important for this classification were the Heschl area, amygdala, cingulate, thalamus, and parts of the parietal and occipital lobes as well as the temporal pole. These regions may be related to the enhanced emotional and visuospatial abilities that professional artists possess compared to non-artists. Additionally, the reliability of this circuit was assessed using two different classifiers, which confirmed the findings. There was also a trend towards significance between the circuit and a measure of vividness of imagery, further supporting the idea that these brain regions may be related to the imagery abilities involved in the artistic process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Grecucci
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of Trento, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Clara Rastelli
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of Trento, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
- MEG Center, University of Tübingen, 72072 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Francesca Bacci
- College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates
| | - David Melcher
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of Trento, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
- Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Nicola De Pisapia
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of Trento, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
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11
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Ovando-Tellez M, Kenett YN, Benedek M, Bernard M, Belo J, Beranger B, Bieth T, Volle E. Brain Connectivity-Based Prediction of Combining Remote Semantic Associates for Creative Thinking. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2023.2192563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcela Ovando-Tellez
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Yoed N. Kenett
- Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology,Haifa Israel
| | | | - Matthieu Bernard
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Joan Belo
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Benoit Beranger
- Sorbonne University, CENIR at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Theophile Bieth
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
- Neurology department, Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Emmanuelle Volle
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France
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12
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Heo J, Yi K, Hong J, Kim C. The role of the prefrontal cortex in semantic control for selecting weakly associated meanings in creative idea generation. Neurosci Lett 2023; 802:137177. [PMID: 36907264 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
Abstract
Although semantic control is known to play a critical role in selecting weakly associated representations for creative idea generation, direct evidence for this is still lacking. The current study aimed to reveal the role of brain regions, including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), medial frontal gyrus (MFG), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL), previously reported to be associated with creative idea generation. For this purpose, a functional MRI experiment with a newly developed category judgment task was conducted, which required participants to judge whether two words belonged to the same category. Importantly, weakly associated meanings were manipulated by the task condition, which required selecting an unused meaning of the homonym in a preceding semantic context. The results showed that the selection of a weakly associated meaning for a homonym was associated with an increased activation of the IFG and MFG and a decreased activation of the IPL. These results suggest that IFG and MFG contribute to semantic control processes recruited for the selection of weakly associated meanings and self-guided retrieval, whereas IPL appears to be unrelated to the control demand for creative idea generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juyeon Heo
- Department of Psychology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
| | - Kyongmyon Yi
- Department of Psychology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
| | - Jiyun Hong
- Department of Psychology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea
| | - Chobok Kim
- Department of Psychology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea.
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13
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Wang L, Yang J. Learning from errors: Distinct neural networks for monitoring errors and maintaining corrects through repeated practice and feedback. Neuroimage 2023; 271:120001. [PMID: 36878457 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2022] [Revised: 02/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
How memory representations are eventually established and maintained in the brain is one of central issues in memory research. Although the hippocampus and various brain regions have been shown to be involved in learning and memory, how they coordinate to support successful memory through errors is unclear. In this study, a retrieval practice (RP) - feedback (FB) paradigm was adopted to address this issue. Fifty-six participants (27 in the behavioral group, and 29 in the fMRI group) learned 120 Swahili-Chinese words associations and underwent two RP-answer FB cycles (i.e., RP1, FB1, RP2, FB2). The responses of the fMRI group were recorded in the fMRI scanner. The trials were divided based on participant's performance (correct or incorrect, C or I) during the two RPs and the final test (i.e., trial type, CCC, ICC, IIC III). The results showed that the regions in the salience and executive control networks (S-ECN) during RP, but not during FB, was strongly predictive of final successful memory. Their activation was just before the errors were corrected (i.e., RP1 in ICC trials and RP2 in IIC trials). The anterior insula (AI) is a core region in monitoring repeated errors, and it had differential connectivity with the default mode network (DMN) regions and the hippocampus during the RP and FB phases to inhibit incorrect answers and update memory. In contrast, maintaining corrected memory representation requires repeated RP and FB, which was associated with the DMN activation. Our study clarified how different brain regions support error monitoring and memory maintenance through repeated RP and FB, and emphasized the role of the insula in learning from errors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingwei Wang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Jiongjiong Yang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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14
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Kenett YN, Humphries S, Chatterjee A. A Thirst for Knowledge: Grounding Curiosity, Creativity, and Aesthetics in Memory and Reward Neural Systems. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2023.2165748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Yoed N. Kenett
- Technion - Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
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15
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Rominger C, Fink A, Benedek M, Weber B, Perchtold-Stefan CM, Schwerdtfeger AR. The ambulatory battery of creativity: Additional evidence for reliability and validity. Front Psychol 2022; 13:964206. [PMID: 36186395 PMCID: PMC9524250 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.964206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychometrically sound instruments that assess temporal dynamics of creative abilities are limited. The Ambulatory Battery of Creativity (ABC) is designed to assess creative ideation performance multiple times in everyday life and was proven to capture the intra-individual dynamic of creative abilities reliably and validly. The present ambulatory study aimed to replicate and extend the psychometric evidence of the novel ABC. Sixty-nine participants worked on the ABC during a 5-day ambulatory assessment protocol. Each day, participants completed six randomly presented items of the verbal and the figural ABC. Matching previous psychometric analyses, the results indicated good between-person (≥0.80) and good within-person (≥0.72) reliability. Furthermore, evidence for between-person and within-person validity of the ABC was obtained. Performance in the verbal and the figural ABC were interrelated and correlated with an independent measure of creative potential. The verbal ABC was further associated with openness, self-reported creative behavior, creative activities, and creative achievements, thus providing additional evidence of construct validity, especially for the verbal ABC. Finally, the verbal and the figural ABC yielded convincing within-person validity: Longer response times and higher subjective originality ratings were associated with more original ideas. This replication and extension of the ABC's psychometric properties indicates that it enables a reliable and valid assessment of moment-to-moment fluctuations of creative ideation abilities in everyday life, which may facilitate the investigation of exciting new research questions related to dynamic aspects of creative ability.
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16
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Kuang C, Chen J, Chen J, Shi Y, Huang H, Jiao B, Lin Q, Rao Y, Liu W, Zhu Y, Mo L, Ma L, Lin J. Uncovering neural distinctions and commodities between two creativity subsets: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies in divergent thinking and insight using activation likelihood estimation. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:4864-4885. [PMID: 35906880 PMCID: PMC9582370 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The dual‐process theory that two different systems of thought coexist in creative thinking has attracted considerable attention. In the field of creative thinking, divergent thinking (DT) is the ability to produce multiple solutions to open‐ended problems in a short time. It is mainly considered an associative and fast process. Meanwhile, insight, the new and unexpected comprehension of close‐ended problems, is frequently marked as a deliberate and time‐consuming thinking process requiring concentrated effort. Previous research has been dedicated to revealing their separate neural mechanisms, while few studies have compared their differences and similarities at the brain level. Therefore, the current study applied Activation Likelihood Estimation to decipher common and distinctive neural pathways that potentially underlie DT and insight. We selected 27 DT studies and 30 insight studies for retrospective meta‐analyses. Initially, two single analyses with follow‐up contrast and conjunction analyses were performed. The single analyses showed that DT mainly involved the inferior parietal lobe (IPL), cuneus, and middle frontal gyrus (MFG), while the precentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), parahippocampal gyrus (PG), amygdala (AMG), and superior parietal lobe were engaged in insight. Compared to insight, DT mainly led to greater activation in the IPL, the crucial part of the default mode network. However, insight caused more significant activation in regions related to executive control functions and emotional responses, such as the IFG, MFG, PG, and AMG. Notably, the conjunction analysis detected no overlapped areas between DT and insight. These neural findings implicate that various neurocognitive circuits may support DT and insight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changyi Kuang
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jun Chen
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiawen Chen
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yafei Shi
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huiyuan Huang
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bingqing Jiao
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiwen Lin
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuyang Rao
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wenting Liu
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yunpeng Zhu
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lei Mo
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lijun Ma
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiabao Lin
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.,UMR 5229, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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17
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Yang W, Green AE, Chen Q, Kenett YN, Sun J, Wei D, Qiu J. Creative problem solving in knowledge-rich contexts. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:849-859. [PMID: 35868956 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Creative problem solving (CPS) in real-world contexts often relies on reorganization of existing knowledge to serve new, problem-relevant functions. However, classic creativity paradigms that minimize knowledge content are generally used to investigate creativity, including CPS. We argue that CPS research should expand consideration of knowledge-rich problem contexts, both in novices and experts within specific domains. In particular, paradigms focusing on creative analogical transfer of knowledge may reflect CPS skills that are applicable to real-world problem solving. Such paradigms have begun to provide process-level insights into cognitive and neural characteristics of knowledge-rich CPS and point to multiple avenues for fruitfully expanding inquiry into the role of crystalized knowledge in creativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjing Yang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Adam E Green
- Department of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Qunlin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Yoed N Kenett
- Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Jiangzhou Sun
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Dongtao Wei
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, 400715, China.
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18
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Lin J, Chen Y, Xie J, Mo L. Altered Brain Connectivity Patterns of Individual Differences in Insightful Problem Solving. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:905806. [PMID: 35645749 PMCID: PMC9130958 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.905806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Insightful problem solving (IPS) attracts widespread attention in creative thinking domains. However, the neural underpinnings of individual differences in IPS are still unclear. The purpose of this research was to investigate inherent full-brain connectivity patterns at voxel-level in IPS. Sixty-two healthy participants were enrolled in the study. We used a voxelwise full-brain network measurement, degree centrality (DC), to depict the characteristics of cerebral network involved in individual differences in IPS. For each participant, we employed a chunk decomposition paradigm, using Mandarin characters as stimuli, to estimate the individual differences in IPS. Results showed that DC in the inferior frontal gyrus, and the middle frontal gyrus/precentral gyrus positively correlated with IPS, while the anterior cingulate cortex, and the brainstern/cerebellum/thalamus exhibited negative correlations with IPS. Using each cluster above as a seed, we performed seed-based functional connectivity analysis further. Results showed that IPS was mainly involved in the default mode network, containing the key regions of precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex. All in all, this research may shed new lights on understanding the neural underpinnings of individual differences in IPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiabao Lin
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Management, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Yajue Chen
- School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiushu Xie
- School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Lei Mo
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Lei Mo,
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19
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Rominger C, Schneider M, Fink A, Tran US, Perchtold-Stefan CM, Schwerdtfeger AR. Acute and Chronic Physical Activity Increases Creative Ideation Performance: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-analysis. SPORTS MEDICINE - OPEN 2022; 8:62. [PMID: 35523914 PMCID: PMC9076802 DOI: 10.1186/s40798-022-00444-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Physical activity is a health-relevant lifestyle factor associated with various benefits on physical and mental health. Several meta-analyses indicated effects of acute and chronic physical activities on elementary cognitive functions such as executive control processes, memory, and attention. Meta-analytic evidence on the effects of physical activity on creative idea generation, which involves a conglomerate of these elementary cognitive functions, is largely missing. OBJECTIVE A twofold approach was used to evaluate (1) if there is an association between habitual physical activity and creative ideation and (2) if physical activity interventions (acute and chronic) enhance creative ideation performance. METHODS Multilevel meta-analytic methods were applied to (1) evaluate the cross-sectional association between creative ideation performance and measures of habitual physical activity and (2) the effect of physical activity on creative ideation performance. Indicators of creative ideation (fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, or composite score), creativity domain (verbal, figural), population (adults, children), gender, study quality, and publication year served as moderator variables for both meta-analyses. Analyses of intervention studies additionally examined the moderator variables study design (between, within), time of measurement (during, after), and implementation of intervention (acute, chronic). RESULTS The applied meta-analytic multilevel analysis indicated a medium effect for cross-sectional studies (r = 0.22, SE = 0.06, p = 0.002, 95% CI [0.10-0.34]) based on 17 effects sizes from seven studies. The pooled effects of 28 intervention studies, providing 115 effect sizes, indicated a medium effect size of Hedges' g = 0.47 (SE = 0.09, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.30-0.65]). Furthermore, a stronger effect was observed for chronic interventions of several days or weeks in comparison with acute interventions of one single bout. CONCLUSION This study adds important new meta-analytic evidence on the beneficial role of physical activity beyond mental and physical health outcomes: Physical activity has a positive impact on creative ideation, which expands the literature on the role of physical activity in more elementary cognitive functions such as executive control, memory, and attention. Moderator analyses suggested that chronic interventions showed stronger effects than single bouts of physical activity. Rigorously conducted randomized controlled intervention studies and more cross-sectional studies are needed to broaden the evidence in this nascent field of research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Andreas Fink
- Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Ulrich S Tran
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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20
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Chen PH, Rau PLP. Alpha Oscillations in Parietal and Parietooccipital Explaining How Boredom Matters Prospective Memory. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:789031. [PMID: 35495062 PMCID: PMC9043245 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.789031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Intelligent interaction alters previous human–machine task allocation patterns. Human workers will suffer from boredom and inattention, posing a significant challenge for the human–machine interaction loop. This study aims to investigate the relationship between boredom and prospective memory, which is a memory form including the detecting, identifying, and executing functions. Thus, the attention and memory mechanisms are critical to complete prospective memory tasks when bored. This study recruited twenty-eight participants and used electroencephalography to measure the alpha power in brain regions. The results indicated that parietal oscillations had a mediation effect on prospective memory, which could be associated with the frequent unstable attention. In addition, this study found that parietooccipital oscillations linked boredom and prospective memory, and the default mode network (DMN) and visual processing during boredom could better explain this finding. The findings of this study suggested that attention management and influences of processing visual information were starting points to cope with boredom because they could help prepare for prospective memory and make optimal decisions accordingly.
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21
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Li X, Li Y, Wang X, Bai H, Deng W, Cai N, Hu W. Neural mechanisms underlying the influence of retrieval ability on creating and recalling creative ideas. Neuropsychologia 2022; 171:108239. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 03/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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22
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van Leeuwen JEP, Boomgaard J, Bzdok D, Crutch SJ, Warren JD. More Than Meets the Eye: Art Engages the Social Brain. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:738865. [PMID: 35281491 PMCID: PMC8914233 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.738865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Here we present the viewpoint that art essentially engages the social brain, by demonstrating how art processing maps onto the social brain connectome-the most comprehensive diagram of the neural dynamics that regulate human social cognition to date. We start with a brief history of the rise of neuroaesthetics as the scientific study of art perception and appreciation, in relation to developments in contemporary art practice and theory during the same period. Building further on a growing awareness of the importance of social context in art production and appreciation, we then set out how art engages the social brain and outline candidate components of the "artistic brain connectome." We explain how our functional model for art as a social brain phenomenon may operate when engaging with artworks. We call for closer collaborations between the burgeoning field of neuroaesthetics and arts professionals, cultural institutions and diverse audiences in order to fully delineate and contextualize this model. Complementary to the unquestionable value of art for art's sake, we argue that its neural grounding in the social brain raises important practical implications for mental health, and the care of people living with dementia and other neurological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janneke E. P. van Leeuwen
- Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- The Thinking Eye, ACAVA Limehouse Arts Foundation, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jeroen Boomgaard
- Research Group Art and Public Space, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Danilo Bzdok
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, ON, Canada
| | - Sebastian J. Crutch
- Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jason D. Warren
- Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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23
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Ovando-Tellez M, Kenett YN, Benedek M, Bernard M, Belo J, Beranger B, Bieth T, Volle E. Brain connectivity-based prediction of real-life creativity is mediated by semantic memory structure. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabl4294. [PMID: 35119928 PMCID: PMC8816337 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl4294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Associative theories of creativity argue that creative cognition involves the abilities to generate remote associations and make useful connections between unrelated concepts in one's semantic memory. Yet, whether and how real-life creative behavior relies on semantic memory structure and its neural substrates remains unclear. We acquired multi-echo functional magnetic resonance imaging data while participants underwent a semantic relatedness judgment task. These ratings were used to estimate their individual semantic memory networks, whose properties significantly predicted their real-life creativity. Using a connectome predictive modeling approach, we identified patterns of task-based functional connectivity that predicted creativity-related semantic memory network properties. Furthermore, these properties mediated the relationship between functional connectivity and real-life creativity. These results provide new insights into how brain connectivity patterns support real-life creative behavior via the structure of semantic memory. We also show how computational network science can be used to couple behavioral, cognitive, and neural levels of analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcela Ovando-Tellez
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Yoed N. Kenett
- Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
| | | | - Matthieu Bernard
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Joan Belo
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Benoit Beranger
- Sorbonne University, CENIR at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Theophile Bieth
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
- Neurology Department, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Emmanuelle Volle
- Sorbonne University, FrontLab at Paris Brain Institute (ICM), INSERM, CNRS, 75013 Paris, France
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24
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Brown S, Kim E. The neural basis of creative production: A cross-modal ALE meta-analysis. OPEN PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1515/psych-2020-0114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Brown
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour , McMaster University , Hamilton , ON , Canada
| | - Eunseon Kim
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour , McMaster University , Hamilton , ON , Canada
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25
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Beaty RE, Cortes RA, Zeitlen DC, Weinberger AB, Green AE. Functional Realignment of Frontoparietal Subnetworks during Divergent Creative Thinking. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4464-4476. [PMID: 33895837 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2021] [Revised: 03/06/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Creative cognition has been consistently associated with functional connectivity between frontoparietal control and default networks. However, recent research identified distinct connectivity dynamics for subnetworks within the larger frontoparietal system-one subnetwork (FPCNa) shows positive coupling with the default network and another subnetwork (FPCNb) shows negative default coupling-raising questions about how these networks interact during creative cognition. Here we examine frontoparietal subnetwork functional connectivity in a large sample of participants (n = 171) who completed a divergent creative thinking task and a resting-state scan during fMRI. We replicated recent findings on functional connectivity of frontoparietal subnetworks at rest: FPCNa positively correlated with the default network and FPCNb negatively correlated with the default network. Critically, we found that divergent thinking evoked functional connectivity between both frontoparietal subnetworks and the default network, but in different ways. Using community detection, we found that FPCNa regions showed greater coassignment to a default network community. However, FPCNb showed overall stronger functional connectivity with the default network-reflecting a reversal of negative connectivity at rest-and the strength of FPCNb-default network connectivity correlated with individual creative ability. These findings provide novel evidence of a behavioral benefit to the cooperation of typically anticorrelated brain networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger E Beaty
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
| | - Robert A Cortes
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA
| | - Daniel C Zeitlen
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
| | - Adam B Weinberger
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA.,Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Adam E Green
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA
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26
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Huang F, Song Y, Jiang Y, Zhao Q, Luo J. Where and How Are Original and Valuable Ideas Generated? tDCS of the Generation-Related Posterior Temporal Lobe and the Executive Control-Related Prefrontal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1004-1013. [PMID: 34379744 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Creativity is generally defined as the ability to generate innovative thoughts that are both original and valuable. Previous studies have suggested that the temporal lobe, related to memory extraction and construction, is responsible for generating creative ideas and that the executive system supports the generation of creative ideas. However, the causal relationships between these structures and the novelty index as well as the appropriateness index of generated ideas have not been revealed. It is still largely unknown where and how original and valuable ideas are generated. In this study, the transcranial direct current stimulation technique was used to selectively manipulate the activity of the generation-related right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) (experiment 1) and the executive control-related left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (experiment 2). Then, both the novelty and appropriateness indexes of generated ideas were analyzed during insight problem-solving. The results showed that anodal stimulation of the right TPJ increased both the novelty and appropriateness indexes of creative ideas, whereas anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC increased the novelty index but not the appropriateness index of creative ideas. These findings suggest that the posterior temporal lobe takes both the novelty and appropriateness attributes into account to generate ideas, while the executive control system can effectively regulate the novelty attribute of generated ideas but ineffectively addresses the inappropriateness attribute. The current study indicates complementary mechanisms in the process of generating original and valuable ideas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Furong Huang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
| | - Yan Song
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
| | - Yan Jiang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
| | - Qingbai Zhao
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Jing Luo
- School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
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27
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Rominger C, Koschutnig K, Memmert D, Papousek I, Perchtold-Stefan CM, Benedek M, Schwerdtfeger AR, Fink A. Brain activation during the observation of real soccer game situations predicts creative goal scoring. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:707-715. [PMID: 33760069 PMCID: PMC8259291 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Creativity is an important source of success in soccer players. In order to be effective in soccer, unpredictable, sudden and at the same time creative (i.e. unique, original and effective) ideas are required in situations with high time pressure. Accordingly, creative task performance in soccer should be primarily driven by rapid and automatic cognitive processes. This study investigated if functional patterns of brain activation during the observation/encoding of real soccer game situations can predict creative soccer task performance. A machine learning approach (multivariate pattern recognition) was applied in a sample of 35 experienced male soccer players. The results revealed that brain activation during the observation of the soccer scenes significantly predicted creative soccer task performance, while brain activation during the subsequent ideation/elaboration period did not. The identified brain network included areas such as the angular gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, the occipital cortex, parts of the cerebellum and (left) supplementary motor areas, which are important for semantic information processing, memory retrieval, integration of sensory information and motor control. This finding suggests that early and presumably automatized neurocognitive processes, such as (implicit) knowledge about motor movements, and the rapid integration of information from different sources are important for creative task performance in soccer.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Karl Koschutnig
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
| | - Daniel Memmert
- Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics, German Sport University of Cologne, Cologne 50933, Germany
| | - Ilona Papousek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
| | | | - Mathias Benedek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
| | | | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz 8010, Austria
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Can Eating Make Us More Creative? A Multisensory Perspective. Foods 2021; 10:foods10020469. [PMID: 33672593 PMCID: PMC7924055 DOI: 10.3390/foods10020469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
While it is well known how food can make us physically healthy, it remains unclear how the multisensory experience of eating might influence complex cognitive abilities such as creativity. A growing body of literature has demonstrated that all human senses are capable of sparking creativity. It follows then that eating, as one of the most multisensory of all human behaviors, should be a playground for creative thinking. The present review presents an overview of how creativity is defined and measured and what we currently know about creativity as influenced by the senses, both singular and in conjunction. Based on this foundation, we provide an outlook on potential ways in which what we eat, where we eat, and how we eat might positively support creative thinking, with applications in the workplace and home. We present the view that, by offering a rich multisensory experience, eating nourishes not only our bodies but also our mental well-being.
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Ding K, Chen Q, Yang W, Wang X, Yang D, Ding C, Qiu J. Recognizing ideas generated in a creative thinking task: Effect of the subjective novelty. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-01342-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Cogdell‐Brooke LS, Sowden PT, Violante IR, Thompson HE. A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:5057-5077. [PMID: 32845058 PMCID: PMC7643395 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paul T. Sowden
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of WinchesterWinchesterUK
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31
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Schiavio A, Benedek M. Dimensions of Musical Creativity. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:578932. [PMID: 33328852 PMCID: PMC7734132 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.578932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Current literature on creative cognition has developed rich conceptual landscapes dedicated to the analysis of both individual and collective forms of creativity. This work has favored the emergence of unifying theories on domain-general creative abilities in which the main experiential, behavioral, computational, and neural aspects involved in everyday creativity are examined and discussed. But while such accounts have gained important analytical leverage for describing the overall conditions and mechanisms through which creativity emerges and operates, they necessarily leave contextual forms of creativity less explored. Among the latter, musical practices have recently drawn the attention of scholars interested in its creative properties as well as in the creative potential of those who engage with them. In the present article, we compare previously posed theories of creativity in musical and non-musical domains to lay the basis of a conceptual framework that mitigates the tension between (i) individual and collective and (ii) domain-general and domain-specific perspectives on creativity. In doing so, we draw from a range of scholarship in music and enactive cognitive science, and propose that creative cognition may be best understood as a process of skillful organism-environment adaptation that one cultivates endlessly. With its focus on embodiment, plurality, and adaptiveness, our account points to a structured unity between living systems and their world, disclosing a variety of novel analytical resources for research and theory across different dimensions of (musical) creativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Schiavio
- Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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Marron TR, Berant E, Axelrod V, Faust M. Spontaneous cognition and its relationship to human creativity: A functional connectivity study involving a chain free association task. Neuroimage 2020; 220:117064. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Creativity is associated with a characteristic U-shaped function of alpha power changes accompanied by an early increase in functional coupling. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 19:1012-1021. [PMID: 30756348 PMCID: PMC6711878 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-019-00699-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Although there exists increasing knowledge about brain correlates underlying creative ideation in general, the specific neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in different stages of the creative thinking process are still under-researched. Some recent EEG studies suggested that alpha power during creative ideation varies as a function of time, with the highest levels of alpha power after stimulus onset and at the end of the creative thinking process. The main aim of the present study was to replicate and extend this finding by applying an individual differences approach, and by investigating functional coupling between long distance cortical sites during the process of creative ideation. Eighty-six participants performed the Alternate Uses (AU) task during EEG assessment. Results revealed that more original people showed increased alpha power after stimulus onset and before finalizing the process of idea generation. This U-shaped alpha power pattern was accompanied by an early increase in functional communication between frontal and parietal-occipital sites during the creative thinking process, putatively indicating activation of top-down executive control processes. Participants with lower originality showed no significant time-related variation in alpha power and a delayed increase in long distance functional communication. These findings are in line with dual process models of creative ideation and support the idea that increased alpha power at the beginning of the creative ideation process may indicate more associative modes of thinking and memory processes, while the alpha increases at later stages may indicate executive control processes, associated with idea elaboration/evaluation.
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34
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Matheson HE, Kenett YN. The role of the motor system in generating creative thoughts. Neuroimage 2020; 213:116697. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Revised: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
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Perchtold-Stefan CM, Papousek I, Rominger C, Schertler M, Weiss EM, Fink A. Humor comprehension and creative cognition: Shared and distinct neurocognitive mechanisms as indicated by EEG alpha activity. Neuroimage 2020; 213:116695. [PMID: 32142882 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Humor comprehension is increasingly recognized as showing parallels to more conventional creative cognition; yet our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying creative cognition in a humorous context is still limited. The present study addressed this issue by investigating functional patterns of EEG alpha activity while 93 participants viewed nonverbal humorous cartoons until they indicated having recognized the punch line, and subsequently vocalized their idea as to what constituted it. In a similar fashion, EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), in order to identify similarities and differences in EEG alpha activity implicated in conventional creative cognition vs. humor comprehension. Analyses revealed a pattern of robust task-related alpha power increases in both tasks, which were markedly more right-lateralized at ventral fronto-temporal sites in the humor task as compared to the AUT. Findings are interpreted in line with recent literature on the functional role of alpha activity in the creativity domain. Altogether, this study adds further evidence to the particular role of EEG alpha oscillations in creative cognition and supports the idea that conventional creative ideation and the comprehension of humor share neural mechanisms affiliated to creative cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilona Papousek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | | | | | | | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
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36
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Benedek M, Jurisch J, Koschutnig K, Fink A, Beaty RE. Elements of creative thought: Investigating the cognitive and neural correlates of association and bi-association processes. Neuroimage 2020; 210:116586. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
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Forthmann B, Lips C, Szardenings C, Scharfen J, Holling H. Are Speedy Brains Needed when Divergent Thinking is Speeded—or Unspeeded? JOURNAL OF CREATIVE BEHAVIOR 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/jocb.350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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38
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Calic G, Shamy NE, Kinley I, Watter S, Hassanein K. Subjective semantic surprise resulting from divided attention biases evaluations of an idea's creativity. Sci Rep 2020; 10:2144. [PMID: 32034242 PMCID: PMC7005807 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-59096-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The evaluation of an idea’s creativity constitutes an important step in successfully responding to an unexpected problem with a new solution. Yet, distractions compete for cognitive resources with the evaluation process and may change how individuals evaluate ideas. In this paper, we investigate whether attentional demands from these distractions bias creativity evaluations. This question is examined using 1,065 creativity evaluations of 15 alternative uses of everyday objects by 71 study participants. Participants in the distraction group (Treatment) rated the alternative uses as more creative on the novelty dimension, but not the usefulness dimension, than did participants in the baseline group (Control). Psychophysiological measurements—event-related and spectral EEG and pupillometry—confirm attentional resources in the Treatment group are being diverted to a distractor task and that the Control group expended significantly more cognitive resources on the evaluation of the alternative uses. These data show direct physiological evidence that distractor tasks draw cognitive resources from creative evaluation and that such distractions will bias judgements of creativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Goran Calic
- DeGroote School of Business McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada.
| | - Nour El Shamy
- DeGroote School of Business McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Isaac Kinley
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Scott Watter
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Khaled Hassanein
- DeGroote School of Business McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada
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Gupta S, Rajapakse JC, Welsch RE. Ambivert degree identifies crucial brain functional hubs and improves detection of Alzheimer's Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Neuroimage Clin 2020; 25:102186. [PMID: 32000101 PMCID: PMC7042673 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2019] [Revised: 01/08/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Functional modules in the human brain support its drive for specialization whereas brain hubs act as focal points for information integration. Brain hubs are brain regions that have a large number of both within and between module connections. We argue that weak connections in brain functional networks lead to misclassification of brain regions as hubs. In order to resolve this, we propose a new measure called ambivert degree that considers the node's degree as well as connection weights in order to identify nodes with both high degree and high connection weights as hubs. Using resting-state functional MRI scans from the Human Connectome Project, we show that ambivert degree identifies brain hubs that are not only crucial but also invariable across subjects. We hypothesize that nodal measures based on ambivert degree can be effectively used to classify patients from healthy controls for diseases that are known to have widespread hub disruption. Using patient data for Alzheimer's Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder, we show that the hubs in the patient and healthy groups are very different for both the diseases and deep feedforward neural networks trained on nodal hub features lead to a significantly higher classification accuracy with significantly fewer trainable weights compared to using functional connectivity features. Thus, the ambivert degree improves identification of crucial brain hubs in healthy subjects and can be used as a diagnostic feature to detect neurological diseases characterized by hub disruption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sukrit Gupta
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore
| | - Jagath C Rajapakse
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Roy E Welsch
- MIT Center for Statistics and Data Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
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40
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Need something different? Here's what's been done: Effects of examples and task instructions on creative idea generation. Mem Cognit 2020; 48:226-243. [PMID: 31907862 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-019-01005-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Creative idea generation involves search and retrieval of memory. There is a default tendency to rely too heavily on familiar or easily accessible information during idea generation, especially in tasks such as the alternate uses task (AUT) that involve generating novel uses for common objects. Knowing which obvious ideas to avoid may be important in creating more original ideas. The present experiments tested whether instructions encouraging participants to avoid a set of common example ideas would enhance originality or cause fixation on the AUT. The results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that presenting a verbal list of common example uses along with a warning to avoid those uses enhanced originality. In contrast, when the example ideas were presented in the absence of any "avoid" instructions, there was no benefit on originality, indicating that mere example exposure did not stimulate more creative idea generation. The design of Experiment 2 was parallel to that of Experiment 1, but the verbal examples were replaced with visually depicted examples. Exposure to the visual examples led to reduced originality, suggesting fixation. Although the "avoid" instruction helped to mitigate this fixation, it did not enhance originality beyond the no-example condition. The results suggest that under some conditions presenting unoriginal examples along with an "avoid" warning can allow people to shift their focus away from easily retrieved ideas and toward more novel approaches. The results are also consistent with prior work showing a negative impact of visual presentation of examples on creativity.
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41
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Default network contributions to episodic and semantic processing during divergent creative thinking: A representational similarity analysis. Neuroimage 2019; 209:116499. [PMID: 31887423 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2019] [Revised: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive and neuroimaging evidence suggests that episodic and semantic memory-memory for autobiographical events and conceptual knowledge, respectively-support different aspects of creative thinking, with a growing number of studies reporting activation of brain regions within the default network during performance on creative thinking tasks. The present research sought to dissociate neural contributions of these memory processes by inducing episodic or semantic retrieval orientations prior to performance on a divergent thinking task during fMRI. We conducted a representational similarity analysis (RSA) to identify multivoxel patterns of neural activity that were similar across induction (episodic and semantic) and idea generation. At the behavioral level, we found that semantic induction was associated with increased idea originality, assessed via computational estimates of semantic distance between concepts. RSA revealed that multivoxel patterns during semantic induction and subsequent idea generation were more similar (compared to episodic induction) within the left angular gyrus (AG), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and left anterior inferior parietal lobe (IPL). Conversely, activity patterns during episodic induction and subsequent generation were more similar within left parahippocampal gyrus and right anterior IPL. Together, the findings point to dissociable contributions of episodic and semantic memory processes to creative cognition and suggest that distinct regions within the default network support specific memory-related processes during divergent thinking.
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Rominger C, Papousek I, Perchtold CM, Benedek M, Weiss EM, Weber B, Schwerdtfeger AR, Eglmaier MTW, Fink A. Functional coupling of brain networks during creative idea generation and elaboration in the figural domain. Neuroimage 2019; 207:116395. [PMID: 31770635 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The neuroscientific investigation of creative cognition has advanced by considering the functional connectivity between brain regions and its dynamic changes over time, which are consistent with stages in the ideation process. Surprisingly, although the communication between neuronal networks takes place in a time-scale of milliseconds, EEG studies investigating a time-course in cortico-cortical communication during creative ideation are rare and findings are typically restricted to the verbal domain. Therefore, this study examined functional coupling using EEG (task-related phase-locking in the upper-alpha range) during creative thinking in the figural domain. Using an innovative computerized experimental paradigm, we specifically investigated the stage of idea generation and the stage of idea elaboration in an adapted picture completion task. The findings confirmed a hypothesized increase of functional coupling from idea generation to elaboration, which was most pronounced in frontal-central as well as frontal-temporal networks. The connectivity in the frontal-parietal/occipital network already increased during idea generation and remained constant during elaboration. Importantly, more original participants generally showed higher functional connectivity in all brain networks. This elevated functional coupling with frontal brain regions might reflect increased executive processes related to internal attention, motor planning, and semantic selection processes supporting highly original thought in the figural domain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria
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43
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Murphy C, Rueschemeyer SA, Smallwood J, Jefferies E. Imagining Sounds and Images: Decoding the Contribution of Unimodal and Transmodal Brain Regions to Semantic Retrieval in the Absence of Meaningful Input. J Cogn Neurosci 2019; 31:1599-1616. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
In the absence of sensory information, we can generate meaningful images and sounds from representations in memory. However, it remains unclear which neural systems underpin this process and whether tasks requiring the top–down generation of different kinds of features recruit similar or different neural networks. We asked people to internally generate the visual and auditory features of objects, either in isolation (car, dog) or in specific and complex meaning-based contexts (car/dog race). Using an fMRI decoding approach, in conjunction with functional connectivity analysis, we examined the role of auditory/visual cortex and transmodal brain regions. Conceptual retrieval in the absence of external input recruited sensory and transmodal cortex. The response in transmodal regions—including anterior middle temporal gyrus—was of equal magnitude for visual and auditory features yet nevertheless captured modality information in the pattern of response across voxels. In contrast, sensory regions showed greater activation for modality-relevant features in imagination (even when external inputs did not differ). These data are consistent with the view that transmodal regions support internally generated experiences and that they play a role in integrating perceptual features encoded in memory.
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Miroshnik KG, Shcherbakova OV. The proportion and creativity of “old” and “new” ideas: Are they related to fluid intelligence? INTELLIGENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2019.101384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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45
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Rominger C, Papousek I, Fink A, Perchtold CM, Lackner HK, Weiss EM, Schwerdtfeger AR. Creative challenge: Regular exercising moderates the association between task-related heart rate variability changes and individual differences in originality. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220205. [PMID: 31329653 PMCID: PMC6645545 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Coping with mental challenges is vital to everyday functioning. In accordance with prominent theories, the adaptive and flexible adjustment of the organism to daily demands is well expressed in task-related changes of cardiac vagal control. While many mental challenges are associated with increased effort and associated decreased task-related heart rate variability (HRV), some cognitive challenges go along with HRV increases. Especially creativity represents a cognitive process, which not only results from mental effort but also from spontaneous modes of thinking. Critically, creativity and HRV are associated with regular exercising and fitness. Furthermore, the cross-stressor adaptation theory suggests that changes in cardiac reactions to physical challenges may generalize to mental challenges. In line with this idea the amount of regular exercising was hypothesized to moderate the association between HRV changes and creativity. A sample of 97 participants was investigated. They reported the amount of regular exercise and their ECG was measured at baseline and during a creativity task. An association between task-related HRV changes and originality as a function of participants' amount of regular exercise was found. Participants reporting more regular exercising produced more original ideas when they had higher HRV increases during the task, while more sedentary participants showed the opposite association. Results suggest that individuals with a higher amount of regular exercise achieve higher originality probably via the engagement in more spontaneous modes of thinking, while more sedentary people may primarily benefit from increased mental effort. This supports the conclusion that higher creativity can be achieved by different strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilona Papousek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | | | - Helmut K. Lackner
- Otto Loewi Research Center, Section of Physiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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The Four-Factor Imagination Scale (FFIS): a measure for assessing frequency, complexity, emotional valence, and directedness of imagination. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019; 84:2287-2299. [PMID: 31302774 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01227-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Recent findings in psychological research have begun to illuminate cognitive and neural mechanisms of imagination and mental imagery, and have highlighted its essential role for a number of important outcomes, including outcomes relevant for the study of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Scientific study of imagination, however, has been constrained by the virtue of being framed mainly as an ability for mental imagery. Here we propose that imagination is a widespread phenomenon that we all engage in, and which affects a wide range of important outcomes beyond more commonly studied constructs like creativity. Thus, the Four-Factor Imagination Scale (FFIS) focuses on features of the imaginative process, and measures imagination in terms of individual differences in those features, including frequency, complexity, emotional valence, and directedness of imagination. Study 1 consisted of construct elicitation and generation of a large pool of candidate survey items. Study 2 (N = 378) conducted exploratory quantitative analysis on the preliminary pool of candidate items in a larger sample, revealing four distinct factors of the designed items. Study 3 (N = 10,410) confirmed the structure of the preliminary items, and reported internal consistency and unidimensionality, as well as convergent and discriminant validity of the resultant scales. The FFIS confirms that imagination is multi-faceted in nature, and is better approached as a constellation of more narrowly measurable constructs.
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47
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Modulation of automatic and creative features of the Remote Associates Test by angular gyrus stimulation. Neuropsychologia 2019; 129:348-356. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2018] [Revised: 04/14/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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48
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Toward a neurocognitive framework of creative cognition: the role of memory, attention, and cognitive control. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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49
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Beaty RE, Thakral PP, Madore KP, Benedek M, Schacter DL. Core Network Contributions to Remembering the Past, Imagining the Future, and Thinking Creatively. J Cogn Neurosci 2018; 30:1939-1951. [PMID: 30125219 PMCID: PMC6382608 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
The core network refers to a set of neural regions that have been consistently associated with episodic memory retrieval and episodic future simulation. This network is thought to support the constructive thought processes that allow the retrieval and flexible combination of stored information to reconstruct past and construct novel future experiences. Recent behavioral research points to an overlap between these constructive processes and those also engaged during divergent thinking-the ability to think creatively and generate novel ideas-but the extent to which they involve common neural correlates remains unclear. Using fMRI, we sought to address this question by assessing brain activity as participants recalled past experiences, simulated future experiences, or engaged in divergent thinking. Consistent with past work, we found that episodic retrieval and future simulation activated the core network compared with a semantic control condition. Critically, a triple conjunction of episodic retrieval, future simulation, and divergent thinking revealed common engagement of core network regions, including the bilateral hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, as well as other regions involved in memory retrieval (inferior frontal gyrus) and mental imagery (middle occipital gyrus). The results provide further insight into the roles of the hippocampus and the core network in episodic memory retrieval, future simulation, and divergent thinking and extend recent work highlighting the involvement of constructive episodic processes in creative cognition.
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50
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Hass RW, Beaty RE. Use or Consequences: Probing the Cognitive Difference Between Two Measures of Divergent Thinking. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2327. [PMID: 30542311 PMCID: PMC6278612 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have highlighted both similarities and differences between the cognitive processing that underpins memory retrieval and that which underpins creative thinking. To date, studies have focused more heavily on the Alternative Uses task, but fewer studies have investigated the processing underpinning other idea generation tasks. This study examines both Alternative Uses and Consequences idea generation with a methods pulled from cognitive psychology, and a novel method for evaluating the creativity of such responses. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk using a custom interface allowing for requisite experimental control. Results showed that both Alternative Uses and Consequences generation are well approximated by an exponential cumulative response time model, consistent with studies of memory retrieval. Participants were also slower to generate their first consequence compared with first responses to Alternative Uses, but inter-response time was negatively related to pairwise similarity on both tasks. Finally, the serial order effect is exhibited for both tasks, with Consequences earning more creative evaluations than Uses. The results have implications for burgeoning neuroscience research on creative thinking, and suggestions are made for future areas of inquiry. In addition, the experimental apparatus described provides an equitable way for researchers to obtain good quality cognitive data for divergent thinking tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard W Hass
- College of Humanities and Sciences, Thomas Jefferson University-East Falls, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Roger E Beaty
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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