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Xu W, Ren L, Hao X, Shi D, Ma Y, Hu Y, Xie L, Geng F. The brain markers of creativity measured by divergent thinking in childhood: Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity. Neuroimage 2024; 291:120586. [PMID: 38548039 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120586] [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: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Creativity, a high-order cognitive ability, has received wide attention from researchers and educators who are dedicated to promoting its development throughout one's lifespan. Currently, creativity is commonly assessed with divergent thinking tasks, such as the Alternative Uses Task. Recent advancements in neuroimaging techniques have enabled the identification of brain markers for high-order cognitive abilities. One such brain structure of interest in this regard is the hippocampus, which has been found to play an important role in generating creative thoughts in adulthood. However, such role of the hippocampus in childhood is not clear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the associations between creativity, as measured by divergent thinking, and both the volume of the hippocampus and its resting-state functional connectivity in 116 children aged 8-12 years. The results indicate significant relations between divergent thinking and the volume of the hippocampal head and the hippocampal tail, as well as the volume of a subfield comprising cornu ammonis 2-4 and dentate gyrus within the hippocampal body. Additionally, divergent thinking was significantly related to the differences between the anterior and the posterior hippocampus in their functional connectivity to other brain regions during rest. These results suggest that these two subregions may collaborate with different brain regions to support diverse cognitive processes involved in the generation of creative thoughts. In summary, these findings indicate that divergent thinking is significantly related to the structural and functional characteristics of the hippocampus, offering potential insights into the brain markers for creativity during the developmental stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Xu
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Liyuan Ren
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Xiaoxin Hao
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Donglin Shi
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Yupu Ma
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Yuzheng Hu
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310028, China
| | - Long Xie
- Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Fengji Geng
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, China; National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310052, China.
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Ren J, Huang F, Gao C, Gott J, Schoch SF, Qin S, Dresler M, Luo J. Functional lateralization of the medial temporal lobe in novel associative processing during creativity evaluation. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:1186-1206. [PMID: 35353185 PMCID: PMC9930633 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although hemispheric lateralization of creativity has been a longstanding topic of debate, the underlying neurocognitive mechanism remains poorly understood. Here we designed 2 types of novel stimuli-"novel useful and novel useless," adapted from "familiar useful" designs taken from daily life-to demonstrate how the left and right medial temporal lobe (MTL) respond to novel designs of different usefulness. Taking the "familiar useful" design as a baseline, we found that the right MTL showed increased activation in response to "novel useful" designs, followed by "novel useless" ones, while the left MTL only showed increased activation in response to "novel useful" designs. Calculating an asymmetry index suggests that usefulness processing is predominant in the left MTL, whereas the right MTL is predominantly involved in novelty processing. Moreover, the left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) showed stronger functional connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex when responding to "novel useless" designs. In contrast, the right PHG showed stronger connectivity with the amygdala, midbrain, and hippocampus. Critically, multivoxel representational similarity analyses revealed that the left MTL was more effective than the right MTL at distinguishing the usefulness differences in novel stimuli, while representational patterns in the left PHG positively predicted the post-behavior evaluation of "truly creative" products. These findings suggest an apparent dissociation of the left and right MTL in integrating the novelty and usefulness information and novel associative processing during creativity evaluation, respectively. Our results provide novel insights into a longstanding and controversial question in creativity research by demonstrating functional lateralization of the MTL in processing novel associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyuan Ren
- Corresponding authors: Jingyuan Ren, Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Medical Center, Trigon Building, Kapittelweg 29, Nijmegen 6525 EN, Netherlands, ; Jing Luo, Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Baiduizijia 23, Beijing 100048, China,
| | - Furong Huang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
| | - Chuanji Gao
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 EN, Netherlands
| | - Jarrod Gott
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 EN, Netherlands
| | - Sarah F Schoch
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 EN, Netherlands
- Center of Competence Sleep & Health Zurich, University of Zurich, Zürich 8091, Switzerland
| | - Shaozheng Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Faculty of Psychology at Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Martin Dresler
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6525 EN, Netherlands
| | - Jing Luo
- Corresponding authors: Jingyuan Ren, Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Medical Center, Trigon Building, Kapittelweg 29, Nijmegen 6525 EN, Netherlands, ; Jing Luo, Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Baiduizijia 23, Beijing 100048, China,
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Abstract
Creativity generates novel solutions to tasks by processing information. Imagination and mental representations are part of the creative process; we can mull over ideas of our own making, and construct algorithms or scenarios from them. Social scenario-building can be viewed as a human cognitive "super-power" that involves abstraction, meta-representation, time-travel, and directed imaginative thought. We humans have a "theater in our minds" to play out a near-infinite array of social strategies and contingencies. Here we propose an integrative model for why and how humans evolved extraordinary creative abilities. We posit that a key aspect of hominin evolution involved relatively open and fluid social relationships among communities, enabled by a unique extended family structure similar to that of contemporary hunter-gatherer band societies. Intercommunity relationships facilitated the rapid flow of information-"Culture"-that underpinned arms-races in information processing, language, imagination, and creativity that distinguishes humans from other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
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Relations of Creativity to the Interplay Between High-order Cognitive Functions: Behavioral and Neural Evidence. Neuroscience 2021; 473:90-101. [PMID: 34450213 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.08.015] [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: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
As a high-order cognitive ability, creativity is viewed as the result of complex interplay between a set of mental processes. However, previous studies have mainly tested one-to-one mutual relations between creativity and other cognitive abilities. It lacks studies to examine whether creativity is related to the interaction between cognitive systems. The current study aimed to fill this gap by testing the relations of creativity to the interactions between cognitive control and episodic memory systems using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. The Alternative Uses Task was used to measure the divergent component of creativity. A computer-based behavioral task was used to measure cognitive control, episodic memory, and their interactions. Additionally, the interactions between cognitive systems were characterized by computing the resting-state functional connectivity between hippocampus and prefrontal regions, which are the neural substrates for episodic memory and cognitive control, respectively. By analyzing these behavioral and neuroimaging data, the behavioral results indicated that creativity was significantly related to the effect of cognitive control induced by switching tasks or proactive cues on subsequent memories of items or sources. Additionally, neuroimaging results showed that creativity was significantly related to the connectivity from hippocampus to both left superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. Such relations were also differentiated between anterior and posterior hippocampus. Altogether, these findings suggest that creativity is related to interactions between cognitive control and episodic memory, supporting the claim that creativity is the result of complex interplay between high-order cognitive functions.
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Seider TR, Porges EC, Woods AJ, Cohen RA. Dedifferentiation of Functional Brain Activation Associated With Greater Visual Discrimination Accuracy in Middle-Aged and Older Adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 13:651284. [PMID: 34366822 PMCID: PMC8336636 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.651284] [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: 01/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural dedifferentiation refers to an age-related phenomenon whereby brain functions that are localized to specific, distinct, and differentiated brain areas in young adults become less so as people reach more advanced age. Older adults tend to exhibit greater spread of cortical activation on fMRI during cognitive processing compared to younger adults, with evidence that this occurs during visuoperceptual processing. Some age-related functional changes are considered compensatory, but whether dedifferentiation is compensatory is not clearly understood. The current study assessed dedifferentiation and visual discrimination performance during simultaneous match-to-sample tasks from the Visual Assessment Battery (VAB) among 40 healthy middle-aged and older adults using fMRI. Task-relevant regions of interest (ROIs) were created in the dorsal stream for discrimination of spatial location, the ventral stream for shape, and an area encompassing V5 for velocity. Dedifferentiation, or less specificity in functional activation, was associated with greater discrimination accuracy and more years of education. Secondary analyses showed that reduced functional activation in task-relevant ROIs was associated with faster discrimination speed. Age was unassociated with functional activation. Results suggest that dedifferentiation is compensatory. Lack of age effects suggest that other factors beyond age, such as cognitive or brain reserve, may better predict performance when considering cognitive skills that are relatively stable as adults age, such as visual discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia R Seider
- Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Clinical Translational Research Program, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Eric C Porges
- Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Clinical Translational Research Program, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Adam J Woods
- Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Clinical Translational Research Program, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Ronald A Cohen
- Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, Clinical Translational Research Program, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
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