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Yang CJ, Yu HY, Hong TY, Shih CH, Yeh TC, Chen LF, Hsieh JC. Trait representation of embodied cognition in dancers pivoting on the extended mirror neuron system: a resting-state fMRI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1173993. [PMID: 37492559 PMCID: PMC10364845 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1173993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Dance is an art form that integrates the body and mind through movement. Dancers develop exceptional physical and mental abilities that involve various neurocognitive processes linked to embodied cognition. We propose that dancers' primary trait representation is movement-actuated and relies on the extended mirror neuron system (eMNS). Methods A total of 29 dancers and 28 non-dancer controls were recruited. A hierarchical approach of intra-regional and inter-regional functional connectivity (FC) analysis was adopted to probe trait-like neurodynamics within and between regions in the eMNS during rest. Correlation analyses were employed to examine the associations between dance training, creativity, and the FC within and between different brain regions. Results Within the eMNS, dancers exhibited increased intra-regional FC in various brain regions compared to non-dancers. These regions include the left inferior frontal gyrus, left ventral premotor cortex, left anterior insula, left posterior cerebellum (crus II), and bilateral basal ganglia (putamen and globus pallidus). Dancers also exhibited greater intrinsic inter-regional FC between the cerebellum and the core/limbic mirror areas within the eMNS. In dancers, there was a negative correlation observed between practice intensity and the intrinsic FC within the eMNS involving the cerebellum and basal ganglia. Additionally, FCs from the basal ganglia to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were found to be negatively correlated with originality in dancers. Discussion Our results highlight the proficient communication within the cortical-subcortical hierarchy of the eMNS in dancers, linked to the automaticity and cognitive-motor interactions acquired through training. Altered functional couplings in the eMNS can be regarded as a unique neural signature specific to virtuoso dancers, which might predispose them for skilled dancing performance, perception, and creation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ching-Ju Yang
- Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Integrated Brain Research Unit, Division of Clinical Research, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Hsin-Yen Yu
- Graduate Institute of Arts and Humanities Education, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Yi Hong
- Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Integrated Brain Research Unit, Division of Clinical Research, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Chung-Heng Shih
- Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Chen Yeh
- Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Li-Fen Chen
- Institute of Brain Science, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Integrated Brain Research Unit, Division of Clinical Research, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Jen-Chuen Hsieh
- Integrated Brain Research Unit, Division of Clinical Research, Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Brain Research Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Department of Biological Science and Technology, College of Biological Science and Technology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
- Center for Intelligent Drug Systems and Smart Bio-devices (IDSB), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
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The bodily fundament of empathy: The role of action, nonaction-oriented, and interoceptive body representations. Psychon Bull Rev 2022:10.3758/s13423-022-02231-9. [PMID: 36510091 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02231-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Mental representations with bodily contents or in various bodily formats have been suggested to play a pivotal role in social cognition, including empathy. However, there is a lack of systematic studies investigating, in the same sample of participants and using an individual differences approach, whether and to what extent the sensorimotor, perceptual, and interoceptive representations of the body could fulfill an explanatory role in the empathic abilities.To address this goal, we carried out two studies in which healthy adults were given measures of interoceptive sensibility (IS), action (aBR), and nonaction-oriented body representations (NaBR), and affective, cognitive, and motor empathy. A higher tendency to be self-focused on interoceptive signals predicted higher affective, cognitive, and motor empathy levels. A better performance in tasks probing aBR and NaBR predicted, respectively, higher motor and cognitive empathy levels.These findings support the view that the various facets of the empathic response are differently grounded in the body since they diversely involve representations with a different bodily format.Individual differences in the focus on one's internal body state representation can directly modulate all the components of the empathic experience. Instead, a body representation used interpersonally to represent both one's own body and others' bodies, in particular in its spatial specificity, could be necessary to accurately understand other people's minds (cognitive empathy), while a sensorimotor body representation used to represent both one's own body and others' bodies actions, could be fundamental for the self-awareness of feelings expressed in actions (motor empathy).
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Divergent thinking in Italian elementary school children: the key role of probabilistic reasoning style. Cogn Process 2022; 23:637-645. [PMID: 35881317 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01104-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Divergent thinking is widely recognised as an individual creative potential and an essential factor in fostering creativity since the early stages of life. Albeit previous research revealed that creativity could be pursued through controlled mental processes (e.g. reasoning), the debate about the impact of children's reasoning on divergent thinking and, ultimately, creativity is still open. The present study sought to deepen the relationships between probabilistic reasoning and divergent thinking in a sample of 106 Italian children (meanage = 8.64, SDage = 1.34; 58 F). The Beads Task was used to evaluate probabilistic reasoning, whereas the Alternative Uses Task was administered to assess divergent thinking. Results revealed that analytical, slow, and effortful forms of thought underpinned by high probabilistic competencies predict children's divergent production. These findings suggest that a higher score for divergence of thinking depends on a high involvement of reasoning style, which in this study relies on the ability to make probabilistic decisions in ambiguous situations. Future research directions were discussed.
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Palmiero M, Fusi G, Crepaldi M, Borsa VM, Rusconi ML. Divergent thinking and the core executive functions: a state-of-the-art review. Cogn Process 2022; 23:341-366. [DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01091-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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5
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Frontiers Production Office. Erratum: Divergent Thinking Abilities in Frontotemporal Dementia: A Mini-Review. Front Psychol 2021; 12:749651. [PMID: 34539534 PMCID: PMC8444983 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.749651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Fusi G, Crepaldi M, Colautti L, Palmiero M, Antonietti A, Rozzini L, Rusconi ML. Divergent Thinking Abilities in Frontotemporal Dementia: A Mini-Review. Front Psychol 2021; 12:652543. [PMID: 33935913 PMCID: PMC8085258 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A large number of studies, including single case and case series studies, have shown that patients with different types of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are characterized by the emergence of artistic abilities. This led to the hypothesis of enhanced creative thinking skills as a function of these pathological conditions. However, in the last years, it has been argued that these brain pathologies lead only to an augmented “drive to produce” rather than to the emergence of creativity. Moreover, only a few studies analyzed specific creative skills, such as divergent thinking (DT), by standardized tests. This Mini-Review aimed to examine the extent to which DT abilities are preserved in patients affected by FTD. Results showed that DT abilities (both verbal and figural) are altered in different ways according to the specific anatomical and functional changes associated with the diverse forms of FTD. On the one hand, patients affected by the behavioral form of FTD can produce many ideas because of unimpaired access to memory stores (i.e., episodic and semantic), but are not able to recombine flexibly the information to produce original ideas because of damages in the pre-frontal cortex. On the other hand, patients affected by the semantic variant are impaired also in terms of fluency because of the degradation of their semantic memory store. Potential implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Fusi
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Maura Crepaldi
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Laura Colautti
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
| | | | | | - Luca Rozzini
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Maria Luisa Rusconi
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
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Biasutti M, Habe K. Dance Improvisation and Motor Creativity in Children: Teachers’ Conceptions. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2020.1833576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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Palmiero M, Nori R, Piccardi L, D’Amico S. Divergent Thinking: The Role of Decision-Making Styles. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2020.1817700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Is Visual Creativity Embodied? Thinking Aloud While Performing the Creative Mental Synthesis Task. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10070455. [PMID: 32708579 PMCID: PMC7407976 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10070455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Over time, the view that creativity is embodied has emerged. In order to explore if visual creativity is supported by embodied mechanisms, the simulation approach was used as a framework of reference. The idea that visual creativity relies on mental representations that implement motor processes was faced. Participants were instructed to think aloud while carrying out the Creative Mental Synthesis Task, which allows to form pre-inventive structures and interpret them according to a specific category. Two independent judges scored verbal protocols in terms of the number of motor, spatial, and visual thoughts reported during the pre-inventive and inventive phases, and also evaluated the final objects according to originality and appropriateness. Originality was predicted positively by inventive motor thoughts and by pre-inventive spatial thoughts, but negatively by inventive spatial thoughts; appropriateness was only predicted by inventive visual thoughts. These results suggest that actions for future object utilization were simulated while interpreting pre-inventive structures, increasing originality of objects. In addition, spatial transformations are useful to construct the pre-inventive structures, but not to interpret them. Yet, thinking of the pictorial details of the object is also essential to classify it in a given category. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
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Palmiero M, Guariglia P, Crivello R, Piccardi L. The relationships between musical expertise and divergent thinking. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 203:102990. [PMID: 31911358 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Musical expertise has positive effects on cognition, especially on verbal and linguistic processing. In this study the relationships between musical expertise, not involving improvisation training, and divergent thinking were explored. Expert and self-taught musicians were tested in musical, verbal and visual divergent thinking, and were compared with a group of non-musicians in verbal and visual divergent thinking. The musical task required to generate many different pieces of music using the incipit of 'Happy Birthday' as a starting point; the verbal task required to list unusual uses for a cardboard box; the visual task asked to complete drawings adding details to basic stimuli. For each task fluency flexibility and originality scores were measured. Based on these scores, musical, verbal and visual creative indices were computed. In general, expert musicians showed higher creative indices in musical and verbal domains than self-taught musicians and in verbal creative index than non-musicians. No group difference was found in terms of visual creative index. These findings confirm that musical expertise enhances not only musical divergent thinking but also verbal divergent thinking, probably supporting the semantic associative modes of processing and improving verbal working memory, which facilitates the online recombination of information in new ways. This effect seems to be specifically supported by formal musical training. The lack of the association between musical expertise and visual divergent thinking, as well as future research directions, are discussed.
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Aidman E. Cognitive Fitness Framework: Towards Assessing, Training and Augmenting Individual-Difference Factors Underpinning High-Performance Cognition. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 13:466. [PMID: 32009919 PMCID: PMC6971199 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this article is to introduce the concept of Cognitive Fitness (CF), identify its key ingredients underpinning both real-time task performance and career longevity in high-risk occupations, and to canvas a holistic framework for their assessment, training, and augmentation. CF as a capacity to deploy neurocognitive resources, knowledge and skills to meet the demands of operational task performance, is likely to be multi-faceted and differentially malleable. A taxonomy of CF constructs derived from Cognitive Readiness (CR) and Mental fitness (MF) literature maps into phases of operational cycles from foundational to advanced, mission-ready and recovery. Foundational cognitive attributes, such as attention, executive control and co-action, were hypothesized to be trainable at the initial Cognitive Gym phase. More advanced training targets at the CR phase included stress and arousal regulation, adaptability, teamwork, situation awareness (including detection, sense-making and prediction) and decision making (de-biasing and confidence calibration). The mission-ready training phase is focused on tolerances (to sleep loss, monotony, pain, frustration, uncertainty) and resistance (to distraction, deception or manipulation). Operational Augmentation phase relies on support tools such as decision aids and fatigue countermeasures, while the Recovery phase employs reflexive (e.g., mindfulness), and restorative practices (e.g., nutrition and sleep hygiene). The periodization of cognitive training in this cycle is hypothesized to optimize both real-time cognitive performance and the resilience that enables life-long thriving. One of the most promising avenues of validating this hypothesis is by developing an expert consensus on the key CF ingredients and their relative importance in high-performance settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene Aidman
- Land Division, Defence Science & Technology Group, Edinburgh, SA, Australia.,School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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Raimo S, Iona T, Di Vita A, Boccia M, Buratin S, Ruggeri F, Iosa M, Guariglia C, Grossi D, Palermo L. The development of body representations in school-aged children. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-CHILD 2019; 10:327-339. [PMID: 31860374 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2019.1703704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Following the triadic taxonomy, three different body representations do exist, namely the body semantics, the body structural representation and the body schema. The development of these body representations has been widely investigated in toddlers, but several issues remain to be addressed in school age. To assess age- and gender-related changes in different body representations and to investigate the presence of different patterns of interplay between these representations of the body, 90 children (age range: 7-10) and 37 young adults (age range: 18-35) were given tasks assessing the body semantics, the body structural representation and the body schema as well as control tasks. The present results suggested that the body schema, evaluated by means of hand laterality judgments, was still not completely developed in school-aged children, whereas the body structural representation reached an adult-like pattern by the age of 9-10 years. Finally, body semantics was fully developed in school-aged children. These findings were discussed in terms of their theoretical implications, for a better understanding of body representation development; also, implications for clinical assessment of body representation disorders were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simona Raimo
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.,I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Teresa Iona
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Antonella Di Vita
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.,Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Maddalena Boccia
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.,Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Marco Iosa
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Cecilia Guariglia
- I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.,Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Dario Grossi
- Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy
| | - Liana Palermo
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.,I.R.C.C.S. Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
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Scotney VS, Weissmeyer S, Carbert N, Gabora L. The Ubiquity of Cross-Domain Thinking in the Early Phase of the Creative Process. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1426. [PMID: 31275216 PMCID: PMC6594204 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
To what extent are creative processes in one domain (e.g., technology) affected by information from other domains (e.g., music)? While some studies of professional creators suggest that creative abilities are domain-specific, other studies suggest that creative avocations stimulate creativity. The latter is consistent with the predictions of the honing theory of creativity, according to which the iterative process culminating in a creative work is made possible by the self-organizing nature of a conceptual network, or worldview, and its innate holistic tendency to minimize inconsistency. As such, the creative process is not restricted to the creative domain; influences from domains other than that of the final product are predicted to impact the creative process and its outcome. To assess the prevalence of cross-domain influences on creativity we conducted two studies: one with creative experts, and one with undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds. Participants listed both their creative outputs, and the influences (sources of inspiration) associated with each of these outputs. In both studies, cross-domain influences on creativity were found to be widespread, and indeed more frequent than within-domain sources of inspiration. Thus, examination of the inputs to, rather than the outputs of, creative tasks supported the prediction of honing theory that cross-domain influences are a ubiquitous component of the creative process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria S Scotney
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
| | - Sarah Weissmeyer
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
| | - Nicole Carbert
- School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Liane Gabora
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
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