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The Importance of the Default Mode Network in Creativity—A Structural MRI Study
The Journal of Creative Behavior
Abstract
Anecdotal reports as well as behavioral studies have suggested that creative performance benefits from unconscious processes. So far, however, little is known about how creative ideas arise from the brain. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the neural correlates of creativity by means of structural MRI research. Given that unconscious and less controlled processes are important in creative thinking, structural brain research may find a positive correlation between well-established creativity measures and cortical thickness in brain structures of the default mode network (i.e., the counterpart of the cognitive control network). Individuals performed the Alternative Uses task by which an individual's cognitive flexibility and the average uniqueness and average creativity of a participant's ideas were assessed. We computed optimized voxel-based-morphometry (VBM) to explore the correlation between inter-individual differences in creativity and inter-individual differences in gray matter volume. For all creativity measures, a positive correlation was found between creative performance and gray matter volume of the default mode network. These findings support the idea that the default mode network is important in creativity, and provide neurostructural support for the idea that unconscious forms of information processing are important in creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... The neuroscience of creativity has attempted to disentangle the neural underpinnings of both DT and CT. In this context, several studies have supported the idea that DT is mostly associated with the default mode network (DMN) (Beaty et al., 2014;Jung, Mead, Carrasco, & Flores, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Mayseless, Eran, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2015;Shofty et al., 2022;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020;Takeuchi et al., 2020), although there is also strong evidence suggesting that creativity emerges from the synchronization of three cortical networks: the DMN, salience network, and the executive control network (Beaty et al., 2018;Beaty, Benedek, Barry Kaufman, & Silvia, 2015;Beaty, Benedek, Silvia, & Schacter, 2016). The DMN includes the medial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobes, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial temporal lobes (Andrews-Hanna, Reidler, Sepulcre, Poulin, & Buckner, 2010;Spreng, Stevens, Chamberlain, Gilmore, & Schacter, 2010), and is suggested to be involved in several cognitive processes, including episodic memory, mental simulation, mind wandering, semantic memory retrieval or semantic integration (Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, & Spreng, 2014;Beaty, Seli, & Schacter, 2019;Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008;Kleinmintz, Ivancovsky, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2019;Raichle, 2015;Spreng, Gerlach, Turner, & Schacter, 2015;Volle, 2018;Wu et al., 2015;Zabelina & Andrews-Hanna, 2016). ...
... There is also evidence of a correlation between greater DT and greater fractional anisotropy values on nodes of the DMN (Takeuchi et al., 2010a). Similarly, gray matter volume of different nodes of the DMN has been associated with creativity (Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008;Kühn et al., 2014;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020). On the other hand, CT is often associated with the main hub of the cognitive (executive) control network, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Gonen-Yaacovi et al., 2013;Martin et al., 2018;Takeuchi et al., 2010bZhang, Sjoerds, & Hommel, 2020, instead of the DMN. ...
... Results in UU were mainly due to the significant enhancement in the originality dimension, whereas PC improvement was mainly due to fluency improvement. The effects of tPBM on fluency and originality, both visual and verbal, are consistent with previous neuroimaging studies that reported that the DMN is associated with DT (Beaty et al., 2014;Jung, Mead, Carrasco, & Flores, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Mayseless, Eran, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2015;Shofty et al., 2022;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020;Takeuchi et al., 2020). In this context, several cognitive processes (such as mind wandering or episodic memory) have been related to the activation of the DMN and creativity and may be partially mediating this relationship. ...
... The neuroscience of creativity has attempted to disentangle the neural underpinnings of both DT and CT. In this context, several studies have supported the idea that DT is mostly associated with the default mode network (DMN) (Beaty et al., 2014;Jung, Mead, Carrasco, & Flores, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Mayseless, Eran, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2015;Shofty et al., 2022;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020;Takeuchi et al., 2020), although there is also strong evidence suggesting that creativity emerges from the synchronization of three cortical networks: the DMN, salience network, and the executive control network (Beaty et al., 2018;Beaty, Benedek, Barry Kaufman, & Silvia, 2015;Beaty, Benedek, Silvia, & Schacter, 2016). The DMN includes the medial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobes, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial temporal lobes (Andrews-Hanna, Reidler, Sepulcre, Poulin, & Buckner, 2010;Spreng, Stevens, Chamberlain, Gilmore, & Schacter, 2010), and is suggested to be involved in several cognitive processes, including episodic memory, mental simulation, mind wandering, semantic memory retrieval or semantic integration (Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, & Spreng, 2014;Beaty, Seli, & Schacter, 2019;Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008;Kleinmintz, Ivancovsky, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2019;Raichle, 2015;Spreng, Gerlach, Turner, & Schacter, 2015;Volle, 2018;Wu et al., 2015;Zabelina & Andrews-Hanna, 2016). ...
... There is also evidence of a correlation between greater DT and greater fractional anisotropy values on nodes of the DMN (Takeuchi et al., 2010a). Similarly, gray matter volume of different nodes of the DMN has been associated with creativity (Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, & Schacter, 2008;Kühn et al., 2014;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020). On the other hand, CT is often associated with the main hub of the cognitive (executive) control network, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Gonen-Yaacovi et al., 2013;Martin et al., 2018;Takeuchi et al., 2010bZhang, Sjoerds, & Hommel, 2020, instead of the DMN. ...
... Results in UU were mainly due to the significant enhancement in the originality dimension, whereas PC improvement was mainly due to fluency improvement. The effects of tPBM on fluency and originality, both visual and verbal, are consistent with previous neuroimaging studies that reported that the DMN is associated with DT (Beaty et al., 2014;Jung, Mead, Carrasco, & Flores, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Mayseless, Eran, & Shamay-Tsoory, 2015;Shofty et al., 2022;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2020;Takeuchi et al., 2020). In this context, several cognitive processes (such as mind wandering or episodic memory) have been related to the activation of the DMN and creativity and may be partially mediating this relationship. ...
Creativity is a fundamental human accomplishment from scientific advances to composing music. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are important metacontrol hubs in flexibility and persistence brain states, respectively. Those hubs are related to divergent thinking, insight problem‐solving, and convergent thinking. In this double‐blind, between‐subjects study, 81 healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups (n = 27) that received a combined transcranial direct current stimulation–transcranial random noise stimulation (tDCS‐tRNS) protocol with the anode over the left DLPFC and cathode over the left IFG (+DLPFC−IFG), the opposite montage (−DLPFC+IFG), and a sham group (+DLPFC−IFG). Both active tDCS‐tRNS groups received 20 min of 1 mA tDCS with 1 mA (100–500 Hz) tRNS. Creativity was assessed before (baseline) and during stimulation with the Unusual Uses, Picture Completion (PC), Remote Association test (RAT), Matchstick Arithmetic (MA), and Nine‐dot (ND) problems. Only the +DLPFC−IFG group had significantly higher scores compared with sham in the RAT (p = .009), PC fluency (p = .018), PC originality (p = .007), ND (p = .007), and MA (p = .032). Overall, −DLPFC+IFG had greater scores in all creativity tests compared with sham. Implications from the metacontrol theory are discussed.
... Moreover, the strictly controlled creativity experiment ignores the effects of spontaneous processes on creative thinking. For instance, incubation and mind-wandering, which are less controlled processes, have positive effects on creative thinking [37][38][39][40] . Furthermore, strict control of response time, such as 15 s, might inhibit the search for originality 27 . ...
... It is obvious from both the experimental and theoretical observations described above that flexibility/freedom is a fundamental need to incubate creativity through sufficient duration and open-ended tasks. The sufficient duration might induce a period of incubation and mind wondering that could facilitate creative problem solving through relaxation, overcoming fixation, and mental set-shifting [37][38][39][40] . Open-ended tasks offer unlimited potential for participants to explore solutions without predefined solutions or strategies. ...
... In contrast, microstate F has been primarily associated with activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), which is more active during the cognitive control tasks 50,97 . These findings support that the default mode network and cognitive control network play central roles in creativity 40,69,98 . The more active DMN indicated that idea evolution might be more associated with irrational cognitive process, such as relaxation or incubation. ...
Many neurocognitive studies endeavor to understand neural mechanisms of basic creative activities in strictly controlled experiments. However, little evidence is available regarding the neural mechanisms of interactions between basic activities underlying creativity in such experiments. Moreover, strictly controlled experiments might limit flexibility/freedom needed for creative exploration. Thus, this study investigated the whole-brain neuronal networks’ interactions between three modes of thinking: idea generation, idea evolution, and evaluation in a loosely controlled creativity experiment. The loosely controlled creativity experiment will provide a degree of flexibility/freedom for participants to incubate creative ideas through extending response time from a few seconds to 3 min. In the experiment, participants accomplished a modified figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT-F) while their EEG signals were recorded. During idea generation, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that was immediately triggered by a sketch stimulus at first sight. During idea evolution, a participant was instructed to complete a sketch that is radically distinctive from what was immediately triggered by the sketch stimulus. During the evaluation, a participant was instructed to evaluate difficulties of thinking and drawing during idea generation and evolution. It is expected that participants would use their experience to intuitively complete a sketch during idea generation while they could use more divergent and imaginative thinking to complete a possible creative sketch during idea evolution. Such an experimental design is named as a loosely controlled creativity experiment, which offers an approach to studying creativity in an ecologically valid manner. The validity of the loosely controlled creativity experiment could be verified through comparing its findings on phenomena that have been effectively studied by validated experimental research. It was found from our experiment that alpha power decreased significantly from rest to the three modes of thinking. These findings are consistent with that from visual creativity research based on event related (de)synchronization (ERD/ERS) and task-related power changes (TRP). Specifically, in the lower alpha band (8–10 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly lower over almost the entire scalp during idea evolution compared to the other modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution requires less general attention demands than the other two modes of thinking since the lower alpha ERD has been reported as being more likely to reflect general task demands such as attentional processes. In the upper alpha band (10–12 Hz), the decreases of alpha power were significantly higher over central sites during the evaluation compared to idea evolution. This finding indicated that evaluation involves more task-specific demands since the upper alpha ERD has been found as being more likely to reflect task-specific demands such as memory and intelligence, as was defined in the literature. In addition, new findings were obtained since the loosely controlled creativity experiment could activate multiple brain networks to accomplish the tasks involving the three modes of thinking. EEG microstate analysis was used to structure the unstructured EEG data to detect the activation of multiple brain networks. Combined EEG-fMRI and EEG source localization studies have indicated that EEG microstate classes are closely associated with the resting-state network as identified using fMRI. It was found that the default mode network was more active during idea evolution compared to the other two modes of thinking, while the cognitive control network was more active during the evaluation compared to the other two modes of thinking. This finding indicated that idea evolution might be more associated with unconscious and internal directed attention processes. Taken together, the loosely controlled creativity experiment with the support of EEG microstate analysis appears to offer an effective approach to investigating the real-world complex creativity activity.
... Creative thinking dimension enables individuals to deliver unique and meaningful (i.e., creative) solutions in novel contexts, and possibly even new logical paradigms. For creative thinking, the default mode network of the brain has been found to be particularly important, allowing individuals to think about likely future possibilities, and not be limited by current realities (see Jung et al., 2010;Kühn et al., 2014;Waytz & Mason, 2013). This network is portrayed as responsible for thinking about the future and mind wandering (Buckner, 2013). ...
... Creative thinking capability enables one to think about possibilities, question existing best practices, as well as question existing logical assumptions and widely held dogmas. It is needed to help both to cope with change, and to create change by providing novel solutions to problems (Kühn et al., 2014), which is paramount for strategic thinking, ...
Organizational ambidexterity has long been in the focus of understanding how organizations address tensions between exploitation, which implies building new competencies in order to drive radical change, and exploitation, which implies building on top of existing competencies in order to deliver persistent incremental improvements. Research has shown that, at the organizational level, established incumbent organizations tend to avoid exploration. In this paper, we focus on understanding which cognitive profiles tend to get promoted to the highest management positions in established incumbent organizations. To address this research question, we used a data set on 176 key decision‐makers at five multinational organizations. Results indicate that inherent biases in promotion decisions at the highest levels of the established incumbent organizations favor pattern‐recognition cognitive profiles of managers, thus influencing organizational preference for exploitation over exploration. Results have implications for theory, explaining neurocognitive underpinnings of preference for exploitation in case of established incumbent organizations which arise from biases in promotional decisions; and for practice, implying the importance of debiasing promotion decisions to ensure organizational ability to deliver on explorative strategies, favoring innovations and new market creation.
... Companies like Huffington Post have implemented policies encouraging employees to unplug and recharge, recognizing that a rested workforce is a more productive one (Schwartz & Porath, 2014). Studies indicate that even brief breaks and opportunities for mind-wandering during the workday can improve problem-solving and creative task performance (Sio & Ormerod, 2009;Kühn et al., 2014). Companies embracing strategic laziness principles are investing in the long-term creativity and sustainability of their greatest assets-their employees. ...
... The importance of mental breaks for productivity is further supported by research on the Default Mode Network (DMN), a network of brain regions that becomes active during periods of rest and mind-wandering. Studies have shown that activation of the DMN during breaks is associated with enhanced creativity, problem-solving, and insight (Kühn et al., 2014;Baird et al., 2012). By allowing their minds to wander during strategic lazy moments, employees may actually be priming themselves for greater productivity and innovation. ...
"The Science of Laziness: Achieving More by Doing Less" explores the paradoxical concept of strategic laziness and its potential to enhance productivity, creativity, and well-being. This book challenges the traditional societal norms that equate relentless activity with success, proposing instead that deliberate and mindful periods of rest can foster cognitive and psychological benefits. Drawing upon interdisciplinary research from neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, the author presents a compelling argument for rethinking our approach to work and leisure.
Central to the book is the Strategic Laziness Framework, which outlines three key principles: Lazy Elimination, Lazy Optimization, and Lazy Focus. These principles guide readers in identifying and eliminating non-essential tasks, optimizing their efforts for maximum impact, and focusing on activities that yield the highest returns with the least effort. Through a combination of historical anecdotes, scientific evidence, and practical strategies, the book demonstrates how strategic laziness can lead to greater efficiency and innovation.
Key topics include the cognitive benefits of mind-wandering and mental downtime, the role of the default mode network in creative thinking, and the evolutionary advantages of conserving energy. The book also addresses common misconceptions about laziness and provides actionable advice for integrating these principles into daily life.
"The Science of Laziness" ultimately presents a transformative approach to productivity, encouraging readers to embrace rest and relaxation as essential components of a successful and fulfilling life. This work contributes to the growing body of literature advocating for a balanced approach to work and leisure, and its insights have practical implications for individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.
... For example, a link might be realized via the default mode network. Blinks activate the default mode network (Nakano et al., 2013), which has been shown to play a role in creativity (Beaty et al., 2014;Kühn et al., 2014) as well as to be linked to dopamine (Dang et al., 2012;Nagano-Saito et al., 2009). ...
... However, Ueda et al. (2016) explain the linear effect of task-related eye blinks through the activation of the default mode network. As mentioned in the introduction, the default mode network has been proposed to be involved during creativity (Beaty et al., 2014;Kühn et al., 2014). We can add, as the level of blink rate within a subject did not correlate with the scores (see Supplementary Fig. S3) a temporally fine-grained marker of dopamine is not likely. ...
Creativity, specifically divergent thinking, has been shown to benefit from unrestrained walking. Despite these findings, it is not clear if it is the lack of restriction that leads to the improvement. Our goal was to explore the effects of motor restrictions on divergent thinking for different movement states. In addition, we assessed whether spontaneous eye blinks, which are linked to motor execution, also predict performance. In experiment 1, we compared the performance in Guilford’s alternate uses task (AUT) during walking vs. sitting, and analysed eye blink rates during both conditions. We found that AUT scores were higher during walking than sitting. Albeit eye blinks differed significantly between movement conditions (walking vs. sitting) and task phase (baseline vs. thinking vs. responding), they did not correlate with task performance. In experiment 2 and 3, participants either walked freely or in a restricted path, or sat freely or fixated on a screen. When the factor restriction was explicitly modulated, the effect of walking was reduced, while restriction showed a significant influence on the fluency scores. Importantly, we found a significant correlation between the rate of eye blinks and creativity scores between subjects, depending on the restriction condition. Our study shows a movement state-independent effect of restriction on divergent thinking. In other words, similar to unrestrained walking, unrestrained sitting also improves divergent thinking. Importantly, we discuss a mechanistic explanation of the effect of restriction on divergent thinking based on the increased size of the focus of attention and the consequent bias towards flexibility.
... Numerous theories and studies aim to identify personal and organizational predictors of employees' creativity at work (see Hammond et al., 2011, for a meta-analytical review). Yet the association between recovery and creativity has received scant research attention, although several theories and studies imply that there may be a connection between recovery and the generation of creative solutions (Fink et al., 2010;Kühn et al., 2014). A first study by De Bloom et al. (2014b) showed that employees' cognitive flexibility increased after vacation. ...
... The DMN allows us introspections and to experience daydreams, and is important for mental imagination and creativity. Kühn et al. (2014) found a positive association between creative performance (operationalized with the Alternative Uses Task) and the grey matter volume of the DMN, which implies that the DMN plays a crucial role in generating creative ideas. Employees often associate vacations with activities enhancing relaxation (De Bloom et al., 2013). ...
The aim of this study was to investigate employees’ self-reported creativity before and after vacation and to examine the impact of recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, mastery, meaning, autonomy, affiliation) on changes in creativity. The DRAMMA model of Newman et al. provides the theoretical background of our approach. Longitudinal data was assessed with four repeated measurements. The study encompassed data from 274 white-collar workers. Analyses showed that employees subjectively perceive their creativity to benefit not immediately after their vacation but 2 weeks later. Detachment was significantly related to lower creativity within persons, while mastery experiences explained differences in creativity between persons. This study provides a detailed picture of changes in creativity around vacations.
... Here we used a mixed approach. First, the default mode network (DMN) centers, which, according to existing data [29,30], take part in cognitive processes related to the search for creative solutions, were chosen: medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC: −1, 49, −2), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC: −5, −53, 41), and left (LPC: −45, −71, 35) and right (RPC: 45, −71, 35) parietal cortex [31]. In addition, the centers of seven clusters were used, in which the data analysis revealed significant differences in the current source density when comparing insight and analytical solutions (see the Results section). ...
... The earliest effect when comparing insight and non-insight decisions is an increase in delta activity in the PCC, which is one of the DMN hubs and according to existing data is involved in cognitive processes related to the search for creative solutions [29,30,38]. In the same period, a reduced (compared to analytical decisions) connectivity between the left insula and the left STG in theta frequency range was revealed. ...
Insight is described as the sudden solution of a problem and is contrasted with an analytical, step-by-step approach. Traditionally, insight is thought to be associated with activity of the right hemisphere, whereas analytical solutions are thought to be associated with activity of the left hemisphere. However, empirical evidence as to the localization of insight-related brain activity is mixed and inconclusive. Some studies seem to confirm the traditional view, whereas others do not. Moreover, results of EEG and fMRI studies frequently contradict each other. In this study, EEG and fMRI data were recorded while subjects performed the remote association test and for each solved problem were asked to report whether the solution was reached analytically or insightfully. The data were analyzed in a 16-second fragment preceding the subject’s response. Source localization techniques were used in the analysis of EEG data. Based on EEG data, insightful as compared to analytical problem solving was accompanied by high-frequency synchronization in semantic cortical areas of the left hemisphere 10–12 s before the subject’s response. Based on fMRI data, however, insightful solutions were accompanied by increased activity in frontal and temporal regions of the right hemisphere. The results are interpreted in terms of different cognitive processes involved in insightful problem solving, which could be differently reflected in EEG and fMRI data.
... The alternative uses task (AUT) task (Guilford et al., 1960), as previously described, is a widely used and well validated measure of divergent thinking Fink et al., 2010;Jung et al., 2010;Kühn et al., 2014). Fluency, flexibility and originality are all measured. ...
... Fluency, flexibility and originality are all measured. This task is commonly applied alongside control tasks, such as the object characteristics task, in which participants are instructed to generate features for the object presented, or object uses task where participants are instructed to name the use of the object presented (Kühn et al., 2014). ...
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 twenty 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.
... Interestingly, the DMN and ECN typically exhibit mutually exclusive activity depending on whether the task is internally or externally focused 44 . On the contrary, in the context of creativity, their cooperation has been widely observed and appears to be essential for creative thinking and performance 28,40,[45][46][47] . ...
Creative thinking involves the evaluation of one’s ideas in order to select the best one, but the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying this evaluation remain unclear. Using a combination of creativity and rating tasks, this study demonstrates that individuals attribute subjective values to their ideas, as a relative balance of their originality and adequacy. This relative balance depends on individual preferences and predicts individuals’ creative abilities. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we find that the Default Mode and the Executive Control Networks respectively encode the originality and adequacy of ideas, and that the human reward system encodes their subjective value. Interestingly, the relative functional connectivity of the Default Mode and Executive Control Networks with the human reward system correlates with the relative balance of adequacy and originality in individuals’ preferences. These results add valuation to the incomplete behavioral and neural accounts of creativity, offering perspectives on the influence of individual preferences on creative abilities.
... A key network that may support a flexible mindset during group creativity is the executive control network, which is involved in set shifting, decision-making and working memory 27 . Neuroimaging studies on creativity have repeatedly found that while Default Mode Network (DMN) that includes regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), mediate the generation phase of creative thinking [28][29][30][31][32] , the Executive Control Network (ECN) is thought to play a critical role in the cognitive processes of evaluating, shifting and selecting ideas 4,33 . The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a core region in the ECN, was found to be activated in studies on creative story generation 34 , and divergent thinking 35 . ...
Although the impact of group dynamics on creativity is widely recognized, prior research has primarily concentrated on individuals in isolation from social context. To address this lacuna, we focus on groups as the fundamental unit of analysis. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine brain activity in groups of four during brainstorming discussions. We assessed interbrain coupling in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region linked to flexibility, and in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a region associated with imitation. Our findings demonstrate that creativity-focused discussions induced interbrain coupling both in regions related to flexibility and herding. Notably, interbrain coupling in the IFG was associated with more imitation of responses. Critically, while interbrain coupling in the DLPFC positively predicted group creativity, in the IFG it negatively predicted creativity. These findings suggest that increase in group mindsets of flexibility relative to herding is important for enhancing group creativity.
... However, tasks requiring internally focused attention, such as memory retrieval and creative ideation, can recruit what is apparently task-positive DMN activity, in some cases coupled with FPCN activity (Buckner and DiNicola, 2019;Kucyi et al., 2021). This has been observed in studies that use the Alternative Uses Test (AUT), a creative production task (Beaty et al., 2016;Benedek et al., 2023;Kühn et al., 2014). Other research has suggested that diffuse-attention states such as mind-wandering, which include DMN activity and presumably reduced cognitive control, may facilitate creative ideation and problem-solving (Erickson et al., 2018;Beeman, 2014, 2015). ...
... The alternative uses task is a widely used prototypical example of divergent thinking and well-validated measurement of creativity (Fink et al., 2010;Kühn et al., 2014;Wu et al., 2015;Dewhurst et al., 2011). Thus, the alternative use task was used to obtain the creative score and the LCIR. ...
In the present study, we hypothesized that the frontoparietal control network played important roles in effectively inhibiting the low creative ideas when performing the creative tasks. To test this hypothesis, the alternative uses task was used to obtain the creative score and the low-creative ideas ratio (LCIR), and the resting-state electroencephalogram (RS-EEG) microstates were used to measure the temporal characteristics of the frontoparietal control network. The results showed that the creative score plays moderating roles in the relationships between the LCIR and the parameters of the fourth microstate (MS4) which is generated from the frontoparietal control network. Specifically, for the individuals with higher creative score, the LCIR were negatively associated with the coverage rate of the MS4 and the possibilities of transitions between MS4 and MS1 (related to the semantic network), while the relationships were not observed for the individuals with lower creative score. Thus, we thought that the frontoparietal control network might be easier to sequentially activate the semantic network for the individuals with higher creative score, which make them more effectively inhibiting the low creative ideas under the creative tasks.
... These results are consistent with previous meta-analytic studies (Álvarez-Bueno et al., 2017a;Rominger et al., 2022), although the latter focussed on mainly an adult population. It has been previously suggested that dopamine levels, which are thought to be affected by physical activity (Knab & Lightfoot, 2010;Meeusen & De Meirleir, 1995), influence divergent thinking (Chermahini & Hommel, 2010;Kulisevsky et al., 2009;Zabelina et al., 2016) through the default mode network in the brain (Beaty et al., 2014;Buckner et al., 2008;Dang et al., 2012;Kühn et al., 2014;Nagano-Saito et al., 2009). Our study found that creativity was moderated by frequency of practice. ...
There is evidence that physical activity positively influences cognition and academic outcomes in childhood. This systematic review used a three-level meta-analytic approach, which handles nested effect sizes, to assess the impact of physical activity interventions. Ninety-two randomised control trials in typically developing children (5–12 years old, N = 25,334) were identified. Control group type and intervention characteristics including duration, frequency, and teacher qualification were explored as potential moderators. Results showed physical activity interventions improved on-task behaviour with a large effect size (g = 1.04, p = 0.03 (95% CI: 0.08–2.00), very low-certainty evidence) and led to moderate improvements in creativity (g = 0.70, p < 0.01 (0.20–1.20), low-certainty evidence). Small beneficial effects were found for fluid intelligence (g = 0.16, p = 0.03 (0.02, 0.30), moderate-certainty evidence) and working memory (g = 0.18, p = 0.01 (0.07–0.29), very low-certainty evidence), but no overall benefit was observed for attention, inhibitory control, planning, cognitive flexibility or academic outcomes. Heterogeneity was high, and moderator analyses indicated beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) with academic instruction of 6–10-week duration with moderate or moderate to vigorous intensity on mathematics outcomes and enriched PA programmes on language outcomes. In contrast, aerobic PA with moderate to vigorous intensity benefitted executive function outcomes. These results therefore suggest differential mechanisms of impact of different types of PA on different aspects of cognition.
... Activity within the DMN) or changes in connectivity between the DMN and other networks, particularly the executive and salience networks, have been linked to creativity (Beaty et al., 2015;Beaty et al., 2017;Heinonen et al., 2016;Heinonen et al., 2016;Kühn et al., 2014;Shi et al., 2018). These hypotheses are attractive and in some ways superficially compatible with our prior work (Japardi et al., 2018), which showed less engagement of "task-positive" networks during divergent thinking in the Big C groups. ...
Brain mechanisms underlying creativity are largely unknown and few studies have involved exceptionally creative individuals. We examined functional MRI (fMRI) connectivity in a “smart comparison group” (SCG; n = 24), and in exceptionally creative (“Big C”) visual artists (VIS; n = 21) and scientists (SCI; n = 21). Groups were matched on age, sex, and estimated IQ. FMRI scans were acquired during the resting-state and performance of two tasks: (a) alternative uses test (AUT), putatively measuring divergent thinking; and (b) remote associates test (RAT), putatively engaging convergent thinking. Graph theory measures of functional connectivity were compared across groups using generalized linear mixed models. Global connectivity measures included small-worldness (indexing efficiency), clustering coefficient, and characteristic path length. Local connectivity measures included local efficiency and clustering coefficients within default mode, dorsal attention, frontoparietal, salience, ventral attention, and visual networks. During the resting-state, global small-worldness was lower for SCI than SCG; VIS had intermediate values. Relative to SCG, the Big C groups had higher local clustering coefficients during the resting-state conditions but lower local clustering during the AUT condition. No significant differences were found during the convergent thinking test (RAT). These findings suggest that Big C creativity is associated with more “random” rather than more “efficient” global network functional architecture, with condition-dependent variations in local clustering and efficiency. Large condition-dependent correlations between global and local clustering measures deserve further examination in exceptionally creative and other groups to more fully characterize the functional topology of brain networks most relevant to creativity.
... The DMN is a network of brain regions originally identified in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies during task-free trials [16]. It consists of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) [17,18]. Activity in the DMN is frequently associated with spontaneous cognitions and self-generated thought, including mind wandering, future thinking, memory retrieval, and divergent thinking [19][20][21][22]. ...
Conflicts between groups are difficult to resolve, partly because humans tend to be biased in judging outgroup members. The aim of the current article is to review findings on the link between creativity and conflict-related biases and to offer a model that views creative cognition as an ability that may contribute to overcoming conflict-related biases. Our proposed model conforms to the twofold model of creativity. According to this model, creativity involves a generation phase and an evaluation phase, and these phases correspond to the neural mechanisms that underlie conflict-related biases. Specifically, we contend that the generation phase of creativity affects conflict-related biases by exerting an influence on stereotypes and prejudice, outgroup-targeted emotions, and ingroup empathy biases, all of which rely on the default mode network. Conversely, the evaluation phase of creativity, which is usually associated with activation in the executive control network and action-observation system, may be related to herding behaviors. Building on the shared mechanisms of creativity and conflicts, we propose that studies examining creativity-based interventions may be effective in promoting reconciliation.
... Also, activating the DMN, letting the mind wander, and, thus, withstanding external stimuli lead to benefits in another field: creativity (Beaty et al., 2014a(Beaty et al., , b, 2016Dijksterhuis & Meurs, 2006;Jung, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2019). Most advantages can be found in divergent thinking, meaning the process of exploring as many ideas as possible. ...
While the initial research on the wandering mind usually saw it as a problem, recent research tends to have a more positive view of its adaptive functions. This has also influenced our understanding of meditative practice. While mindfulness techniques have often been argued to reduce mind wandering, it has been suggested that nondirective meditation facilitates mind wandering and default mode network activity. This chapter explores the implications of this for emotional processing. It is based on an fMRI study suggesting that nondirective meditation activates the default mode network and in particular brain areas associated with emotional processing.KeywordsMind-wanderingEmotional processingNondirective meditationDefault mode network
... Also, activating the DMN, letting the mind wander, and, thus, withstanding external stimuli lead to benefits in another field: creativity (Beaty et al., 2014a(Beaty et al., , b, 2016Dijksterhuis & Meurs, 2006;Jung, 2013;Kühn et al., 2014;Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2019). Most advantages can be found in divergent thinking, meaning the process of exploring as many ideas as possible. ...
We provide an overview of the “lines” and “circles” of knowledge that represent the key to reading this collective volume. The two sections of the book are described, introducing the content of each chapter and their connections, resonances and dialectics. The goal of the book is to present an overview of the many interesting emerging perspectives on mind wandering in human development and education. Through it we recreate a dance of interacting parts: scrolling through the different contributions, one can grasp the rhythm of convergences and interconnections that animates them. The gaze is generative-systemic because we are attentive both to the emergency processes and to the interactions between parts(zigzag).KeywordsMind-wanderingNeurosciencesCultural-historical psychologyGenerativityHigher mental functions
... The DMN has been linked to semantic and episodic memory retrieval (Buckner et al., 2008;Raichle, 2015), which has been shown to underpin creative thinking Madore, Thakral, Beaty, Addis, & Schacter, 2019). Moreover, increased gray matter density within regions associated with the DMN has been linked to higher creative abilities (Kuhn et al., 2014). In contrast, the FPCN encompasses lateral prefrontal and anterior inferior parietal brain areas and is associated with primary executive abilities such as goal maintenance, inhibition, and attentional control (Niendam et al., 2012). ...
Evidence from fMRI research indicates that individual creative thinking ability – defined as performance on divergent thinking tasks, subjectively assessed by human raters – can be predicted based on the strength of functional connectivity (FC) between the brain’s default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal control network (FPCN). Here, we sought to replicate and extend these findings in two ways: 1) using a natural language processing method to objectively quantify creative performance (instead of subjective human ratings), and 2) employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a neuroimaging method that allows measuring brain activity in more naturalistic settings (compared to fMRI). By applying elastic-net regression to resting-state functional connectivity data, we constructed two separate prediction models to predict participants’ creative performance based on static FC and dynamic FC respectively. Results from the static network analysis indicated that fNIRS-functional connectivity between the DMN and FPCN can reliably predict creative ability (assessed objectively via natural language processing; R² = .38). Moreover, we show that dynamic DMN-FPCN functional connectivity predicts creative ability nearly twice as strong as static connectivity (R² = .67). Our work demonstrates that objective measures of creativity can be predicted from resting-state functional connectivity and that the procedure can be efficiently implemented within highly naturalistic settings with fNIRS.
... According to neuroscientifi c theories, the default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain regions that are active when the individual is not focused on the outside world and the brain is at wakeful rest: that's precisely the state that describes the 'dreaming pupil'. Modern creativity theories (Kühn et al., 2014;Beaty et al., 2014) underscore the crucial importance of the default mode network to creative processes. ...
Creativity was the theme of the EAS-congress 2016 and is a core matter both in music education and in music therapy. Involving neuropsychological notions and concepts such as neuroplasti-city, divergent and convergent thinking and functions of the 'default mode network', the paper tries to elucidate underlying principles of creativity. Scientific findings point out how creativity it relevant to personal growth, problem-solving and vital energy. Particularly pupils with medical conditions such as affective or psychotic disorders may benefit from creative expression and production which is, in artistic contexts, not necessarily seen as a pathological symptom. Well-developed creativity enhances life-quality and social inclusion across the lifespan .
... The AUT has been strongly linked with the DMN in both functional-connectivity analyses (Beaty et al., 2015(Beaty et al., , 2014 and structural analyses of DT Kühn et al., 2014;Wertz, Chohan, Ramey, Flores, & Jung, 2020), although far less so in standard functional-activation studies. While neither of the two previous DT meta-analyses reported DMN components in their results (Cogdell-Brooke et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2015), we observed a PCC cluster in the AUT analysis in left BA 23/31 close to where Beaty et al. (2015) reported their most extensive cluster in a multivoxel pattern analysis of the AUT. ...
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.
... 25). These three circumstances, have one thing in common, namely, that they are situations in which a person is most likely to engage in mind wandering, the state that I have described as producing combinations in which the parameters p, u, and v all approach zero (Simonton, 2018b): just random thoughts that merely reveal that the brain is idling, or what has been more technically called in the neurosciences the activation of the "default mode network" (Kühn et al., 2014). Yet this mental state has also been linked to creative insights (Gable et al., 2019; see also Gilhooly, this volume). ...
This chapter examines the notion of the ‘prepared mind’, popular in serendipity and creativity studies, in ways that defend and advance the ontological position that mind and context are co-constitutive or interdependent. From this standpoint, it makes little sense to ask what is ‘inside’ the mind but, rather, what happens in-between mind and world in moments of creative serendipity. Three forms of relating to the world are proposed as essential for serendipity and, more broadly, for creativity: surprise, curiosity and wonder. The ways in which surprise, curiosity and wonder shape our experience of serendipity are discussed with a view towards expanding the prepared mind into a system of open and dynamic relations between self and other, mind and culture, person and world.
... Less activation in the prefrontal cortex could reduce cognitive control, which may help participants overcome fixation or associate objects that are semantically less similar to reinterpret the design problem 101 . In the same lines, neuroimaging studies indicated that creative idea generation is associated with activation of the DMN resulting from reduced cognitive control 10,102 . However, a recent study reported interactions between the DMN and the cognitive control network underlying creativity 12 , suggesting that the balance between the DMN and cognitive control network may benefit flexible regulation for creative performance 103,104 . ...
Design is a ubiquitous, complex, and open-ended creation behaviour that triggers creativity. The brain dynamics underlying design is unclear, since a design process consists of many basic cognitive behaviours, such as problem understanding, idea generation, idea analysis, idea evaluation, and idea evolution. In this present study, we simulated the design process in a loosely controlled setting, aiming to quantify the design-related cognitive workload and control, identify EEG-defined large-scale brain networks, and uncover their temporal dynamics. The effectiveness of this loosely controlled setting was tested through comparing the results with validated findings available in the literature. Task-related power (TRP) analysis of delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands revealed that idea generation was associated with the highest cognitive workload and lowest cognitive control, compared to other design activities in the experiment, including problem understanding, idea evaluation, and self-rating. EEG microstate analysis supported this finding as microstate class C, being negatively associated with the cognitive control network, was the most prevalent in idea generation. Furthermore, EEG microstate sequence analysis demonstrated that idea generation was consistently associated with the shortest temporal correlation times concerning finite entropy rate, autoinformation function, and Hurst exponent. This finding suggests that during idea generation the interplay of functional brain networks is less restricted and the brain has more degrees of freedom in choosing the next network configuration than during other design activities. Taken together, the TRP and EEG microstate results lead to the conclusion that idea generation is associated with the highest cognitive workload and lowest cognitive control during open-ended creation task.
... Over the past decades, standardized tests targeting creative processes (e.g., idea generation and refinement) have been developed and successfully deployed in a wide range of contexts (Keefe & Magaro, 1980;Kühn et al., 2014;Lau & Cheung, 2010;Maheshwari & Werd, 2019;Matud, Rodríguez, & Grande, 2007;Torrance, 1976). The simple and domain-agnostic design of the tasks in these tests allows for large-scale, albeit resource intensive, deployment. ...
Creativity assessments should be valid, reliable, and scalable to support various stakeholders (e.g., policy-makers, educators, corporations, and the general public) in their decision-making processes. Established initiatives toward scalable creativity assessments have relied on well-studied standardized tests. Although robust in many ways, most of these tests adopt unnatural and unmotivating environments for expression of creativity, mainly observe coarse-grained snippets of the creative process, and rely on subjective, resource-intensive, human-expert evaluations. This article presents a literature review of game-based creativity assessment and discusses how digital games can potentially address the limitations of traditional testing. Based on an original sample of 127 papers, this article contributes an in-depth review of 16 papers on 11 digital creativity assessment games. Despite the relatively small sample, a wide variety of design decisions are covered. Major findings and recommendations include identifying (1) a disconnect between the potential of scaling up assessment of creativity with the use of digital games, and the actual reach achieved in the examined studies (2) the need for complementary methods such as stealth assessment, algorithmic support and crowdsourcing when designing creativity assessment games, and (3) a need for interdisciplinary dialogs to produce, validate and implement creativity assessment games at scale.
... would connect this observation with the phenomenon of mind wandering (Gable et al., 2019). At the neuroscientific level, this phenomenon may entail the Default Mode Network in which the brain momentarily ceases to process external stimuli (Kühn et al., 2014). The main point is that this circumstance is ideal for generating low probability combinations with corresponding low prior knowledge values of the utilities. ...
Although scientific creativity has often been described as combinatorial, the description is usually insufficiently formulated to count as a precise scientific explanation. Therefore, the current article is devoted to elaborating a formalization defined by three combinatorial parameters: the initial probability p, the final utility u, and the scientist’s prior knowledge of that utility v. These parameters then lead logically to an 8-fold typology involving two forms of expertise, two irrational combinations, and four “blind” combinations. One of the latter provides the basis for the definition of personal creativity as c=(1−p)u(1−v), that is, the multiplicative product of originality, utility, and surprise. This three-criterion definition then has six critical implications. Those implications lead to a discussion of various combinatorial processes and procedures that include a treatment of the No Free Lunch Theorems regarding optimization algorithms as well as the creativity-maximizing phenomena of mind wandering and serendipity. The article closes with a discussion of how scientific creativity differs from artistic creativity. Besides the obvious contrasts in the ideas entering the combinatorial processes and procedures, scientific combinations, products, and communities strikingly differ from those typical of the arts. These differences also imply contrasts in developmental experiences and personality characteristics. In sum, the formal combinatorial analysis enhances our understanding of scientific creativity.
... This could be indicative of processes related to early memory retrieval, that are engaged more intensively the more training the musicians have received irrespective of discipline. Greater connectivity within network for classically trained musicians aligns with previous findings of greater local efficiency for classically trained musicians ( Belden et al., 2020 ), while greater gamma power for improvisers could be a result of greater cortical thickness in areas of the default mode network which has been found for musical improvisers ( Kühn et al., 2014 ). ...
Musical improvisers are trained to categorize certain musical structures into functional classes, which is thought to facilitate improvisation. Using a novel auditory oddball paradigm (Goldman et al., 2020) which enables us to disassociate a deviant (i.e. musical chord inversion) from a consistent functional class, we recorded scalp EEG from a group of musicians who spanned a range of improvisational and classically trained experience. Using a spatiospectral based inter and intra network connectivity analysis, we found that improvisers showed a variety of differences in connectivity within and between large-scale cortical networks compared to classically trained musicians, as a function of deviant type. Inter-network connectivity in the alpha band, for a time window leading up to the behavioural response, was strongly linked to improvisation experience, with the default mode network acting as a hub. Spatiospectral networks post response were substantially different between improvisers and classically trained musicians, with greater inter-network connectivity (specific to the alpha and beta bands) seen in improvisers whereas those with more classical training had largely reduced inter-network activity (mostly in the gamma band). More generally, we interpret our findings in the context of network-level correlates of expectation violation as a function of subject expertise, and we discuss how these may generalize to other and more ecologically valid scenarios.
... Current research focuses on how creativity is related to design, and which measures the best capture the creative cognitive processes that contribute to the cognitive profile of a successful designer. Creativity is a multidimensional construct that engages many cognitive processes (Kühn et al., 2014). In the present study, we measure divergent thinking, which allows the designer to engage in idea generation. ...
There are three approaches to studying designers – through their cognitive profile, design behaviors, and design artifacts (e.g., quality). However, past work has rarely considered all three data domains together. Here we introduce and describe a framework for a comprehensive approach to engineering design, and discuss how the insights may benefit engineering design research and education. To demonstrate the proposed framework, we conducted an empirical study with a solar energy system design problem. Forty-six engineering students engaged in a week-long computer-aided design challenge that assessed their design behavior and artifacts, and completed a set of psychological tests to measure cognitive competencies. Using a machine learning approach consisting of k-means, hierarchical, and spectral clustering, designers were grouped by similarities on the psychological tests. Significant differences were revealed between designer groups in their sequential design behavior, suggesting that a designer's cognitive profile is related to how they engage in the design process.
... The AUT has been strongly linked with the DMN in both functional-connectivity analyses (Beaty et al., , 2015(Beaty et al., , 2014 and structural analyses of DT Kühn et al., 2014;Wertz et al., 2020), although far less so in standard functional-activation studies. While neither of the two previous DT meta-analyses reported DMN components in their results (Cogdell-Brooke et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2015), we observed a PCC cluster in the AUT analysis in left BA 23/31 close to where Beaty et al. (2015) reported their most extensive cluster in a multivoxel pattern analysis of the AUT. ...
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 Alternate Uses divergent-thinking 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.
... This could be indicative of processes related to early memory retrieval, that are engaged more intensively the more training the musicians have received irrespective of discipline. Greater connectivity within network for classically trained musicians aligns with previous findings of greater local efficiency for classically trained musicians ( Belden et al., 2020 ), while greater gamma power for improvisers could be a result of greater cortical thickness in areas of the default mode network which has been found for musical improvisers ( Kühn et al., 2014 ). ...
Musical improvisers are trained to categorize certain musical structures into functional classes, which is thought to facilitate improvisation. Using a novel auditory oddball paradigm (Goldman et al., 2020) which enables us to disassociate a deviant (i.e. musical cord inversion) from a consistent functional class, we recorded scalp EEG from a group of musicians who spanned a range of improvisational and classically trained experience. Using a spatiospectral based inter and intra network connectivity analysis, we found that improvisers showed a variety of differences in connectivity within and between large-scale cortical networks compared to classically trained musicians, as a function of deviant type. Inter-network connectivity in the alpha band, for a time window leading up to the behavioural response, was strongly linked to improvisation experience, with the default mode network acting as a hub. Spatiospectral networks post response were substantially different between improvisers and classically trained musicians, with greater inter-network connectivity (specific to the alpha and beta bands) seen in improvisers whereas those with more classical training had largely reduced inter-network activity (mostly in the gamma band). More generally, we interpret our findings in the context of network-level correlates of expectation violation as a function of subject expertise, and we discuss how these may generalize to other and more ecologically valid scenarios.
... The PCC, a posterior midline cortical region with extensive corticocortical connectivity (Heilbronner and Haber, 2014) and elevated resting state and off-task metabolic activity (Buckner et al., 2008), is at the heart of the default mode network (Buckner et al., 2008). The default mode network is a cortex-spanning network implicated in exploratory cognition, including imagination (Schacter et al., 2012), creativity (Kühn et al., 2014), and narration (Wise and Braga, 2014). Although implicated in a range of cognitive functions, activity in PCC may be unified by a set of computations related to harvesting information from the environment to regulate behavior. ...
Animals engage in routine behavior in order to efficiently navigate their environments. This routine behavior may be influenced by the state of the environment, such as the location and size of rewards. The neural circuits tracking environmental information and how that information impacts decisions to deviate from routines remains unexplored. To investigate the representation of environmental information during routine foraging, we recorded the activity of single neurons in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in two male monkeys searching through an array of targets in which the location of rewards was unknown. Outside the laboratory, people and animals solve such traveling salesman problems by following routine traplines that connect nearest-neighbor locations. In our task, monkeys also deployed traplining routines, but as the environment became better known, they deviate from them despite the reduction in foraging efficiency. While foraging, PCC neurons tracked environmental information but not reward and predicted variability in the pattern of choices. Together, these findings suggest that PCC may mediate the influence of information on variability in choice behavior.Significance statementMany animals seek information to better guide their decisions and update behavioral routines. In our study, subjects visually searched through a set of targets on every trial to gather two rewards. Greater amounts of information about the distribution of rewards predicted less variability in choice patterns, whereas smaller amounts predicted greater variability. We recorded from the posterior cingulate cortex, an area implicated in the coding of reward and uncertainty, and discovered that these neurons signaled the expected information about the distribution of rewards instead of signaling expected rewards. The activity in these cells also predicted the amount of variability in choice behavior. These findings suggest that the posterior cingulate helps direct the search for information in order to augment routines.
... Since we observed a significant increase in RSA during the intervention phase (Meier et al., 2020), we can speculate that we induced a decrease in norepinephrine levels that resulted in the observed increase in HR variability. Apart from that, researchers have discussed that creativity might be associated with the default mode network (DMN) (Beaty et al., 2014;Kühn et al., 2014;Raichle, 2015). This complex neural network comprises structures that are active in the resting state and whose activity decreases as soon as attention-intensive tasks are being solved or as soon as an activity has to be performed (Raichle, 2015). ...
Cognition is affected by psychophysiological states. While the influence of stress on cognition has been investigated intensively, less studies have addressed how the opposite of stress, a state of relaxation, affects cognition. We investigated whether the extent of parasympathetic activation is positively related to divergent thinking. Sixty healthy female participants were randomly allocated to a standardized vagus nerve massage (n = 19), a standardized soft shoulder massage (n = 22), or a resting control group (n = 19). Subsequently, participants completed the Alternative Uses Test (AUT), a measure of divergent thinking. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a vagally mediated heart rate variability component, was monitored throughout the experiment. The area under the curve with respect to the increase was calculated for RSA trajectories as an indicator of vagal tone during the relaxing intervention. Regressions tested the effect of vagal tone on AUT outcomes. We found an association between vagal tone and subsequent AUT outcomes. Yet, this association was no longer significant when controlling for the effect of the creative potential of an individual, which was strongly related to AUT outcomes. Being exploratory, we found a positive association between creative potential and vagal tone. These results imply that creative potential might be related to the capacity to relax.
... Particularly, the disconnection of the right cingulate fasciculus, as well as the DMN, impairs the ability to generate distant associations. Both the DMN's structures and the cingulate fasciculus are known to be involved in creative tasks Kühn et al., 2014;. Alternatively, the ability to combine remote ideas seems to require different structures in the left hemisphere, such as the anterior thalamic radiations, the fronto-marginal tract, and to rely on the integrity of the frontoparietal control network . ...
The new brain imaging techniques, notably the different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities, allow the study of the human brain in vivo for the first time in neuroscience's history. These technologies now make possible to study the symptoms caused by brain lesions in living patients. However, it requires the development of new analyses adapted for this new kind of data which was not available a few decades ago. Most of the classical lesion--symptom analyses are focused on the lesioned area, often neglecting the affected structural and functional connections. In this thesis, we begin by presenting a set of methods, implemented in our software the BCBtoolkit, enabling the study of both structural and functional disconnections and their effect on the behaviour. We applied these analyses to map the impact of focal brain lesions on the performance in category fluency. We then present two studies using this approach to investigate the underlying mechanisms of several cognitive functions associated with creativity. We finally discuss the possible interaction between the different brain structures, which generate human behaviours. Our studies unveil numerous networks, both structural or functional, participating in the different high-level cognitive functions. Ultimately, we propose a theoretical model for these interactions.
Associative theories of creativity posit that high-creativity individuals possess flexible semantic memory structures that allow broad access to varied information. However, the semantic memory structure characteristics and neural substrates of creative writing are unclear. Here, we explored the semantic network features and the predictive whole-brain functional connectivity associated with creative writing and generated mediation models. Participants completed two creative story continuation tasks. We found that keywords from written texts with superior creative writing performance encompassed more semantic categories and were highly interconnected and transferred efficiently. Connectome predictive modeling (CPM) was conducted with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to identify whole-brain functional connectivity patterns related to creative writing, dominated by default mode network (DMN). Semantic network features were found to mediate the relationship between brain functional connectivity and creative writing performance. These results highlight how semantic memory structure and the DMN-driven brain functional connectivity patterns support creative writing performance. Our findings extend prior research on the role of semantic memory structure and the DMN in creativity, expand upon previous research on semantic creativity, and provide insight into the cognitive and neural foundations of creative writing.
Coming up with creative ideas is not easy. In this conceptual article, we integrate organizational behavior, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience literatures to propose that different forms of attention may be a key to maximizing creative usefulness and novelty. Specifically, we develop a neurocognitive framework of attentional control to propose differential pathways from creative goal‐directed attention (a narrow and selective focus) to deliberate information processing, and from undirected attention (a wide and unconstrained focus) to spontaneous information processing. These propositions have implications for creative usefulness and novelty, respectively—namely, that creative goal‐directed attention should facilitate the usefulness of creative outputs to a greater extent than their novelty, whereas undirected attention should promote the novelty of creative outputs to a greater extent than their usefulness. Our framework further suggests that time spent experiencing creative goal‐directed attention followed by undirected attention is the optimal sequence for maximizing both the usefulness and novelty of creative outputs. In combination, our framework advances theoretical understanding of attentional pathways to creative outcomes and offers practical implications for maximizing creative potential at work.
Popular conceptions of creativity advance a neoliberal world view that reduces creativity to spontaneous ideation or so-called “right-brain thinking.” Such formulations, now commonly upheld in popular and educational discourse, blinker the essential role of criticality and sensitivity to socio-cultural context in the creative process. To challenge the neoliberalization of creativity, we designed the Remaking Critical Theory (RCT) process, which synthesizes recent cognitive science and creative humanities research to reconstitute creativity as criticality and vice versa – what we label critical creativity. The process reframes humanistic interpretation as a critical-creative activity and adapts methods from art, design, and innovation management to facilitate the production of humanities insights. Drawing upon dual-process models of creative cognition, we theorize how the RCT process activates the right type of thinking at the right time in the creative process. We also evidence efficacy by delineating and reflecting upon a pilot application at Sheridan College, which culminated in the student researchers making critical theory zines. More than simply reaffirming the value of critical theory in neoliberal societies, we delineate a radically new approach to humanities research and pedagogy.
Mind wandering is often considered as disadvantageous and obstructive within the classroom. However, recent research has discovered that one important resting state network in the human brain, the default mode network, is in charge of this cognitive process and actually entails various advantages, especially in the field of language acquisition, processing, and performance. Mind wandering also augments creativity, particularly divergent thinking, and fosters productive language use. With the help of the latest technological progress, it has additionally become possible to locate this particular neural network and verify its underestimated potentials. Therefore, this chapter not only provides basic knowledge about the language related neurobiological basis but also presents recently collected data of language acquisition-related neuroscientific studies in contrast to existing findings of language acquisition, as well as implications for efficient language didactical implementations.
Keywords: Resting state network, Default mode network, Mind wandering, Language acquisition, Language teaching, Creativity
Purpose
An organization’s competitive advantage can be strengthened if they are able to identify highly creative individuals. In fact, organizational success in the 21st century may depend upon a firm’s ability to identify highly creative individuals who are able to develop novel and useful ideas, which are the outcome of creativity. The authors posit that Information Technology (IT) plays a significant role in creativity.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying the componential view of creativity, the authors propose the theoretically-derived concept of Individual IT Creativity (IITC). Utilizing a 5-phase methodology, the authors provide a theoretically-derived and rigorously-validated measure of IITC.
Findings
This study demonstrates that IITC is manifested in individuals who (1) possess IT expertise; (2) are motivated by IT tasks and (3) exhibit IT creativity-relevant processes. The authors then develop a scale to measure IITC and examine IITC within a broader nomological network.
Originality/value
This study facilitates the investigation of new streams of research into IITC, including new possible outcomes in addition to IT acceptance.
The phenomenon of serendipity is integrated with the broader conception of creativity as combinatorial, where a large number of processes and procedures are potentially responsible for the generation of such combinations. To define what it means to identify any given combination as creative, the standard two-criterion definition is replaced with a three-criterion definition where creativity becomes the multiplicative function of originality, utility, and surprise. This definition is then applied to serendipity, showing that such discoveries inadvertently maximise originality and surprise, without necessarily ensuring the highest utility. This formal treatment is then applied to the following three contrasts: true serendipity versus pseudo-serendipity, internal versus external serendipity, and serendipity in the sciences versus serendipity in the arts.
A tanulmány a tehetséghez kapcsolódó két terület, a kreativitás és a matematikai tehetség idegtudományi kutatásait foglalja össze. Mind a két területen az első megközelítések a két agyfélteke feltételezett eltérő működését hangsúlyozták, és alapvető módszerként az elektroenkefalogram frekvencia-összetevőinek változását elemezték az éppen előtérben lévő elméleti általánosítások függvényében. Fokozatosan dominálóvá váltak a hálózati elemzéseken alapuló munkák, melyek egyaránt támaszkodtak elektrofiziológiai és képalkotási eredményekre. A kreativitás témakörében a legnagyobb problémát az idegtudományi kutatásokban is a kreativitást körülvevő bizonytalanság jellemzi. A matematikai tehetség esetében a résztvevők teljesítménye könnyebben hozzáférhető, azonban a kiemelkedő tehetségek sajátságait vizsgáló kutatások ezen a területen is a kezdeteknél tartanak. Közös a két területben, hogy alapvetőnek tartja a frontális területek, a parietális és esetenként a szenzoros területek hatékony kapcsolatát. Ugyanakkor naivitásnak tűnik, hogy akár a kreativitás, akár a matematikai tehetség esetében specifikus strukturális elrendezéseket vagy mechanizmusokat találjunk.
We reviewed neuroscience-oriented research on two subfields of giftedness: creativity and mathematical giftedness. In both fields the early studies focused on hemisphere differences, using methods of frequency analysis of electroencephalography. However, gradually the analysis of network activity became the main issue of research. These investigations applied various methods of electrophysiology and brain imaging. A central theoretical problem of the field is the ill-defined concept of creativity. In the field of mathematical giftedness performance measurement is available, but studies using highly gifted participants are rather rare.
This study aims to disclose how the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) neuroimaging approach has been applied in education studies, and what kind of learning themes has been investigated in the reviewed MRI neuroimaging research. Based on the keywords “brain or neuroimaging or neuroscience” and “MRI or diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) or white matter or gray matter or resting-state,” a total of 25 papers were selected from the subject areas “Educational Psychology” and “Education and Educational Research” from the Web of Science and Scopus from 2000 to 2019. Content analysis showed that MRI neuroimaging and learning were studied under the following three major topics and nine subtopics: cognitive function (language, creativity, music, physical activity), science education (mathematical learning, biology learning, physics learning), and brain development (parenting, personality development). As for the type of MRI neuroimaging research, the most frequently used approaches were functional MRI, followed by structural MRI and DTI, although the choice of approach was often motivated by the specific research question. Research development trends show that the neural plasticity theme has become more prominent recently. This study concludes that in educational research, the MRI neuroimaging approach provides objective and empirical evidence to connect learning processes, outcomes, and brain mechanisms.
For many decades in psychology and the history of science the phenomenon of incubation has been known but not fully understood; this is the preparation of a solution to a problem during a period of relative rest. The aim of the present work was to use EEG data to seek patterns of resting state network connectivity during incubation associated with successful postincubation solution of tasks. Subjects carried out a remote associations tests in three stages: a fi rst attempt, incubation (listening to an audio recording irrelevant to solving the task), and a second attempt to solve the unsolved tasks. Subjects who after incubation solved at least one additional task showed a more marked association of the left sensorimotor cortex with the insula and a less marked association with the left dorsolateral frontal cortex during the period of incubation. These data are consistent with the view that at the stage of seeking a solution, the optimum situation is a combination of decreased activity in the executive control network, leading to defocusing of attention, and increased activity in the motivational salience network.
My project combines (cognitive) neuroscience (stress response in the face of cortisol levels and receptor sensitivity), behavioral correlational psychology (creativity, flow experience and Freudian psychodynamic metapsychology) and phenomenological philosophy (Karl Jaspers' doctrine of Existenzphilosophie: Existenzerhellung (Existential Illumination) and Grenzsituation (Boundary Situation/Event), a fact which makes it neurophilosophical par excellence and which allows for empirical genuine neuroscientific, psychological and even statistical testing in field of phenomenological philosophy. Due to limited space, I will use a schematic method (small description of notions and doctrines) followed by a brief presentation of the major hypothesis to present my project and all methods planned and involved.
From an early age, musicians learn complex motor and auditory skills (e.g., the translation of visually perceived musical symbols into motor commands with simultaneous auditory monitoring of output), which they practice extensively from childhood throughout their entire careers. Using a voxel-by-voxel morphometric technique, we found gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory, and visual-spatial brain regions when comparing professional musicians (keyboard players) with a matched group of amateur musicians and non-musicians. Although some of these multiregional differences could be attributable to innate predisposition, we believe they may represent structural adaptations in response to long-term skill acquisition and the repetitive rehearsal of those skills. This hypothesis is supported by the strong association we found between structural differences, musician status, and practice intensity, as well as the wealth of supporting animal data showing structural changes in response to long-term motor training. However, only future experiments can determine the relative contribution of predisposition and practice.
Does the structure of an adult human brain alter in response to environmental demands? Here we use whole-brain magnetic-resonance imaging to visualize learning-induced plasticity in the brains of volunteers who have learned to juggle. We find that these individuals show a transient and selective structural change in brain areas that are associated with the processing and storage of complex visual motion. This discovery of a stimulus-dependent alteration in the brain's macroscopic structure contradicts the traditionally held view that cortical plasticity is associated with functional rather than anatomical changes.
The connection between mental health and creativity has traditionally been studied in terms of outstanding aesthetic‐professional creativity and mental illness. More interesting however, is the possible connection between “everyday “ creativity and mental health. Everyday creativity involves attacking day to day activities in a divergent way: It derives from a complex of cognitive, affective, personal, motivational, and social factors, and is characterized by openness, flexibility, autonomy, playfulness, humor, willingness to take risks, and perseverance. These characteristics are also consistently emphasized in models of “normal” personality growth, so that the possibility arises of promoting mental health by fostering creativity in day-to-day life. Several small studies described in this article give examples of how this might be done and the kinds of benefits which can result.
Disciplines that study science are relatively well established in philosophy, history, and sociology. Psychology of science, by comparison, is a late bloomer but has recently shown signs of codification. The authors further this codification by integrating and reviewing the growing literature in the developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology of science. Only by integrating the findings from each of these perspective can the basic questions in the study of scientific behavior be answered: Who becomes a scientist and what role do biology, family, school, and gender play? Are productivity, scientific reasoning, and theory acceptance influenced by age? What thought processes and heuristics lead to successful discovery? What personality characteristics distinguish scientists from nonscientists and eminent from less eminent scientists? Finally, how do intergroup relations and social forces influence scientific behavior? A model that integrates the consensual empirical findings from the psychology of science is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although psychologists have often used eminence measures as individual-difference variables, no researcher has investigated the differential eminence of individuals belonging to disadvantaged minority groups. Here a sample of 294 illustrious African Americans is scrutinized from the standpoint of the majority (White) culture and the minority (Black) subculture. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of 7 Black and 10 White eminence measures indicate that (a) these measures can be explained by two latent variables but that (b) the two dimensions correlate very highly. Multiple regression analyses then showed that the Black and White composite assessments, although concurring on the impact of most predictor variables (e.g., gender, famous firsts, and Spingarn Award), could nonetheless disagree on the consequences of achievements in certain domains (e.g., athletes, blues and jazz musicians, and civil rights activists). The results have implications for the development of causal models that explain individual differences in achievement within minority- and majority-culture populations.
In this article the authors argue that a new category of creativity, called “mini-c” creativity, is needed to advance creativity theory and research. Mini-c creativity differs from little-c (everyday) or Big-C (eminent) creativity as it refers to the creative processes involved in the construction of personal knowledge and understanding. The authors discuss how the category of mini-c creativity addresses gaps in current conceptions of creativity, offers researchers a new and important unit of analysis, and helps to better frame the domain question in creativity research. Implications for creativity research are also discussed.
Although anecdotes that creative thoughts often arise when one is engaged in an unrelated train of thought date back thousands of years, empirical research has not yet investigated this potentially critical source of inspiration. We used an incubation paradigm to assess whether performance on validated creativity problems (the Unusual Uses Task, or UUT) can be facilitated by engaging in either a demanding task or an undemanding task that maximizes mind wandering. Compared with engaging in a demanding task, rest, or no break, engaging in an undemanding task during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems. Critically, the context that improved performance after the incubation period was associated with higher levels of mind wandering but not with a greater number of explicitly directed thoughts about the UUT. These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.
Substantial differences exist in the cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives on psychological measures. Variability in political attitudes reflects genetic influences and their interaction with environmental factors. Recent work has shown a correlation between liberalism and conflict-related activity measured by event-related potentials originating in the anterior cingulate cortex. Here we show that this functional correlate of political attitudes has a counterpart in brain structure. In a large sample of young adults, we related self-reported political attitudes to gray matter volume using structural MRI. We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala. These results were replicated in an independent sample of additional participants. Our findings extend previous observations that political attitudes reflect differences in self-regulatory conflict monitoring and recognition of emotional faces by showing that such attitudes are reflected in human brain structure. Although our data do not determine whether these regions play a causal role in the formation of political attitudes, they converge with previous work to suggest a possible link between brain structure and psychological mechanisms that mediate political attitudes.
Although mind wandering occupies a large proportion of our waking life, its neural basis and relation to ongoing behavior remain controversial. We report an fMRI study that used experience sampling to provide an online measure of mind wandering during a concurrent task. Analyses focused on the interval of time immediately preceding experience sampling probes demonstrate activation of default network regions during mind wandering, a finding consistent with theoretical accounts of default network functions. Activation in medial prefrontal default network regions was observed both in association with subjective self-reports of mind wandering and an independent behavioral measure (performance errors on the concurrent task). In addition to default network activation, mind wandering was associated with executive network recruitment, a finding predicted by behavioral theories of off-task thought and its relation to executive resources. Finally, neural recruitment in both default and executive network regions was strongest when subjects were unaware of their own mind wandering, suggesting that mind wandering is most pronounced when it lacks meta-awareness. The observed parallel recruitment of executive and default network regions--two brain systems that so far have been assumed to work in opposition--suggests that mind wandering may evoke a unique mental state that may allow otherwise opposing networks to work in cooperation. The ability of this study to reveal a number of crucial aspects of the neural recruitment associated with mind wandering underscores the value of combining subjective self-reports with online measures of brain function for advancing our understanding of the neurophenomenology of subjective experience.
Data from nine previous studies of human visual information processing using positron emission tomography were reanalyzed to contrast blood flow responses during passive viewing and active discriminations of the same stimulus array. The analysis examined whether active visual processing (i) increases blood flow in medial visual regions early in the visual hierarchy and (ii) decreases blood flow in auditory and somatosensory cortex. Significant modulation of medial visual regions was observed in six of nine studies, indicating that top-down processes can affect early visual cortex. Modulations showed several task dependencies, suggesting that in some cases the underlying mechanism was selective (e.g. analysis-or feature-specific) rather than non-selective. Replicable decreases at or near auditory Brodmann area (BA) left 41/42 were observed in two of five studies, but in different locations. Analyses that combined data across studies yielded modest but significant decreases. Replicable decreases were not found in primary somatosensory cortex but were observed in an insular region that may be a somatosensory association area. Decreases were also noted in the parietal operculum (perhaps SII) and BA 40. These results are inconsistent with a model in which the precortical input to task-irrelevant sensory cortical areas is broadly suppressed.
Localized, task-induced decreases in cerebral blood flow are a frequent finding in functional brain imaging research but remain poorly understood. One account of these phenomena postulates processes ongoing during conscious, resting states that are interrupted or inhibited by task performance. Psychological evidence suggests that conscious humans are engaged almost continuously in adaptive processes involving semantic knowledge retrieval, representation in awareness, and directed manipulation of represented knowledge for organization, problem-solving, and planning. If interruption of such “conceptual” processes accounts for task-induced deactivation, tasks that also engage these conceptual processes should not cause deactivation. Furthermore, comparisons between conceptual and nonconceptual tasks should show activation during conceptual tasks of the same brain areas that are “deactivated” relative to rest.
To test this model, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired during a resting state, a perceptual task, and a semantic retrieval task. A network of left-hemisphere poly-modal cortical regions showed higher signal values during the resting state than during the perceptual task but equal values during the resting and semantic conditions. This result is consistent with the proposal that perceptual tasks interrupt processes ongoing during rest that involve many of the same brain areas engaged during semantic retrieval. As further evidence for this model, the same network of brain areas was activated in two direct comparisons between semantic and perceptual processing tasks. This same “conceptual processing” network was also identified in several previous studies that contrasted semantic and perceptual tasks or resting and active states. The model proposed here offers a unified account of these findings and may help to explain several unanticipated results from prior studies of semantic processing.
Structural MRIs of the brains of humans with extensive navigation experience, licensed London taxi drivers, were analyzed and compared with those of control subjects who did not drive taxis. The posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects. A more anterior hippocampal region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers. Hippocampal volume correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver (positively in the posterior and negatively in the anterior hippocampus). These data are in accordance with the idea that the posterior hippocampus stores a spatial representation of the environment and can expand regionally to accommodate elaboration of this representation in people with a high dependence on navigational skills. It seems that there is a capacity for local plastic change in the structure of the healthy adult human brain in response to environmental demands.
A baseline or control state is fundamental to the understanding of most complex systems. Defining a baseline state in the human brain, arguably our most complex system, poses a particular challenge. Many suspect that left unconstrained, its activity will vary unpredictably. Despite this prediction we identify a baseline state of the normal adult human brain in terms of the brain oxygen extraction fraction or OEF. The OEF is defined as the ratio of oxygen used by the brain to oxygen delivered by flowing blood and is remarkably uniform in the awake but resting state (e.g., lying quietly with eyes closed). Local deviations in the OEF represent the physiological basis of signals of changes in neuronal activity obtained with functional MRI during a wide variety of human behaviors. We used quantitative metabolic and circulatory measurements from positron-emission tomography to obtain the OEF regionally throughout the brain. Areas of activation were conspicuous by their absence. All significant deviations from the mean hemisphere OEF were increases, signifying deactivations, and resided almost exclusively in the visual system. Defining the baseline state of an area in this manner attaches meaning to a group of areas that consistently exhibit decreases from this baseline, during a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors monitored with positron-emission tomography and functional MRI. These decreases suggest the existence of an organized, baseline default mode of brain function that is suspended during specific goal-directed behaviors.
This study tested whether cues associated with promotion and prevention regulatory foci influence creativity. The authors predicted that the "risky," explorative processing style elicited by promotion cues, relative to the risk-averse, perseverant processing style elicited by prevention cues, would facilitate creative thought. These predictions were supported by two experiments in which promotion cues bolstered both creative insight (Experiment 1) and creative generation (Experiment 2) relative to prevention cues. Experiments 3 and 4 provided evidence for the process account of these findings. suggesting that promotion cues, relative to prevention cues, produce a riskier response bias (Experiment 3) and bolster memory search for novel responses (Experiment 4). A final experiment provided evidence that individual differences in regulatory focus influence creative problem solving in a manner analogous to that of incidental promotion and prevention cues.
Explaining Creativity is an accessible introduction to the latest scientific research on creativity. In the last 50 yearss, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists have increasingly studied creativity, and we now know more about creativity that at any point in history. Explaining Creativity considers not only arts like painting and writing, but also science, stage performance, and business innovation. Until about a decade ago, creativity researchers tended to focus on highly valued activities like fine art painting and Nobel prize winning science. Sawyer brings this research up to date by including movies, music videos, cartoons, videogames, hypertext fiction, and computer technology. For example, this is the first book on creativity to include studies of performance and improvisation. Sawyer draws on the latest research findings to show the importance of collaboration and context in all of these creative activities. Today's science of creativity is interdisciplinary; in addition to psychological studies of creativity, Explaining Creativity includes research by anthropologists on creativity in non-Western cultures, and research by sociologists about the situations, contexts, and networks of creative activity. Explaining Creativity brings these approaches together within the sociocultural approach to creativity pioneered by Howard Becker, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Howard Gardner. The sociocultural approach moves beyond the individual to consider the social and cultural contexts of creativity, emphasizing the role of collaboration and context in the creative process.
Conceptual maps of occupational interests and environments, traits, and psychosocial motives were used in a search for general features of creative personality. Creative individuals seem to be concentrated in artistic and investigative occupations. In the samples surveyed, individuals in different arts and investigative fields differed considerably in personality traits, and the more creative did not differ from the less creative in the same ways across samples. The power motive generally may be important, but research to show this is lacking. Nevertheless, creative individuals were found to share strong symbolic interests, independence, and high aspirations. Viewing them as self-oriented rather than other-oriented is consistent with the above findings and with their love of work and difficulty in relationships; it points to transcendence of the self as a common moral problem. Implications for research on the creative personality include the importance of attention to the development of symbolic interests and to our projections of power on the creative individual.
The ideas presented in this book have been incubating for over 25 years. I was in the first grade, I believe, when the ideas that eventually developed into this social psychology of creativity first began to germinate. The occasion was art class, a weekly Friday afternoon event during which we were given small reproductions of the great masterworks and asked to copy them on notepaper using the standard set of eight Crayola® crayons. I had left kindergarten the year before with encour agement from the teacher about developing my potential for artistic creativity. During these Friday afternoon exercises, however, I developed nothing but frus tration. Somehow, Da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi" looked wrong after I'd fin ished with it. I wondered where that promised creativity had gone. I began to believe then that the restrictions placed on my artistic endeavors contributed to my loss of interest and spontaneity in art. When, as a social psy chologist, I began to study intrinsic motivation, it seemed to me that this moti vation to do something for its own sake was the ingredient that had been missing in those strictly regimented art classes. It seemed that intrinsic motivation, as defined by social psychologists, might be essential to creativity. My research pro gram since then has given considerable support to that notion. As a result, the social psychology of creativity presented in this book gives prominence to social variables that affect motivational orientation.
Over the course of the last half century, numerous training programs intended to develop creativity capacities have been proposed. In this study, a quantitative meta-analysis of program evaluation efforts was conducted. Based on 70 prior studies, it was found that well-designed creativity training programs typically induce gaïns in performance with these effects generalizing across criteria, settings, and target populations. Moreover, these effects held when internal validity considerations were taken into account. An examination of the factors contributing to the relative effectiveness of these training programs indicated that more successful programs were likely to focus on development of cognitive skills and the heuristics involved in skill application, using realistic exercises appropriate to the domain at hand. The implications of these observations for the development of creativity through educational and training interventions are discussed along with directions for future research.
This paper defines and describes entrepreneurial creativity, which is the generation and implementation of novel, appropriate ideas to establish a new venture. Entrepreneurial creativity can be exhibited in established organizations as well as in start-up firms. The central thesis of this paper is that entrepreneurial creativity requires a combination of intrinsic motivation and certain kinds of extrinsic motivation — a motivational synergy that results when strong levels of personal interest and involvement are combined with the promise of rewards that confirm competence, support skill development, and enable future achievement.
An integrative introduction to the theories and themes in research on creativity, the second edition of Creativity is both a reference work and text for courses in this burgeoning area of research. The book begins with a discussion of the theories of creativity (Person, Product, Process, Place), the general question of whether creativity is influenced by nature or nurture, what research has indicated of the personality and style of creative individuals from a personality analysis standpoint, and how social context affects creativity. This wide-ranging work then proceeds to coverage of issues such as gender differences, whether creativity can be enhanced, if creativity is related to poor mental or physical health, and much more. The book contains boxes covering special interest items, including one-page biographies of famous creative individuals, and activities for a group or individual to test or encourage creativity, as well as references to Internet sites relating to creativity. Includes all major theories and perspectives on creativity. Consolidates recent research into a single source. Includes key terms defined and text boxes with interesting related material. Single authored for clarity and consistency of presentation.
Although contentious, there is evidence to suggest that nonconscious processes contribute to creative output, particularly during refractory periods. However, no one has examined whether this break benefit differs as a function of creative ability. To address these issues, this investigation examined Wallas's (1926) seminal theoretical framework of creativity. More specifically, the most controversial stage postulated by Wallas, the incubation phase, was empirically tested. A regression analysis demonstrated that productivity is significantly increased when creative people activate nonconscious processes in off-task or incubation periods. There is ongoing debate about the cause(s) of this incubation effect. This research provides evidence that the incubation effect results, at least partially, from nonconscious processing and that it provides greater benefit to more creative individuals. This suggests that highly creative people should be exposed to focus problems/challenges well in advance of objective deadlines, and have freedom to generate solutions outside of structured evaluation times.
This article assesses and extends Campbell's (1960) classic theory that creativity and discovery depend on blind variation and selective retention (BVSR), with special attention given to blind variations (BVs). The treatment begins by defining creativity and discovery, variant blindness versus sightedness, variant utility and selection, and ideational variants versus creative products. These definitions lead to BV identification criteria: (a) intended BV, which entails both systematic and stochastic combinatorial procedures; and (b) implied BV, which involves both variations with properties of blindness (variation superfluity and backtracking) and processes that should yield variant blindness (associative richness, defocused attention, behavioral tinkering, and heuristic search). These conceptual definitions and identification criteria then have implications for four persistent issues, namely, domain expertise, ideational randomness, analogical equivalence, and personal volition. Once BV is suitably conceptualized, Camp-bell's theory continues to provide a fruitful approach to the understanding of both creativity and discovery.
What does it take to be a great creative writer? What components are important for analyzing and comparing writers? Research on creativity, in gen- eral, has increased over the past few decades, but there are still many questions to be answered about creative writing. A model of creativity proposed by Sternberg and Lubart (1995, 1996) was used as a theoretical framework to examine 6 variables: motivation, intelli- gence, personality, thinking styles, knowledge, and environment. Empirical research on each of these vari- ables was compared and discussed. After reviewing the literature on the creative individual, certain compo- nents stood out as being especially important. The pat- tern of internal variables (e.g., intrinsic motivation, instability, impulsivity) was more relevant than were the external variables (e.g., environment). Poetry indeed seems to me more physical than intellectual. A year or two ago, in common with others, I received from America a request that I would define poetry. I replied that I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat, but that I thought we both recognized the object by the symptoms it provokes in us. —A. E. Housman, The Name and Nature of Poetry (1933)
Cognitive neuroscience studies of creativity have appeared with increasing frequently in recent years. Yet to date, no comprehensive and critical review of these studies has yet been published. The first part of this article presents a quick overview of the 3 primary methodologies used by cognitive neuroscientists: electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The second part provides a comprehensive review of cognitive neuroscience studies of creativity-related cognitive processes. The third part critically examines these studies; the goal is to be extremely clear about exactly what interpretations can appropriately be made of these studies. The conclusion provides recommendations for future research collaborations between creativity researchers and cognitive neuroscientists.
Students of creativity have examined innovation in the arts, sciences, and engineering. Social innovation, the generation and implementation of new ideas about social relationships and social organization, has received less attention. This effort uses a case study approach, drawing from the historic record provided by Benjamin Franklin, to formulate some initial hypotheses about the strategies and tactics used to generate and implement social innovations. It was found that Franklin identified problems based on practical need, analyzed causes carefully, generated contextually appropriate low-cost implementation strategies, and built the support needed for demonstration projects. The implications of these strategies and tactics for innovation in modern organizations are discussed.
This study shows that divergent thinking, considered the general process underlying creative production, can be distinguished from convergent, analytical thought based on the dimensional complexity of ongoing electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. EEG complexity over the central and posterior cortex was higher while subjects solved tasks of divergent than convergent thinking, and also higher than during mental relaxation. Over the frontal cortex, EEG complexity was comparable during divergent thinking and mental relaxation, but reduced during convergent thinking. Results indicate that the basic process underlying the generation of novel ideas expresses itself in a strong increase in the EEG's complexity, reflecting higher degrees of freedom in the competitive interactions among cortical neuron assemblies. Frontocortical EEG complexity being comparable with that during mental relaxation, speaks for a loosened attentional control during creative thinking.
Voxel-based-morphometry (VBM) is a whole-brain, unbiased technique for characterizing regional cerebral volume and tissue concentration differences in structural magnetic resonance images. We describe an optimized method of VBM to examine the effects of age on grey and white matter and CSF in 465 normal adults. Global grey matter volume decreased linearly with age, with a significantly steeper decline in males. Local areas of accelerated loss were observed bilaterally in the insula, superior parietal gyri, central sulci, and cingulate sulci. Areas exhibiting little or no age effect (relative preservation) were noted in the amygdala, hippocampi, and entorhinal cortex. Global white matter did not decline with age, but local areas of relative accelerated loss and preservation were seen. There was no interaction of age with sex for regionally specific effects. These results corroborate previous reports and indicate that VBM is a useful technique for studying structural brain correlates of ageing through life in humans.
Over the course of the last half century, numerous training programs intended to develop creativity capacities have been proposed. In this study, a quantitative meta-analysis of program evaluation efforts was conducted. Based on 70 prior studies, it was found that well-designed creativity training programs typically induce gains in performance with these effects generalizing across criteria, settings, and target populations. Moreover these effects held when internal validity considerations were taken into account. An examination of the factors contributing to the relative effectiveness of these training programs indicated that more successful programs were likely to focus on development of cognitive skills and the heuristics involved in skill application, using realistic exercises appropriate to the domain at hand. The implications of these observations for the development of creativity through educational and training interventions are discussed along with directions for future research.
Working memory (WM) is an essential component for human higher order cognitive activities. Creativity has been essential to the development of human civilization. Previous studies from different fields have suggested creativity and capacity of WM have opposing characteristics possibly in terms of diffuse attention. However, despite a number of functional imaging studies on creativity, how creativity relates to brain activity during WM has never been investigated. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated this issue using an n-back WM paradigm and a psychometric measure of creativity (a divergent thinking test). A multiple regression analysis revealed that individual creativity was significantly and positively correlated with brain activity in the precuneus during the 2-back task (WM task), but not during the non-WM 0-back task. As the precuneus shows deactivation during cognitive tasks, our findings show that reduced task induced deactivation (TID) in the precuneus is associated with higher creativity measured by divergent thinking. The precuneus is included in the default mode network, which is deactivated during cognitive tasks. The magnitude of TID in the default mode network is considered to reflect the reallocation of cognitive resources from networks irrelevant to the performance of the task. Thus, our findings may indicate that individual creativity, as measured by the divergent thinking test, is related to the inefficient reallocation of attention, congruent with the idea that diffuse attention is associated with individual creativity.
Tasks that demand externalized attention reliably suppress default network activity while activating the dorsal attention network. These networks have an intrinsic competitive relationship; activation of one suppresses activity of the other. Consequently, many assume that default network activity is suppressed during goal-directed cognition. We challenge this assumption in an fMRI study of planning. Recent studies link default network activity with internally focused cognition, such as imagining personal future events, suggesting a role in autobiographical planning. However, it is unclear how goal-directed cognition with an internal focus is mediated by these opposing networks. A third anatomically interposed 'frontoparietal control network' might mediate planning across domains, flexibly coupling with either the default or dorsal attention network in support of internally versus externally focused goal-directed cognition, respectively. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing brain activity during autobiographical versus visuospatial planning. Autobiographical planning engaged the default network, whereas visuospatial planning engaged the dorsal attention network, consistent with the anti-correlated domains of internalized and externalized cognition. Critically, both planning tasks engaged the frontoparietal control network. Task-related activation of these three networks was anatomically consistent with independently defined resting-state functional connectivity MRI maps. Task-related functional connectivity analyses demonstrate that the default network can be involved in goal-directed cognition when its activity is coupled with the frontoparietal control network. Additionally, the frontoparietal control network may flexibly couple with the default and dorsal attention networks according to task domain, serving as a cortical mediator linking the two networks in support of goal-directed cognitive processes.
Creativity has long been a construct of interest to philosophers, psychologists and, more recently, neuroscientists. Recent efforts have focused on cognitive processes likely to be important to the manifestation of novelty and usefulness within a given social context. One such cognitive process - divergent thinking - is the process by which one extrapolates many possible answers to an initial stimulus or target data set. We sought to link well established measures of divergent thinking and creative achievement (Creative Achievement Questionnaire - CAQ) to cortical thickness in a cohort of young (23.7 +/- 4.2 years), healthy subjects. Three independent judges ranked the creative products of each subject using the consensual assessment technique (Amabile, 1982) from which a "composite creativity index" (CCI) was derived. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was obtained at 1.5 Tesla Siemens scanner. Cortical reconstruction and volumetric segmentation were performed with the FreeSurfer image analysis suite. A region within the lingual gyrus was negatively correlated with CCI; the right posterior cingulate correlated positively with the CCI. For the CAQ, lower left lateral orbitofrontal volume correlated with higher creative achievement; higher cortical thickness was related to higher scores on the CAQ in the right angular gyrus. This is the first study to link cortical thickness measures to psychometric measures of creativity. The distribution of brain regions, associated with both divergent thinking and creative achievement, suggests that cognitive control of information flow among brain areas may be critical to understanding creative cognition.
The psychological study of creativity is essential to human progress. If strides are to be made in the sciences, humanities, and arts, we must arrive at a far more detailed understanding of the creative process, its antecedents, and its inhibitors. This review, encompassing most subspecialties in the study of creativity and focusing on twenty-first-century literature, reveals both a growing interest in creativity among psychologists and a growing fragmentation in the field. To be sure, research into the psychology of creativity has grown theoretically and methodologically sophisticated, and researchers have made important contributions from an ever-expanding variety of disciplines. But this expansion has not come without a price. Investigators in one subfield often seem unaware of advances in another. Deeper understanding requires more interdisciplinary research, based on a systems view of creativity that recognizes a variety of interrelated forces operating at multiple levels.
Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that several brain regions--namely, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and the bilateral angular gyrus--are more active during resting states than during cognitive tasks (i.e., default mode network). Although there is evidence showing that the default mode network is associated with unconscious state, it is unclear whether this network is associated with unconscious processing when normal human subjects perform tasks without awareness. We manipulated the level of conscious processing in normal subjects by asking them to perform an implicit and an explicit memory task, and analyzed signal changes in the default mode network for the stimuli versus baseline in both tasks. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis showed that the level of activation in regions within this network during the implicit task was not significantly different from that during the baseline, except in the left angular gyrus and the insula. There was strong deactivation for the explicit task when compared with the implicit task in the default mode regions, except in the left angular gyrus and the left middle temporal gyrus. These data suggest that the activity in the default network is sustained and less disrupted when an implicit memory task is performed, but is suspended when explicit retrieval is required. These results provide evidence that the default mode network is associated with unconscious processing when human subjects perform an implicit memory task.
Research has yielded weak empirical support for the idea that creative solutions may be discovered through unconscious thought, despite anecdotes to this effect. To understand this gap, we examined the effect of unconscious thought on two outcomes of a remote-association test (RAT): implicit accessibility and conscious reporting of answers. In Experiment 1, which used very difficult RAT items, a short period of unconscious thought (i.e., participants were distracted while holding the goal of solving the RAT items) increased the accessibility of RAT answers, but did not increase the number of correct answers compared with an equal duration of conscious thought or mere distraction. In Experiment 2, which used moderately difficult RAT items, unconscious thought led to a similar level of accessibility, but fewer correct answers, compared with conscious thought. These findings confirm and extend unconscious-thought theory by demonstrating that processes that increase the mental activation of correct solutions do not necessarily lead them into consciousness.
The need for a simply applied quantitative assessment of handedness is discussed and some previous forms reviewed. An inventory of 20 items with a set of instructions and response- and computational-conventions is proposed and the results obtained from a young adult population numbering some 1100 individuals are reported. The separate items are examined from the point of view of sex, cultural and socio-economic factors which might appertain to them and also of their inter-relationship to each other and to the measure computed from them all. Criteria derived from these considerations are then applied to eliminate 10 of the original 20 items and the results recomputed to provide frequency-distribution and cumulative frequency functions and a revised item-analysis. The difference of incidence of handedness between the sexes is discussed.