Neuroimaging predictors of creativity in healthy adults
Loading...
Authors
Sunavsky, Adam
Poppenk, Jordan
Date
2019-10-22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Keyword
Creativity , Individual Differences , Neuroimaging , Executive Function , Memory , Psychology , Social Sciences , Cognitive Science
Alternative Title
Abstract
Neuroimaging has revealed numerous neural predictors of individual differences in creativity; however, with most of these identified in only one study, sometimes involving very small samples, their reliability is uncertain. To contribute to a convergent cognitive neuroscience of creativity, we conducted a pre-registered conceptual replication and extension study in which we assessed previously reported predictors of creativity using a multimodal approach, incorporating volumetric, white matter, and functional connectivity neuroimaging data. We assessed sets of pre-registered predictors against prevailing measures of creativity, including visual and verbal tests of divergent thinking, everyday creative behaviour, and creative achievement. We then conducted whole-brain exploratory analyses. Greater creativity was broadly predicted by features of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL), including both local grey matter and white matter predictors in the IFG, the superior longitudinal fasciculus that connects them, and IFG-IPL functional connectivity. As IFG and IPL are important nodes within executive control and default mode networks (DMN), respectively, this result supports the view that executive modulation of DMN activity optimizes creative ideation. Furthermore, white matter integrity of the basal ganglia was also a generalizable creativity predictor, and exploratory analyses revealed the anterior lobe of the cerebellum and the parahippocampal gyrus to both be reliable predictors of creativity across neuroimaging modalities. This pattern aligns with proposals ascribing roles of working and long-term memory to problem-solving and imagination. Overall, our findings help to consolidate some, but not all neural correlates of individual differences that have been discussed in the cognitive neuroimaging of creativity, yielding a subset that appear particularly promising for focused future investigation.
Description
We gratefully acknowledge Nelly Matorina, Julie Tseng, Natalie Doan, Lauren DeMone, Nigel Barnim, Sarah Berger, Megan Fleming, Maddie Gillis, Sophie Kinley, Lindsay Lo, Lydia Luchich, and Gillian Marvel for assistance with behavioural data collection. We also thank Julie Tseng, Lauren DeMone, and Natalie Doan with scheduling; Julie Tseng and Don Brien with MRI data acquisition; and Justin Siu, Roland Dupras and Mike Lewis with technical support.
Citation
Sunavsky & Poppenk, 2019
Publisher
Elsevier