Articlehybrid2019

Creativity is associated with a characteristic U-shaped function of alpha power changes accompanied by an early increase in functional coupling

Christian Rominger · Ilona Papousek · Corinna M. Perchtold‐Stefan · Mathias Benedek · Elisabeth M. Weiss · Andreas Richard Schwerdtfeger +1 more

89 citations0/0 files storedCognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience

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Creativity in Education and Neuroscience Neural dynamics and brain function Cognitive Science and Education Research

Abstract

Although there exists increasing knowledge about brain correlates underlying creative ideation in general, the specific neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in different stages of the creative thinking process are still under-researched. Some recent EEG studies suggested that alpha power during creative ideation varies as a function of time, with the highest levels of alpha power after stimulus onset and at the end of the creative thinking process. The main aim of the present study was to replicate and extend this finding by applying an individual differences approach, and by investigating functional coupling between long distance cortical sites during the process of creative ideation. Eighty-six participants performed the Alternate Uses (AU) task during EEG assessment. Results revealed that more original people showed increased alpha power after stimulus onset and before finalizing the process of idea generation. This U-shaped alpha power pattern was accompanied by an early increase in functional communication between frontal and parietal-occipital sites during the creative thinking process, putatively indicating activation of top-down executive control processes. Participants with lower originality showed no significant time-related variation in alpha power and a delayed increase in long distance functional communication. These findings are in line with dual process models of creative ideation and support the idea that increased alpha power at the beginning of the creative ideation process may indicate more associative modes of thinking and memory processes, while the alpha increases at later stages may indicate executive control processes, associated with idea elaboration/evaluation.

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References

1968The Nature of Human Intelligence 1967The nature of human intelligence 1982Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique.1993Creative cognition: theory, research, and applications 2012Divergent Thinking as an Indicator of Creative Potential 1992Creative Cognition 2015Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics 2018Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity

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