Default and Executive Network Coupling Supports Creative Idea Production

By Roger E. Beaty, Mathias Benedek, Scott Barry Kaufman, Paul J Silvia. Scientific Reports, 2015

596 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The role of attention in creative cognition remains controversial. Neuroimaging studies have reported activation of brain regions linked to both cognitive control and spontaneous imaginative processes, raising questions about how these regions interact to support creative thought. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored this question by examining dynamic interactions between brain regions during a divergent thinking task. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed a distributed network associated with divergent thinking, including several core hubs of the default (posterior cingulate) and executive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) networks. The resting-state network affiliation of these regions was confirmed using data from an independent sample of participants. Graph theory analysis assessed global efficiency of the divergent thinking network and network efficiency was found to increase as a function of individual differences in divergent thinking ability. Moreover, temporal connectivity analysis revealed increased coupling between default and salience network regions (bilateral insula) at the beginning of the task, followed by increased coupling between default and executive network regions at later stages. Such dynamic coupling suggests that divergent thinking involves cooperation between brain networks linked to cognitive control and spontaneous thought, which may reflect focused internal attention and the top-down control of spontaneous cognition during creative idea production.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b7780162bde0ed7daf4681a9be1e186dee293b1b

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics (2015, background): “A recent study assessed dynamic interactions between brain regions during an alternate uses divergent thinking task [26].”
Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity (2018, methodology): “, box and rope), which were subsequently coded for creative quality by four trained raters along with the in-scanner responses, using a 1 (not at all creative) to 5 (very creative) scale; raters were instructed to consider uncommonness, remoteness, and cleverness when coding responses, but to provid”
Nurturing Nature: How Brain Development Is Inherently Social and Emotional, and What This Means for Education (2019, background): “…the Default Mode Network is also important for conceptual understanding, reading comprehension, creativity, nonlinear and “ out-of-the-box ” thinking (Beaty et al., 2015; Immordino-Yang et al., 2012; K € uhn et al., 2014), feelings of inspiration and intrinsic motivation, cognitively complex…”
The relation between semantic memory structure, associative abilities, and verbal and figural creativity (2020, background): “Independently, creativity has been related to associative abilities (Beaty et al., 2014; 2015; Benedek et al., 2012).”
Conceptualising creativity benefits of nature experience: Attention restoration and mind wandering as complementary processes (2018, background): “Evidence that both associative abilities and attention control play a role in creativity, and the increasing support for dual (conscious top-down and unconscious bottom-up) process models generally, warn against reliance on a single mechanism (Beaty et al., 2015; Sowden et al., 2015).”
Are episodic memories special? On the sameness of remembered and imagined event simulation (2018, background): “…(Spreng et al. 2010) and problem solving (Gerlach et al. 2011); and with the ventral attention (salience) network when simulations are emotionally- or cognitively-salient (e.g. theory of mind; Spreng & Grady 2010: e.g. creative cognition; Ellamil et al. 2012; Beaty et al. 2015; Madore et al. 2017).”