Abstract
Creativity is primarily investigated within the neuroscientific perspective as a unitary construct. While such an approach is beneficial when trying to infer the general picture regarding creativity and brain function, it is insufficient if the objective is to uncover the information processing brain mechanisms by which creativity occurs. As creative thinking emerges through the dynamic interplay between several cognitive processes, assessing the neural correlates of these operations would enable the development and characterization of an information processing framework from which to better understand this complex ability. This article focuses on two aspects of creative cognition that are central to generating original ideas. “Conceptual expansion” refers to the ability to widen one’s conceptual structures to include unusual or novel associations, while “overcoming knowledge constraints” refers to our ability to override the constraining influence imposed by salient or pertinent knowledge when trying to be creative. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence is presented to illustrate how semantic processing and cognitive control networks in the brain differentially modulate these critical facets of creative cognition.
Highlights
Creativity is primarily investigated within the neuroscientific perspective as a unitary construct
The general picture that emerges from the literature is that creative performance and/or ability is associated with frontal lobe (FL) function (Dietrich and Kanso, 2010), higher right brain activity (Mihov et al, 2010), greater EEG alpha power which reflects high internal processing demands (Fink and Benedek, 2012), and that it can be inadvertently boosted as a consequence of specific types of brain damage (Seeley et al, 2008)
Such generalizations regarding creativity and brain function primarily arise from adopting a somewhat unitary approach in investigating creativity where it is assessed as an undifferentiated general construct, as opposed to process-differentiated one
Summary
Creativity is primarily investigated within the neuroscientific perspective as a unitary construct. The general ( not necessarily unanimous) picture that emerges from the literature is that creative performance and/or ability is associated with frontal lobe (FL) function (Dietrich and Kanso, 2010), higher right brain activity (Mihov et al, 2010), greater EEG alpha power which reflects high internal processing demands (Fink and Benedek, 2012), and that it can be inadvertently boosted as a consequence of specific types of brain damage (Seeley et al, 2008) Such generalizations regarding creativity and brain function primarily arise from adopting a somewhat unitary approach in investigating creativity where it is assessed as an undifferentiated general construct, as opposed to process-differentiated one. The essential difference between creative and “non-creative” or normative cognition does not lie in the type of mental operations themselves, but in the contexts to which these information processing toolboxes are applied
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