Gender differences in hemispheric organization during divergent thinking: an EEG investigation in human subjects

Abstract

This study examined the gender-related differences in EEG patterns during the experimental condition of divergent thinking. The EEG of 36 males and 27 females was recorded from 16 scalp electrodes in rest and while students were solving a creative problem. The spectral power density along with EEG coherence estimates were analyzed in each of the six frequency bands in the 4–30 Hz range. Gender-related differences in the EEG patterns were found during successful divergent thinking. Creative men were characterized by massive increases of amplitude and interhemispheric coherence in the beta2 whereas creative women showed more local increases of the beta2 power and coherence. On the contrary, the task-induced desynchronization of the alpha1 rhythm in creative women was topographically more expanded as compared with men who demonstrated greater interhemispheric coherence than women did. Our results propose a different hemispheric organization in men and women during creative thinking.