Abstract
Recent research has shown that the cerebellum is involved not only in motor control but also in higher-level activities, which are closely related to creativity. This study aimed to explore the role of the cerebellum in visual divergent thinking based on its intrinsic activity. To this end, we selected the resting-state fMRI data of high- (n = 22) and low-level creativity groups (n = 22), and adopted the voxel-wise, seed-wise, and dynamic functional connectivity to identify the differences between the two groups. Furthermore, the topological properties of the cerebello-cerebral network and their relations with visual divergent thinking were calculated. The voxel-wise functional connectivity results indicated group differences across the cerebellar (e.g. lobules VI, VIIb, Crus I, and Crus II) and cerebral regions (e.g. superior frontal cortex, middle frontal cortex, and inferior parietal gyrus), as well as the cerebellar lobules (e.g. lobules VIIIa, IX, and X) and the cerebral brain regions (the cuneus and precentral gyrus). We found a significant correlation between visual divergent thinking and activities of the left lobules VI, VIIb, Crus I, and Crus II, which are associated with executive functions. Our overall results provide novel insight into the important role of the cerebellum in visual divergent thinking.
Highlights
The goal of this study was to extend the body of literature from cerebral brain regions to cerebellar brain regions by answering the following questions: (1) which cerebellar brain regions are associated with visual divergent thinking abilities? (2) Are there any differences in functional connectivity (FC) between the high-level and low-level creativity groups within the cerebellum? (3) How do the cerebellar regions that are related to visual creative divergent performances interact with the cerebral cortex?
We found significantly higher FC in high-level creativity group (HCG), mainly within cerebellar lobules compared with level creativity group (LCG)
The bilateral Crus I was significantly connected to the bilateral VI, and the L.VIIb was significantly connected to the L.VI and L.Crus II in HCG compared with LCG
Summary
Lobules VI, VIIb, and Crus I, especially, are involved in the process of executive functions, such as working memory, planning, organizing, and strategy formation, which are important for creative divergent thinking[22,25,26]. The goal of this study was to extend the body of literature from cerebral brain regions to cerebellar brain regions by answering the following questions: (1) which cerebellar brain regions are associated with visual divergent thinking abilities? We explored the neural basis of visual creative divergent thinking based on cerebellar intrinsic activities. Dynamic measures of the cerebellar network, including dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) and dynamic topological properties, were applied to each participant based on a sliding-window approach. The topological properties of the cerebello-cerebral network were measured using graph-based analysis
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