Creative constraints: Brain activity and network dynamics underlying semantic interference during idea production

Abstract

Functional neuroimaging research has recently revealed brain network interactions during performance on creative thinking tasks—particularly among regions of the default and executive control networks—but the cognitive mechanisms related to these interactions remain poorly understood. Here we test the hypothesis that the executive control network can interact with the default network to inhibit salient conceptual knowledge (i.e., pre-potent responses) elicited from memory during creative idea production. Participants studied common noun-verb pairs and were given a cued-recall test with corrective feedback to strengthen the paired association in memory. They then completed a verb generation task that presented either a previously studied noun (high-constraint) or an unstudied noun (low-constraint), and were asked to “think creatively” while searching for a novel verb to relate to the presented noun. Latent Semantic Analysis of verbal responses showed decreased semantic distance values in the high-constraint (i.e., interference) condition, which corresponded to increased neural activity within regions of the default (posterior cingulate cortex and bilateral angular gyri), salience (right anterior insula), and executive control (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) networks. Independent component analysis of intrinsic functional connectivity networks extended this finding by revealing differential interactions among these large-scale networks across the task conditions. The results suggest that interactions between the default and executive control networks underlie response inhibition during constrained idea production, providing insight into specific neurocognitive mechanisms supporting creative cognition.

Remotely Close Associations: Openness to Experience and Semantic Memory Structure

“…LSA has also been used on other semantic creativity tasks to measure the remoteness of associations (Beaty, Christensen, Benedek, Silvia, & Schacter, 2017;Green, 2016;Prabhakaran, Green, & Gray, 2014). For instance, Prabhakaran et al (2014) examined the semantic distance of verbs from nouns that were produced during a verb generation task.…”

Brain networks of the imaginative mind: Dynamic functional connectivity of default and cognitive control networks relates to openness to experience

“…An increasing number of studies have examined how the DN interacts with other brain networks during tasks involving imagination. Research on creative cognition has found that the DN interacts with brain systems associated with cognitive control during tasks requiring the generation and evaluation of novel ideas (Beaty, Benedek, Kaufman, & Silvia, ; Beaty, Christensen, Benedek, Silvia, & Schacter, ; Ellamil, Dobson, Beeman, & Christoff, ; Mayseless, Eran, & Shamay‐Tsoory, ). In a recent study of divergent thinking, for example, Beaty et al () found that core default regions, e.g., the posterior cingulate cortex, showed increased functional connectivity with regions of the executive control network (ECN; right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and the salience network (SN; bilateral insula).…”

The neurocognitive gains of diagnostic reasoning training using simulated interactive veterinary cases

“…And lastly, structural connectivity analysis using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) seems to show diagnostic reasoning training inducing significant structural changes in the occipitotemporal part of middle temporal gyrus (MTG). As hypothesized, these findings suggest the transition of novices' whole-brain activity and connectivity during diagnostic reasoning from regions implicated in creative semantic processing (MFG/IOpFG, MTG and AG) 44,45 before training to regions implicated in improvised rule-based problem solving (cerebellum and POG, MSFG and MCG 17,[46][47][48] ) after training.…”

“…The activations of L-MFG/IOpFG have been consistently shown in neuroimaging studies of creative semantic cognition. For instance, Beaty et al 45 have revealed the involvement of both regions in generating unstudied (lowconstraint) and novel (high-constraint) semantically related words. In addition, Zhou et al 46 found that searching for numerical relations among conceptual knowledge while solving mathematical problems elicits greater activations in the L-IOpFG, AG, MTG, FuG, PHG, MSFG and posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG).…”