Training your brain to be more creative: brain functional and structural changes induced by divergent thinking training

Sun, Jiangzhou; Chen, Qunlin; Zhang, Qinglin; Li, Yadan; Li, Haijiang; Wei, Dongtao; Yang, Wenjing; Qiu, Jiang

doi:10.1002/hbm.23246

Cited by 91 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…The AI also responds during action selection during decision-making (Paulus and Stein, 2006), and is therefore an integral component of cognitive control and the SN. Furthermore, the dACC has separately been implicated in cognitive regulation (Delevich et al, 2015), divergent thinking, error detection and response selection (Abraham et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2016). The dlPFC has extensive projections to striatal nuclei and is involved in top-down modulation of goal-directed behavior (Furman et al, 2011).…”

Section: Anatomy and Function Of The Sn Cortico-striatal Loopmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortico-Striatal-Thalamic Loop Circuits of the Salience Network: A Central Pathway in Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

Peters

Dunlop

Downar³

2016

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

462

298

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The salience network (SN) plays a central role in cognitive control by integrating sensory input to guide attention, attend to motivationally salient stimuli and recruit appropriate functional brain-behavior networks to modulate behavior. Mounting evidence suggests that disturbances in SN function underlie abnormalities in cognitive control and may be a common etiology underlying many psychiatric disorders. Such functional and anatomical abnormalities have been recently apparent in studies and meta-analyses of psychiatric illness using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Of particular importance, abnormal structure and function in major cortical nodes of the SN, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI), have been observed as a common neurobiological substrate across a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders. In addition to cortical nodes of the SN, the network’s associated subcortical structures, including the dorsal striatum, mediodorsal thalamus and dopaminergic brainstem nuclei, comprise a discrete regulatory loop circuit. The SN’s cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical loop increasingly appears to be central to mechanisms of cognitive control, as well as to a broad spectrum of psychiatric illnesses and their available treatments. Functional imbalances within the SN loop appear to impair cognitive control, and specifically may impair self-regulation of cognition, behavior and emotion, thereby leading to symptoms of psychiatric illness. Furthermore, treating such psychiatric illnesses using invasive or non-invasive brain stimulation techniques appears to modulate SN cortical-subcortical loop integrity, and these effects may be central to the therapeutic mechanisms of brain stimulation treatments in many psychiatric illnesses. Here, we review clinical and experimental evidence for abnormalities in SN cortico-striatal-thalamic loop circuits in major depression, substance use disorders (SUD), anxiety disorders, schizophrenia and eating disorders (ED). We also review emergent therapeutic evidence that novel invasive and non-invasive brain stimulation treatments may exert therapeutic effects by normalizing abnormalities in the SN loop, thereby restoring the capacity for cognitive control. Finally, we consider a series of promising directions for future investigations on the role of SN cortico-striatal-thalamic loop circuits in the pathophysiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

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Section: Anatomy and Function Of The Sn Cortico-striatal Loopmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortico-Striatal-Thalamic Loop Circuits of the Salience Network: A Central Pathway in Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

Peters

Dunlop

Downar³

2016

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

462

298

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“…The reproducibility and relative ease of image acquisition has made these resting state networks an ideal focus of neuroimaging studies. Therefore, many studies implement resting state designs to study neuroplasticity as it pertains to training and development (Klados, Styliadis, Frantzidis, Paraskevopoulos, & Bamidis, ; Klein, Liem, Hanggi, Elmer, & Jancke, ; Smit, de Geus, Boersma, Boomsma, & Stam, ; Sun et al., ; Yoo, Sohn, & Jeong, ). In our study, we propose that lifelong training in the game of “Go” results in increased resting state connectivity to regions of the brain that are necessary for high‐level performance in board game playing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is described in Hebbian theory, which hypothesizes that neurons that co-activate during a task develop connections among one another (Brown & Milner, 2003;Favero, Cangiano, & Busetto, 2014). Therefore, repeated experiences or training will result in the formation of connections or networks in the brain that are specialized for a certain task or can be used to facilitate similar tasks (Chavan, Mouthon, Draganski, van der Zwaag, & Spierer, 2015;Debowska et al, 2016;Fink et al, 2015;Sun et al, 2016;Zhang, Yao, Shen, Yang, & Zhao, 2015). Expertise indicates expert skill or knowledge in a given field of study or profession.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher extrinsic and lower intrinsic connectivity in resting state networks for professional Baduk (Go) players

Sohn¹,

Lee

Kwak

et al. 2017

Brain and Behavior

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IntroductionDedication and training to a profession results in a certain level of expertise. This expertise, like any other skill obtained in our lifetime, is encoded in the brain and may be reflected in our brain's connectome. This property can be observed by mapping resting state connectivity. In this study, we examine the differences in resting state functional connectivity in four major networks between professional “Baduk” (Go) players and normal subjects.MethodsResting state fMRI scans were acquired for professional “Baduk” (Go) players and normal controls. Major resting state networks were identified using independent component analysis and compared between the two groups. Networks which were compared include the default mode network, the left and right fronto‐parietal network, and the salience network.ResultsWe found that normal subjects showed increased connectivity within certain areas of each target network. Professional players, however, showed higher connectivity to regions outside the traditional regions of each given network. Close examination of these regions revealed that regions shown to have higher connectivity in professional players have been revealed to be relevant in expertise for board games.ConclusionThe findings in this study suggest that continuous training results in greater integration between regions and networks, which are necessary for high‐level performance. The differences observed in our study between normal controls and professional players also shed light on the difference in brain connectivity which can arise through lifestyle and specialization in a specific field.

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“…Specifically, it was found that 5-MeO-matches the σ1 receptor which regulates cytoskeletal dendritic spine morphology and neurite outgrowth (Dakic et al, 2017). Therefore, σ1 receptor agonism may mediate neuroplastic processes which are crucial for creativity, cognitive flexibility, and sustained cognitive/behavioural changes (Sun et al, 2016). In addition, agonism of the σ1 receptor has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects (Szabo, 2015) which may positively influence various creativity related cognitive processes.…”

Section: -Meo-dmt: An Endogenous Catalyst For Creativitymentioning

confidence: 99%

5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An ego-dissolving endogenous neurochemical catalyst of creativity

Germann

2019

Preprint

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5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (acronymized as 5-MeO-DMT) is sui generis among the numerous naturally-occurring psychoactive substances due to its unparalleled ego-dissolving effects which can culminate in a state of nondual consciousness (which is phenomenologically similar to transformative peak experiences described in various ancient contemplative traditions, e.g., Advaita Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism). The enigmatic molecule is endogenous to the human brain and has profound psychological effects which are hitherto only very poorly understood due to the absence of scientifically controlled human experimental trials. Its exact neuronal receptor binding profile is a matter of ongoing scientific research, however, its remarkable psychoactivity is presumably mediated via agonism of the 5-HT2A (serotonin) receptor subtype. Anthropological/ethnopharmacological evidence indicates that various cultures utilized 5-MeO-DMT containing plants for medicinal, psychological, and spiritual purposes for millennia. In this paper we argue that this naturally occurring serotonergic compound could be fruitfully utilized as a neurochemical research tool which has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the cognitive and neuronal processes which underpin cognition and creativity (downregulation of the default-mode network, increased neuronal functional connectivity, etc.). An eclectic interdisciplinary perspective is adopted, and we present converging evidence from a plurality of sources in support of this conjecture. Specifically, we suggest that 5-MeO-DMT has great potential in this respect due to its incommensurable capacity to completely disintegrate self-referential cognitive/neuronal processes (viz., "ego death"). The importance of unbiased systematic scientific research on naturally occurring endogenous psychoactive compounds is discussed from a Jamesian radical empiricism perspective and potential scenarios of abuse are discussed (particularly in the context of military torture). 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An ego-dissolving neurochemical catalyst of creativity IntroductionThe following quotation adapted from Abraham Maslow's book "Towards a psychology of being" provides an apt primer and some semantic grounding for the subsequent essay:"An essential aspect of SA [Self-Actualized] creativeness was a special kind of perceptiveness that is exemplified by the child in the fable who saw that the king had no clothes on -this too contradicts the notion of creativity as products. Such people can see the fresh, the raw, the concrete, the ideographic, as well as the generic, the abstract, the rubricized, the categorized and the classified. Consequently, they live far more in the real world of nature than in the verbalized world of concepts, abstractions, expectations, beliefs and stereotypes that most people confuse with the real world. This is well expressed in [Carl] Rogers' phrase "openness to experience" (Maslow, 1968, p. 145, content in brackets added).Humanity is currently facing an unprecedented exis...

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Training your brain to be more creative: brain functional and structural changes induced by divergent thinking training

Cited by 91 publications

References 73 publications

Cortico-Striatal-Thalamic Loop Circuits of the Salience Network: A Central Pathway in Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

Cortico-Striatal-Thalamic Loop Circuits of the Salience Network: A Central Pathway in Psychiatric Disease and Treatment

Higher extrinsic and lower intrinsic connectivity in resting state networks for professional Baduk (Go) players

5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: An ego-dissolving endogenous neurochemical catalyst of creativity

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