title: Prefrontal cortex involvement in creative problem solving in middle adolescence and adulthood.
abstract: Creative cognition, defined as the generation of new yet appropriate ideas and solutions, serves important adaptive purposes. Here, we tested whether and how middle adolescence, characterized by transformations toward life independency and individuality, is a more profitable phase than adulthood for creative cognition. Behavioral and neural differences for creative problem solving in adolescents (15-17 years) and adults (25-30 years) were measured while performing a matchstick problem task (MPT) in the scanner and the creative ability test (CAT), a visuo-spatial divergent thinking task, outside the scanner. Overall performances were comparable, although MPT performance indicated an advantage for adolescents in creative problem solving. In addition, adolescents showed more activation in lateral prefrontal cortex (ventral and dorsal) during creative problem solving compared to adults. These areas correlated with performances on the MPT and the CAT performance. We discuss that extended prefrontal cortex activation in adolescence is important for exploration and aids in creative cognition.
authors.affiliation: Institute of psychology, Brain and Development Laboratory, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court Gebouw, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. kleibeukersw@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
authors.forename: Sietske W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kleibeuker
authors.forename: P Cédric M P
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Koolschijn
authors.forename: Dietsje D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Jolles
authors.forename: Margot A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schel
authors.forename: Carsten K W
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: De Dreu
authors.forename: Eveline A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Crone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*