title: To create or to recall? Neural mechanisms underlying the generation of creative new ideas.
abstract: This fMRI study investigated brain activation during creative idea generation using a novel approach allowing spontaneous self-paced generation and expression of ideas. Specifically, we addressed the fundamental question of what brain processes are relevant for the generation of genuinely new creative ideas, in contrast to the mere recollection of old ideas from memory. In general, creative idea generation (i.e., divergent thinking) was associated with extended activations in the left prefrontal cortex and the right medial temporal lobe, and with deactivation of the right temporoparietal junction. The generation of new ideas, as opposed to the retrieval of old ideas, was associated with stronger activation in the left inferior parietal cortex which is known to be involved in mental simulation, imagining, and future thought. Moreover, brain activation in the orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus was found to increase as a function of the creativity (i.e., originality and appropriateness) of ideas pointing to the role of executive processes for overcoming dominant but uncreative responses. We conclude that the process of idea generation can be generally understood as a state of focused internally-directed attention involving controlled semantic retrieval. Moreover, left inferior parietal cortex and left prefrontal regions may subserve the flexible integration of previous knowledge for the construction of new and creative ideas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: mathias.benedek@uni-graz.at.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benedek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jauk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koschutnig
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reishofer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ebner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Aljoscha C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Neubauer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Creativity; Human cognition; Inferior parietal cortex; Memory retrieval; fMRI