title: Sex differences in the relationship between white matter connectivity and creativity.
abstract: Creative cognition emerges from a complex network of interacting brain regions. This study investigated the relationship between the structural organization of the human brain and aspects of creative cognition tapped by divergent thinking tasks. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) was used to obtain fiber tracts from 83 segmented cortical regions. This information was represented as a network and metrics of connectivity organization, including connectivity strength, clustering and communication efficiency were computed, and their relationship to individual levels of creativity was examined. Permutation testing identified significant sex differences in the relationship between global connectivity and creativity as measured by divergent thinking tests. Females demonstrated significant inverse relationships between global connectivity and creative cognition, whereas there were no significant relationships observed in males. Node specific analyses revealed inverse relationships across measures of connectivity, efficiency, clustering and creative cognition in widespread regions in females. Our findings suggest that females involve more regions of the brain in processing to produce novel ideas to solutions, perhaps at the expense of efficiency (greater path lengths). Males, in contrast, exhibited few, relatively weak positive relationships across these measures. Extending recent observations of sex differences in connectome structure, our findings of sexually dimorphic relationships suggest a unique topological organization of connectivity underlying the generation of novel ideas in males and females.
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA; University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, USA.
authors: Sephira G
authors: SG
authors: Ryman
authors: University Medical Center Utrecht Department of Psychiatry, Netherlands.
authors: Martijn P
authors: MP
authors: van den Heuvel
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, USA.
authors: Ronald A
authors: RA
authors: Yeo
authors: Mind Research Network, USA.
authors: Arvind
authors: A
authors: Caprihan
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA; University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, USA.
authors: Jessica
authors: J
authors: Carrasco
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA; University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, USA.
authors: Andrei A
authors: AA
authors: Vakhtin
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA.
authors: Ranee A
authors: RA
authors: Flores
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA.
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Wertz
authors: University of New Mexico Department of Neurosurgery, USA; University of New Mexico Department of Psychology, USA. Electronic address: Rex.jung@runbox.com.
authors: Rex E
authors: RE
authors: Jung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003405:Creativity; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Creativity; Diffusion imaging; Graph theoretical analysis; Sex differences