Neural correlates of creative insight: Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation of resting-state brain activity predicts creative insight

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 30;13(8):e0203071. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203071. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Creative insight has attracted much attention across cultures. Although previous studies have explored the neural correlates of creative insight by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), little is known about intrinsic resting-state brain activity associated with creative insight. In the present study, we used amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) as an index in resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to identify brain regions involved in individual differences in creative insight, which was measured by the response time of creative Chinese character chunk decomposition. Our results showed that ALFF in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) positively predicted creative insight, while ALFF in the middle cingulate cortex/insula cortex (MCC/IC), superior temporal gyrus/angular gyrus (STG/AG), anterior cingulate cortex/caudate nucleus (ACC/CN), and culmen/declive (CU/DC) negatively predicted creative insight. Moreover, these findings indicate that spontaneous brain activity in multiple regions related to breaking mental sets, solutions exploring, evaluation of novel solutions, forming task-related associations, and emotion experience contributes to creative insight. In conclusion, the present study provides new evidence to further understand the cognitive processing and neural correlates of creative insight.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Creativity*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Individuality
  • Language
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Male
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Rest
  • Visual Perception / physiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant NO.14ZDB159 URL:http://www.npopss-cn.gov.cn/) and Project of the Key Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Education, China (Grant NO.16JJD880025 URL: https://www.sinoss.net/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.