Understanding creativity process through electroencephalography measurement on creativity-related cognitive factors

Yuan Yin; Pan Wang; Peter R N Childs

doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.951272

Understanding creativity process through electroencephalography measurement on creativity-related cognitive factors

Front Neurosci. 2022 Nov 30:16:951272. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.951272. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuan Yin¹, Pan Wang², Peter R N Childs¹

Affiliations

¹ Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
² School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Neurotechnology approaches, such as electroencephalography (EEG), can aid understanding of the cognitive processes behind creativity.

Methods: To identify and compare the EEG characteristics of creativity-related cognitive factors (remote association, common association, combination, recall, and retrieval), 30 participants were recruited to conduct an EEG induction study.

Results: From the event-related potential (ERP) results and spectral analysis, the study supports that creativity is related to the frontal lobe areas of the brain and common association is an unconscious process.

Discussion: The results help explain why some creativity-related cognitive factors are involved either more or less readily than others in the creative design process from workload aspects. This study identifies the part of the brain that is involved in the combination cognitive factor and detects the ERP results on cognitive factors. This study can be used by designers and researchers to further understand the cognitive processes of creativity.

Keywords: EEG; ERP; cognitive factor; cognitive process; creativity.