Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4.
Neuroimage. 2012 Jan 16;59(2):1783-94. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.008. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Psychological theories have suggested that creativity involves a twofold process characterized by a generative component facilitating the production of novel ideas and an evaluative component enabling the assessment of their usefulness. The present study employed a novel fMRI paradigm designed to distinguish between these two components at the neural level. Participants designed book cover illustrations while alternating between the generation and evaluation of ideas. The use of an fMRI-compatible drawing tablet allowed for a more natural drawing and creative environment. Creative generation was associated with preferential recruitment of medial temporal lobe regions, while creative evaluation was associated with joint recruitment of executive and default network regions and activation of the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and temporopolar cortex. Executive and default regions showed positive functional connectivity throughout task performance. These findings suggest that the medial temporal lobe may be central to the generation of novel ideas and creative evaluation may extend beyond deliberate analytical processes supported by executive brain regions to include more spontaneous affective and visceroceptive evaluative processes supported by default and limbic regions. Thus, creative thinking appears to recruit a unique configuration of neural processes not typically used together during traditional problem solving tasks.
心理学理论表明，创造力涉及一个双重过程，其特征是生成成分有助于产生新的想法，评估成分有助于评估其有用性。本研究采用了一种新的 fMRI 范式，旨在在神经水平上区分这两个成分。参与者在产生和评估想法之间交替进行图书封面插图设计。使用 fMRI 兼容的绘图平板电脑可以营造更自然的绘图和创作环境。创造性生成与内侧颞叶区域的优先招募有关，而创造性评估与执行和默认网络区域的联合招募以及额侧前皮质、脑岛和颞极皮质的激活有关。执行和默认区域在整个任务过程中表现出正功能连接。这些发现表明，内侧颞叶可能是产生新想法的核心，而创造性评估可能不仅延伸到由执行脑区支持的深思熟虑的分析过程，还包括由默认和边缘区域支持的更自发的情感和内脏评估过程。因此，创造性思维似乎需要一种独特的神经过程配置，而在传统的解决问题任务中，这些过程通常不会一起使用。
