Ben-Soussan Tal D, Berkovich-Ohana Aviva, Piervincenzi Claudia, Glicksohn Joseph, Carducci Filippo
The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel ; Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education and Didactics, Patrizio Paoletti Foundation Assisi, Italy.
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot, Israel ; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome Rome, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2015 Jul 22;6:1021. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01021. eCollection 2015.
Quadrato Motor Training (QMT) is a whole-body movement contemplative practice aimed at increasing health and well-being. Previous research studying the effect of one QMT session suggested that one of its means for promoting health is by enhancing cognitive flexibility, an important dimension of creativity. Yet, little is known about the effect of a longer QMT practice on creativity, or the relative contribution of the cognitive and motor aspects of the training. Here, we continue this line of research in two inter-related studies, examining the effects of prolonged QMT. In the first, we investigated the effect of 4-weeks of daily QMT on creativity using the Alternate Uses (AUs) Task. In order to determine whether changes in creativity were driven by the cognitive or the motor aspects of the training, we used two control groups: Verbal Training (VT, identical cognitive training with verbal response) and Simple Motor Training (SMT, similar motor training with reduced choice requirements). Twenty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of the groups. Following training, cognitive flexibility significantly increased in the QMT group, which was not the case for either the SMT or VT groups. In contrast to one QMT session, ideational fluency was also significantly increased. In the second study, we conducted a pilot longitudinal structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (4-weeks QMT). We report gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy changes, in several regions, including the cerebellum, previously related to interoceptive accuracy. The anatomical changes were positively correlated with cognitive flexibility scores. Albeit the small sample size and preliminary nature of the findings, these results provide support for the hypothesized creativity-motor connection. The results are compared to other contemplative studies, and discussed in light of theoretical models integrating cognitive flexibility, embodiment and the motor system.
方形肌运动训练（QMT）是一种旨在增进健康和幸福感的全身运动冥想练习。此前研究单次QMT训练效果的研究表明，其促进健康的一种方式是增强认知灵活性，这是创造力的一个重要维度。然而，关于更长时间的QMT练习对创造力的影响，或者训练中认知和运动方面的相对贡献，我们知之甚少。在此，我们通过两项相关研究继续这一研究方向，考察长期QMT的效果。在第一项研究中，我们使用替代用途（AUs）任务，调查了为期4周的每日QMT对创造力的影响。为了确定创造力的变化是由训练的认知方面还是运动方面驱动的，我们使用了两个对照组：言语训练（VT，具有言语反应的相同认知训练）和简单运动训练（SMT，具有减少选择要求的类似运动训练）。27名参与者被随机分配到其中一组。训练后，QMT组的认知灵活性显著提高，而SMT组和VT组则不然。与单次QMT训练不同，观念流畅性也显著提高。在第二项研究中，我们进行了一项初步的纵向结构磁共振成像和扩散张量成像（4周QMT）。我们报告了包括小脑在内的几个先前与内感受准确性相关区域的灰质体积和分数各向异性变化。解剖学变化与认知灵活性得分呈正相关。尽管样本量小且研究结果具有初步性质，但这些结果为假设的创造力-运动联系提供了支持。我们将结果与其他冥想研究进行了比较，并根据整合认知灵活性、具身性和运动系统的理论模型进行了讨论。
