Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2018 Jan 1;28(1):103-115. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw353.
Creative cognition is important to academic performance and career success during late adolescence and adulthood. However, there is a lack of longitudinal data on whether brain structural development could predict improvements in creative thinking, and how such changes interact with other cognitive abilities to support creative performance. Here we examined longitudinal alterations of brain structure and their relation to creative cognitive ability in a sample of 159 healthy young adults who were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging 2-3 times over the course of 3 years. The most robust predictor of future creative ability was the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which in conjunction with baseline creative capacity showed a 31% prediction rate. Longitudinal analysis revealed that slower decreases in gray matter density within left frontoparietal and right frontotemporal clusters predicted enhanced creative ability. Moreoever, the relationship between longitudinal alterations within frontal-related clusters and improved creative ability was moderated by the right DLPFC and working memory ability. We conclude that continuous goal-directed planning and accumulated knowledge are implemented in the right DLPFC and temporal areas, respectively, which in turn support longitudinal gains in creative cognitive ability.
创造性认知对于青少年晚期和成年期的学业成绩和职业成功至关重要。然而，缺乏关于大脑结构发育是否可以预测创造性思维能力提高的纵向数据，以及这些变化如何与其他认知能力相互作用以支持创造性表现。在这里，我们在一个由 159 名健康年轻人组成的样本中检查了大脑结构的纵向变化及其与创造性认知能力的关系，这些年轻人在 3 年的时间里使用磁共振成像进行了 2-3 次扫描。对未来创造性能力的最强预测因子是右侧背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC），与基线创造性能力相结合，其预测率达到 31%。纵向分析显示，左额顶叶和右额颞叶集群内灰质密度下降速度较慢，预测创造性能力增强。此外，额叶相关集群内的纵向变化与创造性能力提高之间的关系受到右 DLPFC 和工作记忆能力的调节。我们的结论是，持续的目标导向计划和积累的知识分别由右侧 DLPFC 和颞叶区域执行，这反过来又支持了创造性认知能力的纵向提高。
