Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Neuropsychologia. 2021 Jan 22;151:107722. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107722. Epub 2020 Dec 9.
Creativity involves the ability to associate relatively weak or distant semantic components and combine them into novel and useful objects. Few studies have explored the brain mechanisms underlying semantic associative ability and its relationship with creativity based on semantic distance. In this study, the chain free association (CFA) task was performed, and semantic distance was quantified to measure individuals' semantic association ability, while the alternative use test (AUT) and creative activity (CAct) tasks were performed to measure creative ability. The behavioral results revealed a significant positive correlation between semantic distance and creativity. The voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis found the neural structural basis of semantic distance. Indeed, semantic distance was positively correlated with the gray matter volume (GMV) of the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus (LpITG), which is associated with visual word learning, semantic knowledge retrieval, and semantic memory, in addition to divergent thinking and creative traits. A mediation analysis showed semantic distance mediate the relationship between the regional GMV of LpITG and human creativity. Effectively, highly creative individuals with high regional GMV in LpITG were observed to have higher capacity of spontaneous association process. These findings shed light on the dedication of the brain areas related to remote semantic connectivity to creative thinking via individuals' spontaneous semantic association ability.
创造力涉及将相对较弱或遥远的语义成分联系起来并将它们组合成新颖而有用的对象的能力。很少有研究基于语义距离探索语义联想能力及其与创造力的关系的大脑机制。在这项研究中，进行了无链自由联想（CFA）任务，并量化了语义距离，以衡量个体的语义联想能力，同时进行了替代用途测试（AUT）和创造性活动（CAct）任务，以衡量创造力。行为结果表明语义距离与创造力之间存在显著正相关。体素基形态计量学（VBM）分析发现了语义距离的神经结构基础。实际上，语义距离与左后下颞叶（LpITG）的灰质体积（GMV）呈正相关，LpITG 与视觉单词学习、语义知识检索和语义记忆有关，此外还与发散思维和创造性特征有关。中介分析表明，语义距离中介了 LpITG 区域 GMV 与人类创造力之间的关系。实际上，观察到具有较高 LpITG 区域 GMV 的高创造力个体具有更高的自发联想过程能力。这些发现揭示了与远程语义连接相关的大脑区域通过个体的自发语义联想能力对创造性思维的贡献。
