Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Psychophysiology. 2021 Aug;58(8):e13841. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13841. Epub 2021 Jun 23.
The neural substrates that contribute to creative thinking through the recruitment of semantic memory structures remain largely unknown. This study sought to investigate the properties of semantic networks using a semantic judgment rating task at the individual level and explore the relationship among creative abilities, the topological properties of semantic networks, and their underlying brain structures. We first used a semantic judgment rating to assess individual semantic networks and computed their topological properties. The analysis confirmed a significant correlation between the creative thinking abilities assessed by an alternate uses task and all three topological properties. In addition, voxel-based morphometry was employed to assess the neural correlates of gray matter volume (GMV) related to different topological properties of the semantic network. Results revealed a positive correlation between global efficiency and the left temporal pole cortex, considered to be involved in semantic information transmission and processing. Furthermore, mediation analysis found that the global efficiency of the individual semantic network mediated the association between the left temporal pole GMV and creative thinking, showing that the relationship between left temporal pole GMV and creative thinking may be affected by the semantic networks. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to combine a behavioral investigation of semantic networks with magnetic resonance imaging to shed light on the cerebral structural basis of semantic memory networks, in addition to their relationship to creativity.
通过招募语义记忆结构来促进创造性思维的神经基质在很大程度上仍然未知。本研究旨在使用个体水平的语义判断评分任务来研究语义网络的特性，并探索创造力、语义网络的拓扑特性及其潜在脑结构之间的关系。我们首先使用语义判断评分来评估个体语义网络，并计算其拓扑特性。分析结果证实了替代用途任务评估的创造性思维能力与所有三个拓扑特性之间存在显著相关性。此外，我们还采用基于体素的形态测量学来评估与语义网络不同拓扑特性相关的灰质体积 (GMV) 的神经关联。结果表明，全局效率与左侧颞极皮层呈正相关，左侧颞极皮层被认为参与语义信息的传递和处理。此外，中介分析发现，个体语义网络的全局效率介导了左侧颞极 GMV 与创造性思维之间的关联，表明左侧颞极 GMV 与创造性思维之间的关系可能受到语义网络的影响。据我们所知，这项研究首次将语义网络的行为研究与磁共振成像相结合，揭示了语义记忆网络的大脑结构基础，以及它们与创造力的关系。
