Shofty Ben, Gonen Tal, Bergmann Eyal, Mayseless Naama, Korn Akiva, Shamay-Tsoory Simone, Grossman Rachel, Jalon Itamar, Kahn Itamar, Ram Zvi
Department of Neurosurgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and The Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and The Sagol Center for Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Mar;27(3):1848-1854. doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01403-8. Epub 2022 Jan 1.
Creative thinking represents a major evolutionary mechanism that greatly contributed to the rapid advancement of the human species. The ability to produce novel and useful ideas, or original thinking, is thought to correlate well with unexpected, synchronous activation of several large-scale, dispersed cortical networks, such as the default network (DN). Despite a vast amount of correlative evidence, a causal link between default network and creativity has yet to be demonstrated. Surgeries for resection of brain tumors that lie in proximity to speech related areas are performed while the patient is awake to map the exposed cortical surface for language functions. Such operations provide a unique opportunity to explore human behavior while disrupting a focal cortical area via focal electrical stimulation. We used a novel paradigm of individualized direct cortical stimulation to examine the association between creative thinking and the DN. Preoperative resting-state fMRI was used to map the DN in individual patients. A cortical area identified as a DN node (study) or outside the DN (controls) was stimulated while the participants performed an alternate-uses-task (AUT). This task measures divergent thinking through the number and originality of different uses provided for an everyday object. Baseline AUT performance in the operating room was positively correlated with DN integrity. Direct cortical stimulation at the DN node resulted in decreased ability to produce alternate uses, but not in the originality of uses produced. Stimulation in areas that when used as network seed regions produced a network similar to the canonical DN was associated with reduction of creative fluency. Stimulation of areas that did not produce a default-like network (controls) did not alter creative thinking. This is the first study to causally link the DN and creative thinking.
创造性思维是一种主要的进化机制，对人类物种的快速发展做出了巨大贡献。产生新颖且有用想法的能力，即原创性思维，被认为与几个大规模、分散的皮质网络（如默认网络，DN）的意外同步激活密切相关。尽管有大量的相关证据，但默认网络与创造力之间的因果关系尚未得到证实。对于位于与语言相关区域附近的脑肿瘤切除手术，是在患者清醒时进行的，以便绘制暴露的皮质表面的语言功能图。此类手术提供了一个独特的机会，可在通过局部电刺激破坏局部皮质区域的同时探索人类行为。我们使用了一种新颖的个性化直接皮质刺激范式来研究创造性思维与默认网络之间的关联。术前静息态功能磁共振成像用于绘制个体患者的默认网络。在参与者执行替代用途任务（AUT）时，对被确定为默认网络节点（研究组）或默认网络之外（对照组）的皮质区域进行刺激。该任务通过为日常物品提供的不同用途的数量和原创性来衡量发散性思维。手术室中的基线替代用途任务表现与默认网络的完整性呈正相关。在默认网络节点进行直接皮质刺激会导致产生替代用途的能力下降，但不会影响所产生用途的原创性。对那些用作网络种子区域时能产生类似于典型默认网络的网络的区域进行刺激，与创造性流畅性的降低有关。对那些不会产生类似默认网络的区域（对照组）进行刺激，不会改变创造性思维。这是第一项将默认网络与创造性思维建立因果联系的研究。
