Identifying the origin of creativity in the brain

Creative thinking is a distinctive human trait, but it is a fleeting ability that “emerges unexpectedly and unintentionally.”

Now, a team led by a researcher at the University of Utah Health Sciences has used a sophisticated brain imaging technique to reveal how different parts of the brain work together to produce creative thought.

The new findings could help lead to interventions that stimulate creative thinking, or help people with mental illnesses that disrupt these areas of the brain.

“Unlike motor function or vision, there is no creativity cortex,” says Ben Shofti, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and senior author of the study.

Shofti revealed that he believed that creative thinking may rely heavily on parts of the brain that are activated during meditation, daydreaming, and other types of thinking. He pointed to the DMN, which is associated with “default” thought patterns that occur in the absence of specific mental tasks.

The DMN is spread across many different brain regions, making it difficult to track its activity in real time.

In the study, a group of participants underwent the most widely used strategy for locating seizures in patients with severe epilepsy, in which small electrodes are implanted in the brain to accurately track the electrical activity of multiple regions, meaning that brain activity during creative thinking can be measured.

The researchers found that during a creative thinking task, in which participants were asked to list new uses for an everyday item, such as a chair or a cup, the DMN lit up first. Its activity then synchronized with other brain regions, including those involved in complex problem solving and decision making.

Shofti believes this means that creative ideas originate in the DMN before being evaluated by other regions.

The researchers were also able to show that parts of the network are specifically required for creative thinking.

“This finding shows that creativity is not only linked to the network, but fundamentally dependent on it,” explains Eleonora Bartoli, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and co-first author of the study.

Network activity has been shown to be altered in many disorders, such as depression, where the DMN is more active than usual, perhaps linked to increased internally directed negative thoughts.

A better understanding of how the network normally works could lead to better treatments for people with such conditions, Shofti says.

The study was published in the journal Brain.