A review of EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies of creativity and insight.
Abstract
Creativity is a cornerstone of what makes us human, yet the neural mechanisms underlying creative thinking are poorly understood. A recent surge of interest into the neural underpinnings of creative behavior has produced a banquet of data that is tantalizing but, considered as a whole, deeply self-contradictory. We review the emerging literature and take stock of several long-standing theories and widely held beliefs about creativity. A total of 72 experiments, reported in 63 articles, make up the core of the review. They broadly fall into 3 categories: divergent thinking, artistic creativity, and insight. Electroencephalographic studies of divergent thinking yield highly variegated results. Neuroimaging studies of this paradigm also indicate no reliable changes above and beyond diffuse prefrontal activation. These findings call into question the usefulness of the divergent thinking construct in the search for the neural basis of creativity. A similarly inconclusive picture emerges for studies of artistic performance, except that this paradigm also often yields activation of motor and temporoparietal regions. Neuroelectric and imaging studies of insight are more consistent, reflecting changes in anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal areas. Taken together, creative thinking does not appear to critically depend on any single mental process or brain region, and it is not especially associated with right brains, defocused attention, low arousal, or alpha synchronization, as sometimes hypothesized. To make creativity tractable in the brain, it must be further subdivided into different types that can be meaningfully associated with specific neurocognitive processes.
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Generation of creative ideas is thought to be supported by a preferential recruitment of regions of the DMN, particularly the MPFC.
“the generation of creative ideas is thought to be supported by a preferential recruitment of regions of the DMN, and particularly of the MPFC.24–28,47”
From High Dream Recall Frequency is Associated with Increased Creativity and Default Mode Network Connectivity (2022) · cites this paper as [47]
Recent literature reviews have been largely inconclusive on the brain basis of creative thought.
“Recent literature reviews have been largely inconclusive on the brain basis of creative thought (Arden et al., 2010, Dietrich and Kanso, 2010, Sawyer, 2011), raising questions about whether creativity can be isolated to discrete regions in the brain (Abraham, 2013, Jung et al., 2013).”
From Creativity and the default network: A functional connectivity analysis of the creative brain at rest (2014) · cites this paper as Dietrich and Kanso, 2010
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“Recent literature reviews have been largely inconclusive on the brain basis of creative thought (Arden, Chavez, Grazioplene, & Jung, 2010; Dietrich & Kanso, 2010; Sawyer, 2011), raising questions about whether creativity can be isolated to discrete regions in the brain (Abraham, 2013; Jung, Mead,…”
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- Authors
- Dietrich, A., & Kanso, R.
- Affiliations
- American University of Beirut (LB)
- ORCID
- Dietrich, Arne
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 2010
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 822-848
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W2034414628
- Cited by
- 907
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 78 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 62 · 2013: 65 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 48.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Keywords
- creativity, insight, divergent thinking, artistic creativity, neural basis of creativity, EEG, event-related potentials, neuroimaging, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, right hemisphere, alpha synchronization, arousal, types of creativity
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Creativity, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Problem Solving, Psychological Theory, Thinking, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon, Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared, Positron-Emission Tomography
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