Biochemical support for the “threshold” theory of creativity: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study
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A broadly accepted definition of creativity refers to the production of something both novel and useful within a given social context. Studies of patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders and neuroimaging studies of healthy controls have each drawn attention to frontal and temporal lobe contributions to creativity. Based on previous magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy studies demonstrating relationships between cognitive ability and concentrations of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), a common neurometabolite, we hypothesized that NAA assessed in gray and white matter (from a supraventricular slab) would relate to laboratory measures of creativity. MR imaging and divergent thinking measures were obtained in a cohort of 56 healthy controls. Independent judges ranked the creative products of each participant, from which a “Composite Creativity Index” (CCI) was created. Different patterns of correlations between NAA and CCI were found in higher verbal ability versus lower verbal ability participants, providing neurobiological support for a critical “threshold” regarding the relationship between intelligence and creativity. To our knowledge, this is the first report assessing the relationship between brain chemistry and creative cognition, as measured with divergent thinking, in a cohort comprised exclusively of normal, healthy participants.
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The role of cognitive control in creative thought remains controversial.
“Nevertheless, the role of cognitive control in creative thought remains controversial, as other work supports a defocused attention account of creativity (Takeuchi et al., 2011) and a limit to the correlation between creativity and intelligence (Jauk et al., 2013, Jung et al., 2009).”
From Creativity and the default network: A functional connectivity analysis of the creative brain at rest (2014) · cites this paper as Jung et al., 2009
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Creativity and the default network: A functional connectivity analysis of the creative brain at rest
Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Wilkins, R. W., Jauk, E., Fink, A., Silvia, P. J., Hodges, D. A., Koschutnig, K., & Neubauer, A. C. (2014) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.019 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Jung, R. E., Gasparovic, C., Chavez, R. S., Flores, R. A., Smith, S. M., Caprihan, A., & Yeo, R. A.
- Affiliations
- Mind Research Network (US)
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2009-04-22
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 16
- Pages
- 5319-5325
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC2755552
- OpenAlex
- W1966745594
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 10.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (R01EB020407, R01EB006841)
- National Center for Research Resources (P20RR021938)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- creativity, N-acetylaspartate, divergent thinking, neurometabolites, gray and white matter, verbal ability, healthy controls, frontal and temporal lobes
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Brain Chemistry, Cognition, Creativity, Differential Threshold, Female, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Thinking, Young Adult
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