Association Of Creative Achievement With Cognitive Flexibility By A Combined Voxel-based Morphometry And Resting-state Functional Connectivity Study

Researchers generally concur that creativity involves both original and useful behavior or product (Sternberg and Lubart,1996), During the past decade, creativity has been explored across numerous studies in laboratory settings, such as divergent thinking (Fink et al.,2006; Razumnikova,2004), insight (Jung-Beeman et al.,2004; Kounios et al.,2008; Qiu et al.,2010), artistic creation (Aziz-Zadeh et al.,2013; Berkowitz and Ansari,2008; Kowatari et al.,2009), and heuristic prototype (Luo et al.,2013). A given cognitive process (e.g., insight, divergent thinking) has been demonstrated as one of many components that constituted the creative thinking. Unfortunately, these studies carried out to date yield inconsistent results, as authoritative reviews on the neuroscience of creativity (Arden et al.,2010; Dietrich and Kanso,2010) criticize that the field is fragmented, that its theoretical concepts are poor. This problem may be approached by using ecological and valid measurements. Containing multiple domains ability and involve useful and novel products, comprehensive creativity may help us to deeply understand the nature of creativity (Arden et al.,2010; Sawyer,2011). In other words, creativity should be explored by measuring the multi types of creativity, such as art, problem solving, invention, and cooking (Arden et al.,2010). Besides, in investigating inter-individual differences in human behavior and cognitive functions, a popular method is to use anatomical or functional brain correlates, especially based on large samples (Kanai and Rees,2011). Relative to fMRI studies, the inter-individual differences methods could provide new perspectives to explore well-validated variables, such as intelligence, personality, and creativity outside the laboratory (Takeuchi et al.,2012).On the other hand, recent studies indicate that deliberate processing such as strong cognitive control (Groborz and Necka,2003), high working memory capacity (De Dreu et al.,2012), and focused attention and monitoring (Aziz-Zadeh et al.,2013) plays a critical role in creative tasks. Regarding deliberate creativity, several researchers speculate that cognitive flexibility which reflects the adaptability of thought and behavior (Collins and Koechlin,2012) could facilitate the shift of thoughts in the face of environmental change, and in this way generate innovative ideas and promote discoveries (Barbey et al.,2013; Braver et al.,2009; De Dreu et al,2011). Dietrich (2004) also underlines that creativity is the epitome of cognitive flexibility, which is at the heart of any creative theory. However, any direct evidence for the relationship between creativity and cognitive flexibility has rarely been investigated in brain structure and function. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between inter-individual creative achievement and gray matter volume as well as corresponding functional connectivity patterns. Then a further analysis was to examine whether cognitive flexibility, as distinguishing feature of high creative ability, mediate the relationship between individual creative achievement and changes in brain activity patterns.In the first study, as a part of our ongoing project to explore the association between brain imaging, creativity, and mental health,385participated in this study. All the participants were required to undertake a series of psychological tests [including Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ); Assessment of general intelligence etc.] and MRI scans and subsequently received payment for their time. First, CAQ scores exhibited no significant gender differences. Second, we investigated the association between GMV and individual differences in creative achievement after regressing out age, gender, general intelligence, and total GMV of individual brains using multiple linear regression analysis. The results revealed that CAQ scores were positively correlated with GMV (Fig.1A) in the left superior frontal gyrus (x, y, z=-21,55,12, t(360)=4.25, P(corr)<0.001), right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (x, y, z=18,57,-9, t(360)=4.23, P(corr)<0.001). Significantly negative correlation was observed between CAQ scores and GMV in the bilateral dorsal ACC (x, y, z=8,-11,36, t(360)=5.15, P(corr)<0.001) extending to supplementary motor area (x, y, z=2,-21,50, t(360)=4.70, P(corr)<0.001), left rostral ACC (x, y, z=-2,33,3, t(360)=3.99, P(corr)=0.039). Some regions of interesting existed underlying threshold of P<0.001(uncorrected) such as bilateral ITG, left precuneus, right DLPFC and bilateral posterior thalamus, which were positively correlated with CAQ.In the second study, only164valid data among previous sample (366participants) were acquired. Individual’s cognitive flexibility was assessed by using the number-letter task (Rogers and Monsell,1995). Correlation analysis showed CAQ scores were negatively correlated with the RT of task switching (r=0.23, P<0.01), the difference of RT between switch trials and repetition trials. This revealed that high creative achievement displayed more cognitive flexibility. Following the statistical analysis, we used multiple linear regression to look for regions where functional connectivity with the dorsal ACC was significantly related to individual creative achievement. Age, gender, and general intelligence were included as covariates into the regression model. Additionally, to examine whether our findings was stable and repeatable, network maps of intrinsic connectivity were constructed using independent component analysis in a same group subjects. Results revealed that CAQ scores significantly and negatively correlated with the strength of functional connectivity between the dACC and the right medial superior frontal gyrus (mSFG)(15,39,30;129voxels; peak z-score,4.66), right middle frontal gyrus (30,48,-6;87voxels; peak z-score,3.74), left orbital frontoinsula (-27,27,3;81voxels; peak z-score,3.65), and right posterior thalamus (18,-15,21;39voxels; peak z-score,3.42). Mediation analysis suggested that the cognitive flexibility only mediated the association between the strength of dACC-mSFG connectivity and CAQ (Bootstrap Estimate=0.53;95%confidence13interval:0.02-1.37).These findings indicate that individual differences in creative achievement are associated with the brain structure and corresponding intrinsic functional connectivity involved in cognitive flexibility and deliberate creativity processing. Furthermore, dACC-mSFG connectivity may affect creative achievement through its impact on cognitive flexibility.