Thinking Cap Plus Thinking Zap: tDCS of Frontopolar Cortex Improves Creative Analogical Reasoning and Facilitates Conscious Augmentation of State Creativity in Verb Generation.

MedStar author(s):
Citation: Cerebral Cortex. 27(4):2628-2639, 2017 Apr 01PMID: 27075035Institution: MedStar National Rehabilitation NetworkForm of publication: Journal ArticleMedline article type(s): Journal ArticleSubject headings: *Creativity | *Frontal Lobe/ph [Physiology] | *Thinking/ph [Physiology] | Brain Mapping | Cognition | Female | Humans | Male | Semantics | Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation | Young AdultYear: 2016ISSN:
  • 1047-3211
Name of journal: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)Abstract: Copyright The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected] neuroimaging evidence indicates neural mechanisms that support transient improvements in creative performance (augmented state creativity) in response to cognitive interventions (creativity cueing). Separately, neural interventions via tDCS show encouraging potential for modulating neuronal function during creative performance. If cognitive and neural interventions are separately effective, can they be combined? Does state creativity augmentation represent "real" creativity, or do interventions simply yield divergence by diminishing meaningfulness/appropriateness? Can augmenting state creativity bolster creative reasoning that supports innovation, particularly analogical reasoning? To address these questions, we combined tDCS with creativity cueing. Testing a regionally specific hypothesis from neuroimaging, high-definition tDCS-targeted frontopolar cortex activity recently shown to predict state creativity augmentation. In a novel analogy finding task, participants under tDCS formulated substantially more creative analogical connections in a large matrix search space (creativity indexed via latent semantic analysis). Critically, increased analogical creativity was not due to diminished accuracy in discerning valid analogies, indicating "real" creativity rather than inappropriate divergence. A simpler relational creativity paradigm (modified verb generation) revealed a tDCS-by-cue interaction; tDCS further enhanced creativity cue-related increases in semantic distance. Findings point to the potential of noninvasive neuromodulation to enhance creative relational cognition, including augmentation of the deliberate effort to formulate connections between distant concepts.All authors: Gallagher NM, Giangrande EJ, Green AE, Spiegel KA, Turkeltaub PE, Weinberger ABFiscal year: FY2017Digital Object Identifier: Date added to catalog: 2017-04-11
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Journal Article MedStar Authors Catalog Article 27075035 Available 27075035

Copyright The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

Recent neuroimaging evidence indicates neural mechanisms that support transient improvements in creative performance (augmented state creativity) in response to cognitive interventions (creativity cueing). Separately, neural interventions via tDCS show encouraging potential for modulating neuronal function during creative performance. If cognitive and neural interventions are separately effective, can they be combined? Does state creativity augmentation represent "real" creativity, or do interventions simply yield divergence by diminishing meaningfulness/appropriateness? Can augmenting state creativity bolster creative reasoning that supports innovation, particularly analogical reasoning? To address these questions, we combined tDCS with creativity cueing. Testing a regionally specific hypothesis from neuroimaging, high-definition tDCS-targeted frontopolar cortex activity recently shown to predict state creativity augmentation. In a novel analogy finding task, participants under tDCS formulated substantially more creative analogical connections in a large matrix search space (creativity indexed via latent semantic analysis). Critically, increased analogical creativity was not due to diminished accuracy in discerning valid analogies, indicating "real" creativity rather than inappropriate divergence. A simpler relational creativity paradigm (modified verb generation) revealed a tDCS-by-cue interaction; tDCS further enhanced creativity cue-related increases in semantic distance. Findings point to the potential of noninvasive neuromodulation to enhance creative relational cognition, including augmentation of the deliberate effort to formulate connections between distant concepts.

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