Executive and default network connectivity reflects conceptual interference during creative imagery generation

Resumen

Functional neuroimaging research has recently begun to explore cognitive mechanisms of creativity that underlie the interactions between large-scale brain networks—specifically regions of the executive control (ECN) and default (DN) networks. Increased ECN-DN coupling has been shown to occur when participants are required to overcome conceptual interference (i.e., activation of salient conceptual knowledge); however, most studies have used creativity tasks with verbal stimuli. Here we examine whether overcoming conceptual interference elicits these interactions during a creativity task with visual stimuli, which may suggest that these interactions are a domain general neural mechanism (i.e., across multiple modalities). We used independent component analysis to identify task related functional connectivity networks during novel imagery generation under High- and Low-Constraint conditions (i.e., interference and no interference, respectively). Consistent with our expectations, our results showed greater connectivity between ECN and DN components during the High-Constraint condition compared to the Low-Constraint condition. In contrast to previous research using verbal tasks, our results showed that the ECN had greater connectivity with the posterior, rather than anterior, DN. Our results suggest that ECN-DN coupling may be a domain-general neural mechanism that underlies creative cognition, but stimulus modality may affect which specific regions within these networks are involved.

Áreas y palabras clave

Cómo citar (APA 7)

Christensen, A. P., Benedek, M., Silvia, P., & Beaty, R. (2019). Executive and default network connectivity reflects conceptual interference during creative imagery generation. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/n438d