Brain morphometry predicts individual creative potential and the ability to combine remote ideas

David Bendetowicz, Marika Urbanski, Clarisse Aichelburg, Richard Levy, Emmanuelle Volle
Cortex. 2017-01-01; 86: 216-229
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.10.021

PubMed

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1. Cortex. 2017 Jan;86:216-229. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.10.021. Epub 2016 Nov
15.

Brain morphometry predicts individual creative potential and the ability to
combine remote ideas.

Bendetowicz D(1), Urbanski M(2), Aichelburg C(3), Levy R(4), Volle E(5).

Author information:
(1)Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Sorbonne
Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; ICM, FrontLab,
Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris. Electronic address:
.
(2)Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Sorbonne
Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; ICM, FrontLab,
Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris; Hôpitaux de Saint-Maurice, Medicine and
Rehabilitation Department, Saint-Maurice, France. Electronic address:
.
(3)Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Sorbonne
Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; ICM, FrontLab,
Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris. Electronic address: .
(4)Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Sorbonne
Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; ICM, FrontLab,
Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris; AP-HP, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Behavioural
Neuropsychiatry Unit, Paris, France. Electronic address:
.
(5)Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Sorbonne
Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; ICM, FrontLab,
Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris; ICM, CENIR, Paris, France. Electronic address:
.

For complex mental functions such as creative thinking, inter-individual
variability is useful to better understand the underlying cognitive components
and brain anatomy. Associative theories propose that creative individuals have
flexible semantic associations, which allows remote elements to be formed into
new combinations. However, the structural brain variability associated with the
ability to combine remote associates has not been explored. To address this
question, we performed a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study and explored the
anatomical connectivity of significant regions. We developed a Remote
Combination Association Task adapted from Mednick’s test, in which subjects had
to find a solution word related to three cue words presented to them. In our
adaptation of the task, we used free association norms to quantify the
associative distance between the cue words and solution words, and we varied
this distance. The tendency to solve the task with insight and the ability to
evaluate the appropriateness of a proposed solution were also analysed.
Fifty-four healthy volunteers performed this task and underwent a structural
MRI. Structure-function relationships were analysed using regression models
between grey matter (GM) volume and task performance. Significant clusters were
mapped onto an atlas of white matter (WM) tracts. The ability to solve the task,
which depended on the associative distance of the solution word, was associated
with structural variation in the left rostrolateral prefrontal and posterior
parietal regions; the left rostral prefrontal region was connected to distant
regions through long-range pathways. By using a creative combination task in
which the semantic distance between words varied, we revealed a brain network
centred on the left frontal pole that appears to support the ability to combine
information in new ways by bridging the semantic distance between pieces of
information.