Dual-Process Accounts of the Creative Problem Solving and Human Connectome

Abstract The association of different networks in the human brain with creativity has received increasing attention as an active research topic. Creativity is a multidimensional concept reflecting different cognitive processes and associations mediated by the brain network. In this study, we first identified connections between the topological properties of the white matter network and divergent thinking and insight problem solving. Then, we performed a graph-theoretical analysis to calculate the efficiency of the brain network and to predict divergent thinking and insight-based problem solving. We found that effective information transmission across brain regions was significantly correlated with creative problem solving. Divergent thinking requires few connections between brain regions to produce novel ideas, whereas insight problem solving requires simultaneous processing by more brain regions to restructure the presentation of the problem. The results show that the integrated efficiency of the brain network varies between open- and closed-ended creative problem solving.