Main content

Date created: | Last Updated:

: DOI | ARK

Creating DOI. Please wait...

Create DOI

Category: Project

Description: Creativity encompasses aspects of a range of cognitive processes, yet there is still an active debate within models of creativity regarding the importance of executive control in creative thought. The dual process model of creative thinking suggests it arises through flexibility and persistence and this route would require executive control of the semantic network that drives the retrieval of a variety of associations. However, other models put emphasis on the need for non-executive, type 1 thinking processes that require inhibition in order to encourage creativity. Brain regions implicated in Semantic Aphasia overlap with regions commonly thought to be important in creative thinking, particularly in divergent thinking tasks. Damage to these areas has traditionally been linked with limited creativity, as executive processes are required to search and select novel ideas from the semantic system. However, some patients with executive and semantic deficits have been shown to display increased creativity, with researcher attributing this to executive control restricting creative output. These patients can provide a critical test with regards to the necessity of executive component in divergent creative thinking. In this study we employed a novel paradigm encompassing a variety of divergent and convergent tasks across both verbal and non-verbal domains. Patients with semantic aphasia and healthy controls were assessed for their creativity as judged by independent norming, as well as their accuracy, and time taken to complete each task. While patients showed decreased accuracy in convergent tasks, they were not impaired in divergent tasks. Indeed, 6 out of 13 averaged higher than the mean control creativity score for divergent tasks. In addition, there was no significant differences between patients and controls in association of items. These findings demonstrate for the first time that patients with semantic aphasia can generate just as creative answers to a divergent thinking task as healthy controls. This models which attribute specific regions, that are commonly damaged in semantic aphasia may not be accurate, and instead suggests a wide network of regions that can compensate resulting in similar scores across all participants.

Files

Loading files...

Citation

Components

Behavioural data


Recent Activity

Loading logs...

Digital Data


Recent Activity

Loading logs...

JASP Bayesian Scripts


Recent Activity

Loading logs...

Recent Activity

Loading logs...

OSF does not support the use of Internet Explorer. For optimal performance, please switch to another browser.
Accept
This website relies on cookies to help provide a better user experience. By clicking Accept or continuing to use the site, you agree. For more information, see our Privacy Policy and information on cookie use.
Accept
×

Start managing your projects on the OSF today.

Free and easy to use, the Open Science Framework supports the entire research lifecycle: planning, execution, reporting, archiving, and discovery.