The effect of memory reconfiguration via creative thinking is enhanced with transcranial direct current stimulation on the left angular gyrus
Ke Ding, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Yoed N. Kenett, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Creative problem-solving relies on the reorganization of existing knowledge to generate new ideas, facilitating the formation and restructuring of complex knowledge structures. However, the neural implementation of creative memory reconfigurations and its behavioral relevance remains elusive. To this end, participants (N = 36) underwent anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS, 1.5 mA, 22 minutes to enhance neuronal excitability) over the left angular gyrus or sham stimulation (s-tDCS, 1.5 mA, 30 seconds to simulate active stimulus) during a creative story generation task (using three unrelated words to generate creative stories), across two sessions a week apart. The left angular gyrus is thought to play a critical role in combining semantic information and guiding the reconfiguration of memory representations. Before and after this task, participants completed free word association and relatedness judgment tasks under electroencephalography (EEG) recording to examine the reconfiguration of their semantic memory structures. We found that creative story generation facilitated semantic memory restructuring—measured with graph theoretical measures—especially under a-tDCS. At the neural level, creative story generation is associated with reduced N400 effects (lower semantic integration effort), primarily observed in frontal regions under a-tDCS. Furthermore, participants showed increased representation similarity (more consistency in neural responses) of story-related words under a-tDCS post story generation. Thus, our findings demonstrate the role of creativity, especially when coupled with left angular gyrus stimulation in creative memory reconfigurations.
Can non-invasive brain stimulation really alter visual art-making? Application of tDCS to explore the role of frontotemporal brain regions in creative and realistic drawing.
Ryan Joseph Slaby*, Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Maximilian Douda*, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Paula A. Angermair*, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Zaira Cattaneo, Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
Matthew Pelowski, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
* joint-first authors
An emerging collection of case evidence has suggested artistic change in individuals with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and thus a potential neural-behavioral connection for creativity, artistic quality, or stylistic change. These suggestions have also served as inspiration for causative studies looking to potentially "duplicate" some of the effects posited for FTD-art linkages, regarding left frontotemporal cortex (LFT) degeneration, compensatory right frontotemporal cortex (RFT) activity. To date, such causative attempts have been based on very small or highly comorbid samples alongside paradigms and assessment methods perhaps not best suited to detect artistic change. 60 healthy participants underwent anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the LFT or RFT in a double-blind, counterbalanced within-participant design, completing a series of creative and realistic artistic tasks previously shown to systematically represent ability and style differences between individuals. The produced artworks were evaluated in a subsequent study by professional artists, who were naive to the artwork provenance, using standardized scales. Results revealed no effects for LFT stimulation but identified RFT-related enhancements in realism, particularly during second-session tasks, indicating that tDCS, while probably not directly impacting creativity or art making, may amplify learning effects. These findings offer insights into the neural mechanisms underlying artistic skill and compensatory processes observed in FTD. This study advances the potential for systematic research to explore how neural changes impact art-making in both healthy and neurodegenerative contexts.
Precision network-targeted neuromodulation to test causal links between creativity and executive function
Danny Holzman, Georgetown University
Oded Kleinmintz, Georgetown University
Brian Kim, Drexel University
Kelly Michaelis, Georgetown University
Apoorva Kelkar, Drexel University
Kristin Yung, Georgetown University
Lizzie Kaplan, Georgetown University
Melanie Collier, Georgetown University
John Medaglia, Drexel University
Adam Green, Georgetown University
Executive control (EC) and creativity are essential for complex tasks, yet their relationship remains unclear. EC relies on the frontoparietal control network (FPCN), while creativity involves atypical interactions between FPCN and the default mode network (DMN). This study modulates DMN-FPCN connectivity via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to reveal causal links between network dynamics and cognition. Using a within-person neuroimaging design with five person-specific TMS montages, we assess creative flexibility and originality (Alternative Uses Task), EC (attentional flexibility; Navon), and network connectivity (n = 18). Results from linear mixed-effects models show that stimulating FPCN followed by DMN (FPCNDMN) enhances creative flexibility, with greater improvements in individuals with higher baseline DMN-FPCN resting state functional connectivity (RSFC). For originality, FPCN-only and FPCNDMN TMS improve performance, with effects strongest in those with lower within-DMN RSFC. For EC, performance improves following all sessions that stimulate FPCN but decreases with DMN-only TMS. Lower within-FPCN RSFC predicts better performance following FPCN-only and FPCNDMN TMS. Data collection is ongoing, and future analyses will examine TMS effects on task-related network connectivity to test how individual variability in TMS-induced changes in network connectivity relate to performance. The present findings suggest that stimulating FPCN and DMN in sequence may boost creative performance, whereas stimulating FPCN and DMN may have opposing effects on EC (improving vs. impairing). Results highlight the likely importance of individual variability in network connectivity.