Table 2.
Summary of reviewed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies
| Study | Population | N | Mean age (SD) | Task | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aziz‐Zadeh et al. (2013) | Architects/architecture students | 13 (7 F) | 23.15 (3.36) | Creative: Generate nameable visual object from three presented shapes. Twenty trials. Control: Mentally rotate presented parts of shape. 20 trials. Task focus: None | Creative > Control: L SFG (BA 6/8); L IFG (BA 47); L lateral occipital gyrus (BA 39); L MTG (BA 22) Control > Creative: R posterior parietal (BA 40); R postcentral gyrus (BA 3); L postcentral gyrus (BA 2); R precuneus (BA 7); R inferior occipital gyrus (BA 18) |
| Ellamil et al. (2012) | Art and design students | 15 (9 F) | 22.14 (2.25) | Creative: (a) Generate: design and sketch book covers based on descriptions of documentaries(b) Evaluate: write/sketch evaluations of covers designed in Generate stageControl: trace linesTask focus: function | Generate > Evaluate: L IFG (BA 45); L cerebellum; bilateral: hippocampus, PHC (BA 36), premotor (BA 6); superior parietal (BA 7), IPL (BA 40), MTG (BA 19), fusiform gyrus (BA 37) Evaluate > Generate: ACC (BA 24/32); precuneus (BA 7); posterior cingulate (BA 23/31); L anterior insula; bilateral: SFG (BA 10); MFG (BA 9); IFG (BA 45, 47); SMA (BA 6); IPL (BA 39/40); superior parietal (BA 7); temporopolar (BA 38); MTG (BA 22); cuneus (BA 19); MOG (BA 18); lingual gyrus (BA 17); cerebellumPositive correlation self‐rated generation success and Generate > Evaluate activity in: bilateral PHC, IPL and premotor area. Positive correlation between self‐rated evaluation and Evaluate > Generate activity in: ACC, bilateral premotor area; LIFG; superior parietal lobe; fusiform; MTG; L cerebellum |
| Gilbert et al. (2010) | Adults with design experience | 18 (11 F) | 37 | Creative (Design): Ill‐structured design—design room layout to meet brief. (a) Study: read instructions, plan solution; (b) Perform: implement solution by moving furniture on screenControl (Problem solving): Well‐structured problem solving—arrange room layout. Study and perform phases as above. Task focus: Function | Across design and problem solving; Study > Perform: L and R vmPFC (BA 11); R DLPFC (BA 9, 46); R premotor (BA 6); R lateral temporal (BA 21); R lateral parietal (BA 40); R medial occipital cortex (BA 18). In R DLPFC ROI, greater activity for design versus problem solving during the study phase. Within regions showing Perform > Study activity, right thalamus showed greater activity during design versus problem solving. |
| Huang et al. (2013) | Healthy adults | 26 | 22 (1) | Creative: TTCT‐IF(a) Generate novel and interesting image (IN1); (b) Generate image, no emphasis on novelty (IN2) Task focus: Originality/fluency | IN2 > baseline: Bilateral postcentral gyri (BA 2/3); superior parietal lobule (BA 5/7); calcarine (BA 17, 18), lingual (BA 19), and fusiform gyri (BA 37); IPL (BA 39/40); IFG (BA 44/45/47); MFG (BA 9/46); hippocampus; insula (BA 13); precentral gyri (BA 6) L SFG (BA 6/8/10) IN1 > IN2 (small volume corrected): L MFG (BA 9); L IFG (BA 11/46/47); L precentral gyrus; R MOG (BA 18) IN2 > IN1: R MFG (BA 10/46); L IPL (BA 6) ROI analysis: IN1 > IN2 in L mPFC (BA 9); IN2 > IN1 in R mPFC (BA 9) |
| Kowatari et al. (2009) | “Experts”: Art and design students “Novices” (non‐Art and design students) | Experts: 20, 12 FNovices: 20, 12 F | Range: 20–28 | Creative (Design): Generate pen designs while looking at photos of pensControl: count number of pens presentedTask focus: function | Whole‐brain: no differences between experts and novices in design or control activity (vs. baseline); no differences between design and control tasks in experts or novices. ROIs in PFC and parietal cortex: R > L in experts but not novices. In experts, R versus L difference in PFC positively associated with originality of pen designs. |
| Park et al. (2015) | Healthy adults. High and low schizotypy (HS, LS) | 48 (31 F) | 23.42 (4.50) | Creative: TTCT‐IF. 10 trials. Control: Trace dotted line. 10 trials. Baseline: fixate on paperTask focus: Originality/fluency | Greater task‐related activation for Creative versus Control: L MFG (BA 6a); L ITG (BA 37a); R ITG (BA 20/37a); R angular gyrus (BA 7/19a) Reduced task‐related deactivation in creative versus control: L superior medial frontal gyrus (BA 6/8a); L insula (BA 13a); R IFG (BA 47a); R MOG (BA 19a); L IPL (BA 7a); L thalamus; R PHG (BA 19a) |
| Saggar et al. (2015) | Healthy adults | 30 (16 F) | 28.77 (5.54) | Creative: Draw visual representation of a given word on drawing tabletControl: Draw zigzag lines on drawing tabletTask focus: Function | Creative > Control: Bilateral paracingulate gyrus (BA 32); L MFG/SFG (BA 6); bilateral cerebellum; L LOC (BA 19); L superior parietal lobule (BA 7); L precuneus (BA 7); R MFG/SFG (BA 6); R IFG (BA 13/45) Control > Creative: R STG (BA 22/38/41); R medial frontal gyrus (BA 11); L parietal (BA 39); L MTG; L STGNegative correlation quality of drawings and activity in paracingulate gyrus cluster. Positive correlation increased subjective task difficulty and activity in: L MFG/precentral gyrus (BA 6/9/8); L IFG (BA 45). Increased activity associated with increased creativity ratings in: cerebellum; brain stem |
F, female; TTCT‐IF, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking—Incomplete Figures; L, left; R, right; ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; BA, Brodmann area; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus; ITG, inferior temporal gyrus; IPL, inferior parietal lobule; LOC, lateral occipital cortex; MFG, middle frontal gyrus; MOG, middle occipital gyrus; mPFC, middle prefrontal cortex; MTG, middle temporal gyrus; PHC, parahippocampal cortex; PHG, parahippocampal gyrus; SFG, superior frontal gyrus; SMA, supplementary motor area; vmPFC, ventromedial PFC.
Unless otherwise stated, “baseline” refers to fixation.
a
BA approximate, as not reported by Park et al. (2015) but estimated by LMP based on coordinates using Talairach Daemon.