Characterizing the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying creative thinking and individual differences in creative ability

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Remarkably little is known about the brain mechanisms underlying our capacity to engage in creative thinking. Novel experimental paradigms were devised to systematically investigate one critical facet of creative thinking - the process of conceptual expansion. Conceptual expansion is a vital process in the formation of new ideas and refers to our ability to broaden structural boundaries of acquired concepts. Following three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies and two event-related potentials (ERP) studies that were carried out so far to characterise the brain basis of creative thinking in normal populations, the current proposal seeks to investigate conceptual expansion from an applied perspective by contrasting highly creative individuals with averagely creative people in neurophysiological as well as behavioural studies. Together the studies will allow for the development of a novel neurocognitive framework within which to understand the phenomena of creative thinking.