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

我们对创造性思维能力背后的大脑机制所知甚少。新的实验范式被设计来系统地研究创造性思维的一个关键方面-概念扩展的过程。概念扩展是形成新思想的重要过程，是指我们扩大已习得概念的结构边界的能力。到目前为止，三项功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）研究和两项事件相关电位（ERP）研究已经完成，旨在描述正常人创造性思维的大脑基础。目前的提案试图从应用的角度来研究概念扩展，方法是在神经生理学和行为研究中对比高度创造性的个体和一般创造性的人。总之，这些研究将允许发展一个新的神经认知框架，在其中理解创造性思维的现象。

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.