Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between various brain regions is thought to be associated with creative abilities. Extensive research correlating RSFC with performance on creativity tasks has revealed some of the RSFC patterns characterizing 'the creative brain'. Yet, our understanding of the neurocognitive processes underlying creative thinking still remains limited. This limitation results, in part, from the fact that standard creativity tasks used in these studies do not distinguish between the different modes of cognitive processing that are critical in creative cognition (e.g., spontaneous cognition vs. controlled cognition). In the present fMRI research we address this limitation by using a chain free association task - a task that we have recently refined and validated for the purpose of isolating measures of spontaneous cognition that are relevant for creative thinking (referred to as associative fluency and associative flexibility). In our study, 27 female participants completed standardized creativity tasks, a chain free association task, and an fMRI scan in which RSFC was measured. Our results indicate that higher scores on associative fluency are associated with stronger positive RSFC within the default mode network (DMN; i.e., between DMN regions). Critically, we provide evidence that the previously-identified relationship between performance on creativity tasks and connectivity within the DMN is partially mediated by associative fluency. Thus, our observations suggest that the heightened DMN connectivity observed in 'the creative brain' can be explained, at least to some extent, by spontaneous cognition. Overall, our study identifies unique RSFC patterns that are related specifically to spontaneous cognitive processes involved in creative ideation, thus shedding new light on mechanisms of creative processing.

中文翻译：

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自发认知及其与人类创造力的关系：一项涉及无链关联任务的功能连接研究

不同大脑区域之间的静息状态功能连接 (RSFC) 被认为与创造能力有关。将 RSFC 与创造力任务的表现相关联的广泛研究揭示了一些表征“创造性大脑”的 RSFC 模式。然而，我们对创造性思维背后的神经认知过程的理解仍然有限。这种限制部分是由于这些研究中使用的标准创造力任务没有区分对创造性认知至关重要的不同认知加工模式（例如，自发认知与受控认知）这一事实。在目前的 fMRI 研究中，我们通过使用无链关联任务来解决这一限制——我们最近对这项任务进行了改进和验证，目的是隔离与创造性思维相关的自发认知措施（称为联想流畅性和联想灵活性） ）。在我们的研究中，27 名女性参与者完成了标准化的创造力任务、无链联想任务和测量 RSFC 的 fMRI 扫描。我们的结果表明，在默认模式网络（DMN；即，DMN 区域之间）内，较高的联想流畅度分数与更强的正 RSFC 相关。至关重要的是，我们提供的证据表明，先前确定的创造力任务的表现与 DMN 内的连通性之间的关系部分是由联想流畅性介导的。因此，我们的观察表明，在“创造性大脑”中观察到的增强的 DMN 连接至少在某种程度上可以通过自发认知来解释。总体而言，我们的研究确定了独特的 RSFC 模式，这些模式与创造性思维中涉及的自发认知过程特别相关，从而为创造性处理机制提供了新的思路。