Although the relationship between creativity and fluid intelligence has been studied extensively with divergent and convergent thinking tasks, the underlying neural mechanisms of this relationship are still under debate. As both have been associated to working memory (WM), the question arises if there are shared underlying mechanisms for creativity and fluid intelligence other than WM-related activity. The present study examined how creativity and fluid intelligence, as measured by the creative reasoning task (CRT) and Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), respectively, are characterized by modulations in the upper alpha band (10–12 Hz) and if they share common mechanisms beyond the requirement to maintain information in WM. Hence, we subtracted WM-related activity, measured within the same knowledge domain and by using highly comparable stimulus material, from both divergent and convergent thinking activity. Furthermore, to account for the temporal variability in the creative process, we investigated divergent and convergent thinking at early, intermediate and late stages. By introducing this methodological approach, we provide evidence for a higher fronto-parietal alpha synchronization in divergent relative to convergent thinking, especially towards the end of the thinking phase. Furthermore, we provide evidence that creativity and fluid intelligence share underlying mechanisms above and beyond task demands that rely on WM processes.

尽管创造力和流体智力之间的关系已经通过发散和收敛的思维任务进行了广泛的研究，但这种关系的潜在神经机制仍在争论中。由于两者都与工作记忆 (WM) 相关，因此出现的问题是，除了与 WM 相关的活动之外，是否存在共同的创造力和流体智力的潜在机制。本研究分别通过创造性推理任务 (CRT) 和 Raven 的高级渐进矩阵 (APM) 衡量创造力和流体智力如何以上 alpha 波段 (10-12 Hz) 的调制为特征，以及它们是否共享除了在 WM 中维护信息的要求之外的通用机制。因此，我们减去了与 WM 相关的活动，在同一知识领域内，通过使用高度可比的刺激材料，从发散和收敛的思维活动中测量。此外，为了解释创作过程中的时间可变性，我们研究了早期、中期和晚期阶段的发散和收敛思维。通过引入这种方法论方法，我们为发散思维相对于收敛思维具有更高的额顶阿尔法同步提供了证据，特别是在思维阶段结束时。此外，我们提供的证据表明，创造力和流体智能在依赖于 WM 过程的任务需求之外共享潜在机制。我们研究了早期、中期和晚期阶段的发散和收敛思维。通过引入这种方法论方法，我们为发散思维相对于收敛思维具有更高的额顶阿尔法同步提供了证据，特别是在思维阶段结束时。此外，我们提供的证据表明，创造力和流体智能在依赖于 WM 过程的任务需求之外共享潜在机制。我们研究了早期、中期和晚期阶段的发散和收敛思维。通过引入这种方法论方法，我们为发散思维相对于收敛思维具有更高的额顶阿尔法同步提供了证据，特别是在思维阶段结束时。此外，我们提供的证据表明，创造力和流体智能在依赖于 WM 过程的任务需求之外共享潜在机制。