Neural Dynamics During the Generation and Evaluation of Creative and Non-Creative Ideas.

What are the neural dynamics that drive creative thinking? Recent studies have provided much insight into the neural mechanisms of creative thought. Specifically, the interaction between the executive control, default mode, and salience brain networks has been shown to be an important marker of individual differences in creative ability. However, how these different brain systems might be recruited dynamically during the two key components of the creative process-generation and evaluation of ideas-remains far from understood.

Conceptual structure of emotions.

Theories of semantic organization have historically prioritized investigation of concrete concepts pertaining to inanimate objects and natural kinds. As a result, accounts of the conceptual representation of emotions have almost exclusively focused on their juxtaposition with concrete concepts. The present study aims to fill this gap by deriving a large set of normative feature data for emotion concepts and assessing similarities and differences between the featural representation of emotion, nonemotion abstract, and concrete concepts.

Large-scale network connectivity as a predictor of age: Evidence across the adult lifespan from the Cam-CAN data set.

Changes in brain connectivity patterns as a function of age have been recently proposed to underlie differences in cognitive abilities between young and older adults. These shifts track patterns of increased functional coupling between the executive control network (ECN)-a network of prefrontal and parietal areas that is broadly implicated in externally directed attention and cognitive control-and default mode network (DMN) regions-most commonly associated with internally directed cognitive activity. Although age-related changes in ECN-DMN coupling are well characterized, the contributions of the salience network are less clear.

Augmenting ideational fluency in a creativity task across multiple transcranial direct current stimulation montages.

Neuroimaging and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) research has revealed that generating novel ideas is associated with both reductions and increases in prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity, and engagement of posterior occipital cortex, among other regions. However, there is substantial variability in the robustness of these tDCS-induced effects due to heterogeneous sample sizes, different creativity measures, and methodological diversity in the application of tDCS across laboratories. To address these shortcomings, we used twelve different montages within a standardized tDCS protocol to investigate how altering activity in frontotemporal and occipital cortex impacts creative thinking.

Effects of unilateral tDCS over left prefrontal cortex on emotion regulation in depression: Evidence from concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common mood disorder and a primary cause of disability worldwide. MDD symptomatology entails disturbances in emotion regulation, namely one's ability to modify the intensity and duration of emotional reactions towards affective events. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a promising treatment for MDD.

Using neuroscience techniques to understand and improve design cognition.

Cognitive neuroscience research has traditionally focused on understanding the brain mechanisms that enable cognition by means of experimental laboratory tasks. With a budding literature, there is growing interest in the application of the related methods and findings to real-world settings. In this opinion paper we explore the potential and promise of employing current cognitive neuroscience methodologies in the field of design.

Differences in brain activity patterns during creative idea generation between eminent and non-eminent thinkers.

An influential model of the neural mechanisms of creative thought suggests that creativity is manifested in the joint contributions of the Default Mode Network (DMN; a set of regions in the medial PFC, lateral and medial parietal cortex, and the medial temporal lobes) and the executive networks within the dorsolateral PFC. Several empirical reports have offered support for this model by showing that complex interactions between these brain systems account for individual differences in creative performance. The present study examined whether the engagement of these regions in idea generation is modulated by one's eminence in a creativity-related field.

Safety analysis of work zone complexity with respect to driver characteristics - A simulator study employing performance and gaze measures.

Driving is a complex task that consists of several physical (motor-related) and physiological (biological changes within the body) processes occurring simultaneously. The complexity of the task depends on several factors, but this research focuses on work zone configurations and their effect on driver performance and gaze behavior. The increase in work zone fatalities in the United States between 2015 and 2018 coupled with the limited literature of driver behavior in these complex environments requires a more comprehensive study.

Differences in brain morphometry associated with creative performance in high- and average-creative achievers.

Nearly everyone has the ability for creative thought. Yet, certain individuals create works that propel their fields, challenge paradigms, and advance the world. What are the neurobiological factors that might underlie such prominent creative achievement? In this study, we focus on morphometric differences in brain structure between high creative achievers from diverse fields of expertise and a 'smart' comparison group of age-, intelligence-, and education-matched average creative achievers.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Prefrontal Cortex in Depression Modulates Cortical Excitability in Emotion Regulation Regions as Measured by Concurrent Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: An Exploratory Study.

Background: A well-established impaired top-down network for effortful emotion regulation (ER) in major depressive disorder (MDD) includes the dorsal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation method that has been used successfully to induce mood changes in MDD. Despite reliable findings, little is known regarding the precise effects of tDCS on cortical excitability in vivo in depression and how such changes relate to ER.

Emotion Regulation Flexibility: Gender Differences in Context Sensitivity and Repertoire.

Emotion regulation (ER) has been conceptualized as processes through which individuals modulate their emotions consciously and non-consciously to respond appropriately to environmental demands. Emotions can be regulated in many ways and specific strategies may have differing efficacy across situations and individuals. The importance of flexibility in implementing ER strategies has been highlighted in many current models.

Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Enhance Creative Cognition: Interactions between Task, Polarity, and Stimulation Site.

Creative cognition is frequently described as involving two primary processes, idea generation and idea selection. A growing body of research has used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to examine the neural mechanisms implicated in each of these processes. This literature has yielded a diverse set of findings that vary depending on the location and type (anodal, cathodal, or both) of electrical stimulation employed, as well as the task's reliance on idea generation or idea selection.

Functional Fixedness in Creative Thinking Tasks Depends on Stimulus Modality.

Pictorial examples during creative thinking tasks can lead participants to fixate on these examples and reproduce their elements even when yielding suboptimal creative products. Semantic memory research may illuminate the cognitive processes underlying this effect. Here, we examined whether pictures and words differentially influence access to semantic knowledge for object concepts depending on whether the task is close- or open-ended.

Attention to Distinct Goal-relevant Features Differentially Guides Semantic Knowledge Retrieval.

A critical aspect of conceptual knowledge is the selective activation of goal-relevant aspects of meaning. Although the contributions of ventrolateral prefrontal and posterior temporal areas to semantic cognition are well established, the precise role of posterior parietal cortex in semantic control remains unknown. Here, we examined whether this region modulates attention to goal-relevant features within semantic memory according to the same principles that determine the salience of task-relevant object properties during visual attention.

Motor experience influences object knowledge.

An object's perceived readiness-for-action (e.g., its size, the degree of rotation from its canonical position, the user's viewpoint) can influence semantic knowledge retrieval.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation over right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex alters decision making during approach-avoidance conflict.

Approach-avoidance conflict (AAC) refers to situations associated with both rewarding and threatening outcomes. The AAC task was developed to measure AAC decision-making. Approach behavior during this task has been linked to self-reported anxiety sensitivity and has elicited anterior cingulate, insula, caudate and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity, with right lateral PFC tracking the extent of approach behavior.

Correction: Neural Processing of Emotional Musical and Nonmusical Stimuli in Depression.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Corrigendum.

Chrysikou, E. G., & Thompson, W.

Assessing Cognitive and Affective Empathy Through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index: An Argument Against a Two-Factor Model.

One aspect of higher order social cognition is empathy, a psychological construct comprising a cognitive (recognizing emotions) and an affective (responding to emotions) component. The complex nature of empathy complicates the accurate measurement of these components. The most widely used measure of empathy is the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).

Coherence, causation, and the future of cognitive neuroscience research.

Nachev and Hacker's conceptual analysis of the neural antecedents of voluntary action underscores the real danger of ignoring the meta-theoretical apparatus of cognitive neuroscience research. In this response, we temper certain claims (e.g.

"Not in their right mind": the relation of psychopathology to the quantity and quality of creative thought.

The empirical link between psychopathology and creativity is often correlational and fraught with suspiciously causal interpretations. In this paper, we review research in favor of the position that certain forms of psychopathology that profoundly affect the neural substrates for rule-based thought (e.g.

A matched filter hypothesis for cognitive control.

The prefrontal cortex exerts top-down influences on several aspects of higher-order cognition by functioning as a filtering mechanism that biases bottom-up sensory information toward a response that is optimal in context. However, research also indicates that not all aspects of complex cognition benefit from prefrontal regulation. Here we review and synthesize this research with an emphasis on the domains of learning and creative cognition, and outline how the appropriate level of cognitive control in a given situation can vary depending on the organism's goals and the characteristics of the given task.