Neurobiology of Creativity

The following chapter will review the current state of research into the relationship between creativity and neural processes. The review will begin with an overview of current conceptual formulations of creativity as a cognitive ability and the proposed role of inhibition in creative thought. The focus will then shift to more recent research on patterns of electrophysiological activity in the brain that have been found to be associated with creativity. Studies concerning EEG frequency, EEG coherence, EEG complexity and P300 evoked potentials will be discussed. The use of positron emmision tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the study of creativity will then be reviewed, with special emphasis on studies of verbal fluency and enhanced creativity in frontotemporal dementia. The review will finish with a discussion of hemispheric asymmetry in creativity, the comparison of data from a range of imaging modalities, and a discussion of the role of the personality trait Openness to Experience in the understanding of creativity.