Exploring the role of working memory gate opening process in creativity: An ERP study using the reference-back paradigm

Biol Psychol. 2024 Feb 26:108765. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108765. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe investigated the relationship between the gate opening process of working memory and an individual's proficiency in divergent (DT) and convergent thinking (CT) using the reference-back paradigm. Event-related potentials and reaction times were measured across groups with varying DT (N = 40, 27.35 ± 5.05 years) and CT levels (N = 40, 27.88 ± 4.95 years). Based on the role of striatal dopamine in supporting cognitive flexibility, which facilitates DT, and considering the significance of phasic dopamine activity as the gate opening signal originating from the basal ganglia, we assumed that the gate opening process may contribute differently to DT and CT. Despite the absence of behavioural differences in gate opening costs, distinct neural patterns emerged. In the early time windows (P1, N1), gate opening effects were detected in both DT and CT groups, with a notable interaction influenced by the level of DT, resulting in significant effects within the lower DT group. The P2 component showed a gate opening effect only in the higher DT group. In the P3 time window, the process unfolded comparably in all groups. Our results suggest that groups with different levels of convergent thinking (based on Matrix reasoning) and those with lower DT (based on Creativity Index) tend to select and activate the prefrontal cortex representation containing the required task information at an ...

Source: Biological Psychology - February 28, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Petra Csizmadia Bogl árka Nagy Lili K ővári Zs ófia Anna Gaál Source Type: research