2025 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 56-69
Creativity comprises two cognitive components: convergent and divergent. Although the neural basis of divergent thinking has been well-studied, evidence for convergent thinking is limited. To our knowledge, only a few studies have been conducted on the neural basis of each type of thinking using the same participants. Therefore, the present study was designed to test the hypothesis that convergent and divergent thinking are supported by di!erent neural mechanisms. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants were asked to perform tasks of creativity to induce convergent and divergent thinking. The Remote Association Task (RAT) and Alternative Uses Task (AUT) were used to measure convergent and divergent thinking, respectively. Neuroimaging results revealed that the insular and frontal cortices were activated during the convergent thinking task, suggesting that convergent thinking is a process with a high cognitive load and primarily requires executive functions. In contrast, in the divergent thinking task, the left hemisphere, which is the language-dominant hemisphere, was mainly activated, including the left precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, left parahippocampal gyrus, and left angular gyrus. Given that these regions are associated with autobiographical and episodic memories, it is likely that divergent thinking requires language-based long-term memory retrieval. These results suggest that the neural bases of convergent and divergent thinking di!er, supporting the hypothesis that each type of thinking is a distinct component of creativity. The present findings represent an important step toward systematically understanding human creativity and exploring ways to enhance it.
