A large body of research has revealed that viewing example image stimuli tends to constrain creative idea generation. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying such visual fixation in creative cognition are unclear. In the present experiment, we explored whether example images impacted creative imagination and patterns of neural activity within brain regions associated with visual object recognition. Participants first viewed example images (ambiguous line drawings) accompanied by high-constraint and low-constraint labels. High-constraint labels resembled the line drawings, whereas low constraint labels did not. Next, participants imagined new labels for the same line drawings, with the initial labels removed. Consistent with our predictions, semantic distance analysis comparing cue labels to newly generated labels showed lower average semantic distance (i.e., less creative ideas) on high-constraint trials compared to low-constraint trials. Using representational similarity analysis, we also demonstrated that neural pattern similarity was anticorrelated (less similar) from object recognition to high-constraint imagination trials within the right inferior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and right superior occipital gyrus. Broadly, these findings suggest that salient visual examples may guide the formation of strong mental representations that constrain creative imagination. This research also offers a first step toward identifying neurocognitive signatures associated with the effortful process of producing new, creative ideas following exposure to fixating examples - particularly at the early level of object recognition/representation in the ventral visual stream.

Previous research indicates that episodic retrieval contributes to divergent creative thinking. However, this research has relied on standard laboratory tests of divergent creative thinking, such as generating creative uses for objects; it is unknown whether episodic retrieval also contributes to domain-specific forms of creativity. Here we start to explore whether episodic retrieval contributes to content generation on one such domain-specific task: creative writing. In two experiments, we use an episodic specificity induction (ESI) that selectively impacts tasks that draw on episodic retrieval. If episodic retrieval contributes to content generation during creative writing, then ESI should selectively increase the number of episodic details that people subsequently generate on a creative writing task. In our first experiment, we found evidence that ESI increased the number of episodic details participants generated. We observed a similar, though non-significant, trend in the second experiment. These findings constitute a starting point for examining the contribution of episodic retrieval to creative writing, but additional studies will be needed to more definitively characterize the nature and extent of these contributions.

Implicit learning refers to learning without conscious awareness of the content acquired. Theoretical frameworks of human cognition suggest that intuitions develop based on incomplete perceptions of regularity during implicit learning and, in turn, lead to the development of more explicit, consciously-accessible knowledge. Surprisingly, however, this putative information processing pathway (i.e., implicit learning. intuition. explicit knowledge) has yet to be empirically demonstrated. The present study investigated the relationship between implicit learning, intuitions, and explicit knowledge using a modified Serial Reaction Time Task. Results indicate that intuitions of implicitly-learned patterns emerge prior to the development of explicit knowledge. Moreover, intuition timing and accuracy were significantly associated with accuracy of explicit reports. We did not, however, find that stronger implicit learners developed more accurate intuitions. Our findings suggest a crucial role of intuition in the formation of explicit knowledge from implicit learning.

Analogy is a central component of human cognition. Analogical mapping of similarities between pieces of information present in our experiences supports cognitive and social development, classroom learning, and creative insights and innovation. To date, analogical mapping has primarily been studied within separate modalities of information (e.g., verbal analogies between words, visuo-spatial analogies between objects). However, human experience, in development and adulthood, includes highly variegated information (e.g., words, sounds, objects) received via multiple sensory and information-processing pathways (e.g., visual vs. auditory pathways). Whereas cross-modal correspondences (e.g., between pitch and height) have been observed, the correspondences were between individual items, rather than between relations. Thus, analogical mapping (characterized by second-order relations between relations) has not been directly tested as a basis for cross-modal correspondence. Here, we devised novel cross-modality analogical stimuli (lines-to-sounds, lines-to-words, words-to-sounds) that explicated second-order comparisons between relations. In four samples across three studies-participants demonstrated well-above-chance identification of cross-modal second-order relations, providing robust evidence of analogy across modalities. Further, performance across all analogy types was explained by a single factor, indicating a modality-general analogical ability (i.e., an analo-g factor). Analo-g explained performance overand-above fluid intelligence as well as verbal and spatial abilities, though a stronger relationship to verbal than visuo-spatial ability emerged, consistent with verbal/semantic contributions to analogy. The present data suggests novel questions about our ability to find/learn second-order relations among the diverse information sources that populate human experience, and about cross-modal human and AI analogical mapping in developmental, educational, and creative contexts.

The brain’s modular functional organization facilitates adaptability. Modularity has been linked with a wide range of cognitive abilities such as intelligence, memory, and learning. However, much of this work has (1) considered modularity while a participant is at rest rather than during tasks conditions and/or (2) relied primarily on lab-based cognitive assessments. Thus, the extent to which modularity can provide information about real-word behavior remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether functional modularity during resting-state and task-based fMRI was associated with academic learning (measured by GPA) and ability (measured by PSAT) in a large sample of high school students. Additional questions concerned the extent to which modularity differs between rest and task conditions, and across spatial scales. Results indicated that whole-brain modularity during task conditions was significantly associated with academic learning. In contrast to prior work, no such associations were observed for resting-state modularity. We further showed that differences in modularity between task conditions and resting-state varied across spatial scales. Taken together, the present findings inform how functional brain network modularity – during task conditions and while at rest – relate to a range of cognitive abilities.

Language production involves action sequencing to produce fluent speech in real time, placing a computational burden on working memory that leads to sequencing biases in production. Here we examine whether these biases extend beyond language to constrain one of the most complex human behaviors: music improvisation. Using a large corpus of improvised solos from eminent jazz musicians, we test for a production bias observed in language termed easy first-a tendency for more accessible sequences to occur at the beginning of a phrase, allowing incremental planning later in the same phrase. Our analysis shows consistent evidence of easy first in improvised music, with the beginning of musical phrases containing both more frequent and less complex sequences. The findings indicate that expert jazz musicians, known for spontaneous creative performance, reliably retrieve easily accessed melodic sequences before creating more complex sequences, suggesting that a domain-general sequencing system may support multiple forms of complex human behavior, from language production to music improvisation.

Creativity has long been conceptually linked to experiences of emotion and mind wandering, yet these empirical relationships remain unclear, and few studies have explored the thoughts and emotions of creative people in daily life. To investigate how creativity relates to everyday cognitive and affective experiences, the present study (N = 159) used experience sampling to examine how creative cognition (divergent thinking ability) and creative behavior (self-reported creative activity and achievement) measured in the lab may predict thought content, affective state, and the frequency of mind wandering (i.e., task-unrelated thought) in daily life. Additionally, we assessed in-the-moment thoughts and emotions predictive of thinking about a creative project in everyday life (i.e., creative project thought ). We found that each form of creativity was generally associated with positively-valenced experiences, such as having pleasant thoughts, enjoying one's everyday activities, and feeling motivated and inspired. We also found that positive, activating emotions (happy and energetic) were positively associated with divergent thinking ability and in-the-moment creative project thought. Furthermore, positive, deactivating emotions (relaxed and connected) negatively predicted momentary creative project thought-indicating that positive affect can be tied to less creative thinking, depending on the activation level of emotions. No relationship was found between daily-life mind wandering frequency and divergent thinking ability or creative behavior/achievement, suggesting that the overall amount of task-unrelated thought in everyday life is not related to individual creativity. Taken together, the present findings provide novel evidence on the everyday experiential correlates of creative thinking and behavior.