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      EEG alpha power and creative ideation

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          Highlights

          ► EEG Alpha activity is sensitive to different creativity-related demands. ► Creativity is associated with alpha increases at frontal and right parietal sites. ► Alpha increases during creative cognition reflect internal processing demands.

          Abstract

          Neuroscientific studies revealed first insights into neural mechanisms underlying creativity, but existing findings are highly variegated and often inconsistent. Despite the disappointing picture on the neuroscience of creativity drawn in recent reviews, there appears to be robust evidence that EEG alpha power is particularly sensitive to various creativity-related demands involved in creative ideation. Alpha power varies as a function of creativity-related task demands and the originality of ideas, is positively related to an individuals’ creativity level, and has been observed to increase as a result of creativity interventions. Alpha increases during creative ideation could reflect more internally oriented attention that is characterized by the absence of external bottom-up stimulation and, thus, a form of top-down activity. Moreover, they could indicate the involvement of specific memory processes such as the efficient (re-)combination of unrelated semantic information. We conclude that increased alpha power during creative ideation is among the most consistent findings in neuroscientific research on creativity and discuss possible future directions to better understand the manifold brain mechanisms involved in creativity.

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          Most cited references177

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          The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance.

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            Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain.

            We review evidence for partially segregated networks of brain areas that carry out different attentional functions. One system, which includes parts of the intraparietal cortex and superior frontal cortex, is involved in preparing and applying goal-directed (top-down) selection for stimuli and responses. This system is also modulated by the detection of stimuli. The other system, which includes the temporoparietal cortex and inferior frontal cortex, and is largely lateralized to the right hemisphere, is not involved in top-down selection. Instead, this system is specialized for the detection of behaviourally relevant stimuli, particularly when they are salient or unexpected. This ventral frontoparietal network works as a 'circuit breaker' for the dorsal system, directing attention to salient events. Both attentional systems interact during normal vision, and both are disrupted in unilateral spatial neglect.
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              EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis.

              Evidence is presented that EEG oscillations in the alpha and theta band reflect cognitive and memory performance in particular. Good performance is related to two types of EEG phenomena (i) a tonic increase in alpha but a decrease in theta power, and (ii) a large phasic (event-related) decrease in alpha but increase in theta, depending on the type of memory demands. Because alpha frequency shows large interindividual differences which are related to age and memory performance, this double dissociation between alpha vs. theta and tonic vs. phasic changes can be observed only if fixed frequency bands are abandoned. It is suggested to adjust the frequency windows of alpha and theta for each subject by using individual alpha frequency as an anchor point. Based on this procedure, a consistent interpretation of a variety of findings is made possible. As an example, in a similar way as brain volume does, upper alpha power increases (but theta power decreases) from early childhood to adulthood, whereas the opposite holds true for the late part of the lifespan. Alpha power is lowered and theta power enhanced in subjects with a variety of different neurological disorders. Furthermore, after sustained wakefulness and during the transition from waking to sleeping when the ability to respond to external stimuli ceases, upper alpha power decreases, whereas theta increases. Event-related changes indicate that the extent of upper alpha desynchronization is positively correlated with (semantic) long-term memory performance, whereas theta synchronization is positively correlated with the ability to encode new information. The reviewed findings are interpreted on the basis of brain oscillations. It is suggested that the encoding of new information is reflected by theta oscillations in hippocampo-cortical feedback loops, whereas search and retrieval processes in (semantic) long-term memory are reflected by upper alpha oscillations in thalamo-cortical feedback loops. Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Neurosci Biobehav Rev
                Neurosci Biobehav Rev
                Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
                Pergamon Press
                0149-7634
                1873-7528
                1 July 2014
                July 2014
                : 44
                : 100
                : 111-123
                Affiliations
                Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author at: University of Graz, Institute of Psychology, Biological Psychology Section, Universitaetsplatz 2/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria. Tel.: +43 316 380 8482. andreas.fink@ 123456uni-graz.at
                Article
                S0149-7634(12)00211-4
                10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.12.002
                4020761
                23246442
                90be44d2-62d5-43d4-967e-f192399e15e3
                © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

                This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

                History
                : 14 January 2012
                : 29 November 2012
                : 4 December 2012
                Categories
                Review

                Neurosciences
                eeg,erd,ers,synchronization,alpha,creativity,divergent thinking,internal attention,top-down control
                Neurosciences
                eeg, erd, ers, synchronization, alpha, creativity, divergent thinking, internal attention, top-down control

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