ArticlePloS one2010
Thinking outside a less intact box: thalamic dopamine D2 receptor densities are negatively related to psychometric creativity in healthy individuals.
Article in PloS one, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 131 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of the monoamine stabilizer (-)OSU6162 on cognitive function in alcohol dependence.Psychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Dopaminergic and Noradrenergic Contributions to Divergent and Convergent Creativity Task Performance, a Systematic Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Creative thinking and cognitive estimation in Parkinson's disease.Neurological research and practice · 2024Article
- Subcortical structures and visual divergent thinking: a resting-state functional MRI analysis.Brain structure & function · 2021Article
- Neuropsychopharmacological regulation of performance on creativity-related tasks.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2019Article
- Openness to experience predicts dopamine effects on divergent thinking.Personality neuroscience · 2019Article
- Long-term Chinese calligraphic handwriting training has a positive effect on brain network efficiency.PloS one · 2019Article
- The Link Between Creativity, Cognition, and Creative Drives and Underlying Neural Mechanisms.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2019Review
- Craving espresso: the dialetics in classifying caffeine as an abuse drug.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2018Review
- The effects of expected reward on creative problem solving.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2018Article
- Dopamine Modulates Option Generation for Behavior.Current biology : CB · 2018Article
- Access to the CNS: Biomarker Strategies for Dopaminergic Treatments.Pharmaceutical research · 2018Review
- Creativity Assessment in Subjects with Tourette Syndrome vs. Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Preliminary Study.Brain sciences · 2017Article
- Universal Connection through Art: Role of Mirror Neurons in Art Production and Reception.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Review
- Positive Traits in the Bipolar Spectrum: The Space between Madness and Genius.Molecular neuropsychiatry · 2017Review
- Ayahuasca enhances creative divergent thinking while decreasing conventional convergent thinking.Psychopharmacology · 2016Article
- Dopamine and the Creative Mind: Individual Differences in Creativity Are Predicted by Interactions between Dopamine Genes DAT and COMT.PloS one · 2016Article
- Looking for Creativity: Where Do We Look When We Look for New Ideas?Frontiers in psychology · 2016Review
- Article
- The associations among the dopamine D2 receptor Taq1, emotional intelligence, creative potential measured by divergent thinking, and motivational state and these associations' sex differences.Frontiers in psychology · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several lines of evidence support that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a role in creative thought and behavior. Here, we investigated the relationship between creative ability and dopamine D2 receptor expression in healthy individuals, with a focus on regions where aberrations in dopaminergic function have previously been associated with psychotic symptoms and a genetic liability to schizophrenia. Scores on divergent thinking tests (Inventiveness battery, Berliner Intelligenz Struktur Test) were correlated with regional D2 receptor densities, as measured by Positron Emission Tomography, and the radioligands [(11)C]raclopride and [(11)C]FLB 457. The results show a negative correlation between divergent thinking scores and D2 density in the thalamus, also when controlling for age and general cognitive ability. Hence, the results demonstrate that the D2 receptor system, and specifically thalamic function, is important for creative performance, and may be one crucial link between creativity and psychopathology. We suggest that decreased D2 receptor densities in the thalamus lower thalamic gating thresholds, thus increasing thalamocortical information flow. In healthy individuals, who do not suffer from the detrimental effects of psychiatric disease, this may increase performance on divergent thinking tests. In combination with the cognitive functions of higher order cortical networks, this could constitute a basis for the generative and selective processes that underlie real life creativity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.