SynthesisHuman brain mapping2015
A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation.
Synthesis in Human brain mapping, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 242 citations in OpenAlex.
- Consistent neural evidence to support novelty and appropriateness processing for creative thinking: a coordinated meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation.Brain structure & function · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of fMRI studies related to mathematical creativity.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Uncovering neural distinctions and commodities between two creativity subsets: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies in divergent thinking and insight using activation likelihood estimation.Human brain mapping · 2022Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation.Human brain mapping · 2020Pooled it
- Deductive-reasoning brain networks: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of the neural signatures in deductive reasoning.Brain and behavior · 2020Pooled it
- Mapping the artistic brain: Common and distinct neural activations associated with musical, drawing, and literary creativity.Human brain mapping · 2020Pooled it
- Functional neuroimaging of visual creativity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain and behavior · 2016Pooled it
- Evaluating the impact of a short bout of stair-climbing on creative thinking in a between-subjects pretest posttest comparison study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Mediating role of cognition and social cognition on creativity among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls: Revisiting the Shared Vulnerability Model.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2020Trial
- The neurocognitive gains of diagnostic reasoning training using simulated interactive veterinary cases.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Nicotine withdrawal alters neural responses to psychosocial stress.Psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- A rostral prefrontal mediolateral gradient predicts creativity in frontotemporal dementia.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Are Creative People More Susceptible to False Memory? Evidence for Age- and Task-Related Differences.Creativity research journal · 2026Article
- Partial sleep deprivation with a 2-h time-in-bed may not change divergent thinking and insight problem solving in young males: a Bayesian analysis.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2026Article
- The impact of chronic heroin addiction on creative cognition: an EEG study based on divergent thinking.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Dopaminergic and Noradrenergic Contributions to Divergent and Convergent Creativity Task Performance, a Systematic Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Exploring cognitive effort and divergent thinking in metaphor translation using eye-tracking and EEG technology.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dynamic switching between brain networks predicts creative ability.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Are False Memory and Creative Thinking Mediated by Common Neural Substrates? An fMRI Meta-Analysis.Creativity research journal · 2025Article
- On the connection between creativity and aesthetics.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this study, an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was used to conduct a quantitative investigation of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking. Based on the ALE results, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showed that distributed brain regions were more active under divergent thinking tasks (DTTs) than those under control tasks, but a large portion of the brain regions were deactivated. The ALE results indicated that the brain networks of the creative idea generation in DTTs may be composed of the lateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex [such as the inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and precuneus (BA 7)], anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (BA 32), and several regions in the temporal cortex [such as the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 39), and left fusiform gyrus (BA 37)]. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46) was related to selecting the loosely and remotely associated concepts and organizing them into creative ideas, whereas the ACC (BA 32) was related to observing and forming distant semantic associations in performing DTTs. The posterior parietal cortex may be involved in the semantic information related to the retrieval and buffering of the formed creative ideas, and several regions in the temporal cortex may be related to the stored long-term memory. In addition, the ALE results of the structural studies showed that divergent thinking was related to the dopaminergic system (e.g., left caudate and claustrum). Based on the ALE results, both fMRI and structural MRI studies could uncover the neural basis of divergent thinking from different aspects (e.g., specific cognitive processing and stable individual difference of cognitive capability).
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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.