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33 - A Look Back at Pioneering Theories of the Creative Brain

from Part IV - Novel Combinatorial Forms of the Imagination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2020

By
Rex E. Jung
Edited by
Anna Abraham
Anna Abraham
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
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Summary

A few brave researchers ventured into the arena of creative cognition, with three in particular – Kenneth Heilman (2003), Arne Dietrich (2004), and Alice Flaherty (2005) – putting forth specific theoretical constructs amenable to empirical research. These theories emerged at the front end of a large body of neuroimaging research regarding brain correlates of creative cognition emerging in the early part of the twenty-first century. Hundreds of studies followed these pioneers’ thoughtful attempts to isolate creative capacity within brain structure and function. Two major questions are addressed: (1) How did their theories hold up in light of empirical data? (2) Do their theoretical constructs have implications for the nascent hypothesizing around imagination ability?

Keywords

CreativityintelligenceDefault Mode Network (DMN)Executive Control Network (ECN)neuroimagingbrain
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination , pp. 548 - 562
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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