Cognitive Science of Creativity
Despite its critical importance to society, the process by which creative ideas emerge remains elusive. To assess the creative quality of ideas, traditional approaches have largely relied on human ratings. In my first publication (Orwig et al., 2021, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience) my collaborators and I applied a novel semantic distance measure to automatically assess the novelty of ideas. Additionally, we analyzed functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to capture dynamic interactions between brain regions, identifying patterns of resting-state network connectivity associated with creativity.
Our analysis revealed a robust correlation between computational scores and human ratings of creative ideas, validating semantic distance assessments as a viable measure of creative performance. We applied voxel-level, graph theory analysis in resting-state fMRI data to describe individual differences in brain connectivity. Results show reduced connectivity of visual cortex associated with creativity, assessed via computational semantic distance and human ratings.
To replicate and extend these findings, we performed the same analysis in a cohort of creative experts. In this follow up study (Orwig et al., 2023, Network Neuroscience) we found that creative experts show reduced connectivity between primary visual cortex and the rest of the brain, compared to controls. Here, we further examined associations between functional brain connectivity and distal simulation, finding a negative association between distal simulation vividness and connectivity to the lateral visual cortex in creative experts.
Creative Writing in Humans & AI
Recent advances in artificial intelligence have raised important questions about whether large language models (LLMs) can replicate, and potentially surpass, aspects of human creativity. To investigate this, we conducted a series of behavioral studies to characterize salient features of creative writing and compare stories written by humans with those generated by AI (Orwig et al., 2024, Journal of Creative Behavior). Participants and LLMs were each prompted with three-word cues and asked to compose short stories elaborating on those cues. Across both human- and AI-generated narratives, we found that greater semantic diversity and the inclusion of more perceptual details predicted higher ratings of creativity. Notably, creativity ratings produced by AI were highly consistent with those made by human raters, and overall creative quality did not differ between human and AI stories. These results suggest that current LLMs can reproduce key dimensions of human creative expression, offering new insight into the cognitive and computational basis of storytelling and raising the possibility of future human-AI collaboration in creative domains. This finding was highlighted in a newsletter by the Harvard Brain Science Initiative.
While much of the creativity literature has focused on idea generation, far less is known about how people evaluate the value of novel ideas. Drawing on theories of episodic simulation, we propose that individuals deploy different cognitive strategies depending on the familiarity of an idea: relying on memory to evaluate typical uses and future simulation to evaluate novel ones (Orwig et al., 2024, Creativity Research Journal). Across two large online samples, participants evaluated typical and novel object-use ideas and reported the degree to which they relied on memory and imagination during evaluation. In both studies, typical ideas elicited stronger memory reliance, while novel ideas prompted greater reliance on imagination. These findings advance current models of creative cognition, highlighting how episodic processes support evaluative judgments and offering empirical support for emerging theories linking episodic memory to creativity.
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory
Current models of creativity have proposed a link between episodic memory and divergent thinking; however, little is known about the potential contributions of autobiographical memory to creative ideation. To provide a novel perspective on this issue, we assessed measures of creative thinking in a cohort (n = 14) of rare individuals showing Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). The HSAM cohort completed a battery of creativity measures (including the Alternative Uses Task and Remote Associates Task) showing no significant differences between the groups in relation to any creativity measures (Daviddi & Orwig et al., 2022, Memory). These findings suggest that the constructive episodic processes relevant to creative thinking are not enhanced in HSAM individuals, perhaps because they are compulsively and narrowly focused on consolidation and retrieval of autobiographical events.
In a follow-up study, we describe connectivity differences between HSAM and controls to examine the network architecture related to an enhanced form of autobiographical memory (Orwig et al., 2024, Cortex). Through the implementation of graph theory methods, we describe patterns of resting-state network topology associated with HSAM. Seed-based analyses revealed increased connectivity in HSAM from all of the core regions of the autobiographical memory network; additionally, the whole-brain approach identified widespread patterns of increased connectivity in the HSAM participants, particularly along cortical midline regions. Taken together, these results underscore the role of cortical midline structures in supporting autobiographical memory and illuminate the brain network organization that underlies this rare form of enhanced memory.
Mind Wandering & Creativity
Why do our best ideas often arrive when we’re zoning out in the shower or taking a walk? Mind wandering, generally defined as thoughts unrelated to the present task or environment, may hold the answer. In a recent study, we found that both intentional and unintentional forms of mind wandering were positively associated with creative thinking (Orwig et al., 2022, Creativity Research Journal). We identified distinct neural signatures for each sub-type: intentional mind wandering was linked to posterior default mode regions, while unintentional drifting involved more prefrontal activity. These findings offer new insight into the cognitive and neural foundations of intentional mind wandering, supporting the idea that letting the mind roam can fuel innovative thought. This research was cited in a New York Times article exploring the science behind everyday daydreaming—and why it might be more productive than we think.
