Brain Electrical Activity of Film Directors Engaging in Initiating Imagination: Comparisons between Different Levels of Creativity

Abstract

Creativity is necessary to be a successful film director. By using electroencephalography, the present study analysed differences in the brain electrical activity of film directors of different levels of creativity while initiating imagination. Thirty directors were recruited to participate in a three-stage experiment. On the basis of measurements collected using established scales, the top and bottom thirds of the participants were divided into high-creativity (HC) and low-creativity (LC) groups and for further neural comparison. The following results were obtained: (i) the brain activity of the film directors increased in the frontal and parietal regions compared to the baseline; (ii) the spectral power of the HC directors was generally higher than that of the LC directors; (iii) regarding the novelty indicator, the right temporal and right frontal regions of the HC directors were more activate than were those of the LC directors; and (iv) regarding the productivity indicator, all of the component regions of the HC directors were more activate than were those of the LC directors.