Creative females have larger white matter structures: Evidence from a large sample study

Abstract

The importance of brain connectivity for creativity has been theoretically suggested and empirically demonstrated. Studies have shown sex differences in creativity measured by divergent thinking (CMDT) as well as sex differences in the structural correlates of CMDT. However, the relationships between regional white matter volume (rWMV) and CMDT and associated sex differences have never been directly investigated. In addition, structural studies have shown poor replicability and inaccuracy of multiple comparisons over the whole brain. To address these issues, we used the data from a large sample of healthy young adults (776 males and 560 females; mean age: 20.8 years, SD = 0.8). We investigated the relationship between CMDT and WMV using the newest version of voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We corrected for multiple comparisons over whole brain using the permutation-based method, which is known to be quite accurate and robust. Significant positive correlations between rWMV and CMDT scores were observed in widespread areas below the neocortex specifically in females. These associations with CMDT were not observed in analyses of fractional anisotropy using diffusion tensor imaging. Using rigorous methods, our findings further supported the importance of brain connectivity for creativity as well as its female-specific association. Hum Brain Mapp 38:414-430, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gender differences in parieto‐frontal brain functional connectivity correlates of creativity

“…In the male group, the ΔFC components correlated with CS were Our observation of a gender-based difference in CS-ΔFC is consistent with other studies reporting a gender-based difference in neuroimaging studies of the resting state (Filippi et al, 2013) as well as during cognitive tasks (Bell et al, 2006;Hill et al, 2014;Speck et al, 2000). Gender differences in both the structural and function neuroimaging correlates of creativity have also been reported (Abraham, 2016;Abraham et al, 2014;Ryman et al, 2014;Takeuchi et al, 2017aTakeuchi et al, , 2017b and such gender-based differences have also been observed in EEG studies (Fink & Neubauer, 2006;Razumnikova, 2004). Apart from suggesting that females and male TTCT creativity scores are mediated by different patterns of cortical networks, these findings also suggest that caution should be exercised in pooling male and female participants as such pooling will dilute significant gender differences.…”

“…We propose to test the abovementioned hypothesis separately in both a male and female group of participants. While the majority fMRI-based neuroimaging studies of creativity have reported results based on mixed gender groups (Beaty et al, 2014(Beaty et al, , 2015(Beaty et al, , 2016(Beaty et al, , 2018Gonen-Yaacovi et al, 2013;Jung et al, 2013;Kounios et al, 2008) and thus not designed to address possible gender effects, some structural and functional neuroimaging studies have reported significant gender differences in the neuroanatomical and activation correlates of creativity (Abraham, 2016;Abraham, Thybusch, Pieritz, & Hermann, 2014;Ryman et al, 2014;Takeuchi et al, 2017aTakeuchi et al, , 2017b. Such gender differences have also been reported in terms of structural connectivity (Ingalhalikar et al, 2014) as well as a range of cognitive tasks (AlRyalat, 2017;Bell, Willson, Wilman, Dave, & Silverstone, 2006;Cahill, 2006;Hill, Laird, & Robinson, 2014;Zaidi, 2010).…”

Neural substrates of self‐ and external‐preoccupation: A voxel‐based morphometry study

“…The present study is a part of an ongoing project to investigate associations among brain structure and activity, cognitive function, and aging. Recent work includes studies on VBM (Takeuchi et al, 2017a) and resting-state activity (Ikeda et al, 2017;Takeuchi, Taki, et al, 2017). Therefore, subjects in this study have received psychological tests and MRI scans aside from those described in the present report.…”

Driving the brain towards creativity and intelligence: A network control theory analysis

“…Only a few studies have examined how white matter structural connectivity relates to creative ability (Jung, Grazioplene, Caprihan, Chavez, & Haier, 2010; Jung et al, 2013; Ryman et al, 2014; Takeuchi et al, 2017; Takeuchi et al, 2010, 2011; Wu, Zhong, & Chen, 2016). Takeuchi et al (2010) conducted a diffusion tensor imaging study to examine the relation between white matter integrity (measured with fractional anisotropy) and creative ability.…”