tDCS Anodal Stimulation of the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Improves Creative Performance in Real-World Problem Solving

Abstract

Brain regions associated with creativity is a focal point in research related to the field of cognitive neuroscience. Previous studies have paid more attention to the role of activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in creativity tasks, which are mostly abstract conceptual tasks, and less attention to real-world creativity tasks. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in functions such as visuospatial processing, which may have a positive impact on innovative solutions to real-world problems. In this study, tDCS technology was used to explore the effect of anodal stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on design creativity performance in a real-word problem-solving task related to product design. The experimental task comprised three stages, of which the first two were idea generation stages based on divergent thinking using text and graphics, respectively, whereas the third was the creative evaluation stage based on convergent thinking. Thirty-six design students were recruited to partake in the experiment. They were randomly assigned into anodal stimulation and sham stimulation groups. The results showed that anodal stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex produced a significant positive effect during the creative evaluation stage, promoting the usefulness of ideas (p = 0.009); thus, improving product creativity scores. However, there was no significant impact on the idea generation stage (p > 0.05), which is dominated by divergent thinking. The results suggest that activating the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with tDCS can improve people’s performance in creative activities by promoting convergent thinking rather than divergent thinking. It also provides further evidence that the right hemisphere of the brain has an advantage in solving complex problems that require the participation of visuospatial information.

Metacognitive Strategy Training Improves Decision-Making Abilities in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

“… Vaidya and Fellows ( 2017 ) have also highlighted the significant role of frontal lobes in the identification of the decision options, and the construction of the options’ values (ventromedial and dorsomedial frontal lobe). In addition, anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been associated with an increase in analytical judgment and decision-making ( Edgcumbe et al 2019 ), and with creative problem-solving, by promoting convergent analytical thinking ( Guo et al 2023 ). Finally, analytical decision-making under risk performance has been associated with dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortices’ activity ( Gleichgerrcht et al 2010 ).…”

The Activity of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Promotes the Top–down Regulation of Sensorimotor Synchronization

“…Cognitive ability associated with creativity as craved by musicians is attributed to a concert of divergent and convergent thinking [22][23][24][25][26]. This would be linked to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), promoting self-referential processing [27] and responsible for divergent thinking [28], while the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is responsible for convergent thinking [29,30]. Further, creative thinking is accomplished via motor outcomes, regulated by the mPFC and presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA), part of the cortico-basal ganglia thalamo-cortical (CBGTC) motor control network [31][32][33][34].…”