The human reward system encodes the subjective value of ideas during creative thinking

Abstract

Why do people have different opinions regarding who the best musical artist is? While neuroscience of creativity consensually defines creativity as producing something both original and adequate, how this is influenced by individual preferences remains unclear. Combining creative word-association and rating tasks, this study demonstrates that individuals assign subjective values to ideas, balancing originality and adequacy according to individual preferences and impacting their creative abilities. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging shows that subjective valuation is supported by the Brain Valuation System and that originality and adequacy are monitored via the Default Mode and the Executive Control Networks, respectively. Interestingly, the relative functional connectivity of the Default Mode and Executive Control Networks with the Brain Valuation System correlates with the relative balance of adequacy and originality in individuals' preferences. These results bridge a gap in the current literature by adding valuation to the incomplete behavioral and neural accounts of creativity, and offer perspectives on the influence of individual preferences on creative abilities.