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  • Review Article
  • Open Access
  • Published: 20 February 2017

The Neuroscience of Divergent Thinking

  • Mark A. Runco1 &
  • Sureyya Yoruk2 

Activitas Nervosa Superior volume 56, pages 1–16 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Creativity plays a role in innovation, development, and health. Recent research has used neuroscientific methods to study originality, novelty, insight, divergent thinking, and other processes related to creative mental activity. Findings indicate that both hemispheres are involved in divergent thinking, which is accompanied by both event-related increases and decreases in the neural activation. Divergent thinking seems to be associated with high neural activation in the central, temporal, and parietal regions, indications of semantic processing and re-combination of semantically related information. Most of the research in this area has been done in the last 10 years, and very likely refining and standardizing DT testing and scoring will lead to additional insights about creativity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saybrook University, San Francisco, USA

    Mark A. Runco

  2. University of Georgia, Athens, Greece

    Sureyya Yoruk

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  1. Mark A. Runco
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Correspondence to Mark A. Runco.

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Runco, M.A., Yoruk, S. The Neuroscience of Divergent Thinking. Act Nerv Super 56, 1–16 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03379602

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  • Received: 13 May 2014

  • Accepted: 24 May 2014

  • Published: 20 February 2017

  • Issue Date: March 2014

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03379602

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Key words

  • Consciousness
  • Creativity
  • Divergent Thinking
  • Neural Correlates
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