Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Mindfulness Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly accepted that creative performance, especially divergent thinking, may depend on reduced activity within the default mode network (DMN), related to mind-wandering and autobiographic self-referential processing. However, the relationship between trait (resting-state) DMN activity and divergent thinking is controversial. Here, we test the relationship between resting-state DMN activity and divergent thinking in a group of mindfulness meditation practitioners. We build on our two previous reports, which have shown DMN activity to be related to resting-state log gamma (25–45 Hz) power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. Using the same cohort of participants (three mindfulness groups with increasing expertise, and controls, n = 12 each), we tested (1) divergent thinking scores (Flexibility and Fluency) using the Alternative Uses task and (2) correlation between Alternative Uses scores and DMN activity as measured by resting-state gamma power and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity. We found that both Fluency and Flexibility (1) were higher in the two long-term mindfulness groups (>1000 h) compared to short-term mindfulness practitioners and control participants and (2) negatively correlated with gamma inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (frontal-midline and posterior-midline connections). In addition, (3) Fluency was significantly correlated with mindfulness expertise. Together, these results show that long-term mindfulness meditators exhibit higher divergent thinking scores in correlation with their expertise and demonstrate a negative divergent thinking—resting-state DMN activity relationship, thus largely support a negative DMN-creativity connection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Reidler, J. S., Sepulcre, J., Poulin, R., & Buckner, R. L. (2010). Functional-anatomic fractionation of the brain’s default network. Neuron, 65(4), 550–562.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological Science. doi:10.1177/0956797612446024.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Wilkins, R. W., Jauk, E., Fink, A., Silvia, P. J., Hodges, D. A., Koschutnig, K., & Neubauer, A. C. (2014a). Creativity and the default network: a functional connectivity analysis of the creative brain at rest. Neuropsychologia, 64, 92–98.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Beaty, R. E., Silvia, P. J., Nusbaum, E. C., Jauk, E., & Benedek, M. (2014b). The roles of associative and executive processes in creative cognition. Memory & Cognition, 42(7), 1186–1197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Kaufman, S. B., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Default and executive network coupling supports creative idea production. Scientific Reports, 5(10964), 1–14. doi:10.1038/srep10964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Silvia, P. J., & Schacter, D. L. (2016). Creative cognition and brain network dynamics. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(2), 87–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bechtereva, N. P., Korotkov, A. D., Pakhomov, S., Roudas, M. S., Starchenko, M. G., & Medvedev, S. V. (2004). PET study of brain maintenance of verbal creative activity. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 53(1), 11–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Soussan, T. D., Glicksohn, J., Goldstein, A., Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Donchin, O. (2013). Into the square and out of the Box: the effects of Quadrato Motor Training on creativity and alpha coherence. PLoS One, 8(1), e55023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2010). Transforming meditative transcendence into trait: an electrophysiological approach. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2012). Mindfulness-induced changes in gamma band activity—implications for the default mode network, self-reference and attention. Clinical Neurophysiology, 123(4), 700–710.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Studying the default mode and its mindfulness-induced changes using EEG functional connectivity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5, 1–9. doi:10.1093/scan/nst153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., Harel, M., Hahamy, A., Arieli, A., & Malach, R. (2016). Alterations in task-induced activity and resting-state fluctuations in visual and DMN areas revealed in long-term meditators. NeuroImage, 135, 125–134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, J., & Petsche, H. (2005). Drawing on mind’s canvas: differences in cortical integration patterns between artists and non‐artists. Human Brain Mapping, 26(1), 1–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bressler, S. L., & Menon, V. (2010). Large-scale brain networks in cognition: emerging methods and principles. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(6), 277–290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(50), 20254–20259.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Buckner, R., Andrews-Hanna, J., & Schacter, D. L. (2008). The brain’s default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease. In A. Kingstone & B. Miller (Eds.), The year in cognitive neuroscience 2008. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Vol. 1124, pp. 1–38). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.

  • Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Fridlund, A. J. (1990). The skeletomotor system. In L. Tassinary (Ed.), Principles of psychophysiology (pp. 325–384). New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capurso, V., Fabbro, F., & Crescentini, C. (2013). Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2007). The creative-action theory of creativity. In P. Carruthers, S. Lawrence, & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind: foundations and the future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2011). Creative action in mind. Philosophical Psychology, 24(4), 437–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, A. C., Feng, W., Zhao, H., Yin, Y., & Wang, P. (2008). EEG default mode network in the human brain: spectral regional field powers. NeuroImage, 41(2), 561–574.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.-L., Ros, T., & Gruzelier, J. H. (2013). Dynamic changes of ICA-derived EEG functional connectivity in the resting state. Human Brain Mapping, 34(4), 852–868. doi:10.1002/hbm.21475.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chiesa, A., & Serretti, A. (2010). A systematic review of neurobiological and clinical features of mindfulness meditations. Psychological Medicine, 40(08), 1239–1252.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chrysikou, E. G., Hamilton, R. H., Coslett, H. B., Datta, A., Bikson, M., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2013). Noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation over the left prefrontal cortex facilitates cognitive flexibility in tool use. Cognitive Neuroscience, 4(2), 81–89.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L. S., Ozturk, A., & Hommel, B. (2012). Meditate to create: the impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 3(5), 1083.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L. S., Szapora, A., Lippelt, D., & Hommel, B. (2014). Prior meditation practice modulates performance and strategy use in convergent- and divergent-thinking problems. Mindfulness, 1–7. doi:10.1007/s12671-014-0352-9

  • Cowger, E. L., & Torrance, E. P. (1982). Further examination of the quality of changes in creative functioning resulting from meditation (Zazen) training. Creative Child and Adult Quarterly, 7(4), 211–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich, A. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of creativity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(6), 1011–1026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich, A., & Kanso, R. (2010). A review of EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies of creativity and insight. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 822–848.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ding, X., Tang, Y.-Y., Tang, R., & Posner, M. I. (2014). Improving creativity performance by short-term meditation. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 10(1), 9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Domino, G. (1977). Transcendental meditation and creativity: an empirical investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(3), 358–362.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2, 313–322.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ferree, T. C., Luu, P., Russell, G. S., & Tucker, D. M. (2001). Scalp electrode impedance, infection risk, and EEG data quality. Clinical Neurophysiology, 112(3), 536–544.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fingelkurts, A. A., Fingelkurts, A. A., Ermolaev, V. A., & Kaplan, A. Y. (2006). Stability, reliability and consistency of the compositions of brain oscillations. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 59(2), 116–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Florian, G., Andrew, C., & Pfurtscheller, G. (1998). Do changes in coherence always reflect changes in functional coupling? Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 106(1), 87–91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, M. D., Snyder, A. Z., Vincent, J. L., Corbetta, M., Van Essen, D. C., & Raichle, M. E. (2005). The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(27), 9673–9678.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, M. D., Corbetta, M., Snyder, A. Z., Vincent, J. L., & Raichle, M. E. (2006). Spontaneous neuronal activity distinguishes human dorsal and ventral attention systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 10046–10051.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, K. C., Nijeboer, S., Dixon, M. L., Floman, J. L., Ellamil, M., Rumak, S. P., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2014). Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 43, 48–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golland, Y., Bentin, S., Gelbard, H., Benjamini, Y., Heller, R., Nir, Y., Hasson, U., & Malach, R. (2007). Extrinsic and intrinsic systems in the posterior cortex of the human brain revealed during natural sensory stimulation. Cerebral Cortex, 17(4), 766–777.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gonen-Yaacovi, G., de Souza, L. C., Levy, R., Urbanski, M., Josse, G., & Volle, E. (2013). Rostral and caudal prefrontal contribution to creativity: a meta-analysis of functional imaging data. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 465.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J., Reiner, K., & Meiran, N. (2012). “Mind the trap”: mindfulness practice reduces cognitive rigidity. PLoS One, 7(5), e36206.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Guilford, J. P. (1968). Creativity, intelligence, and their educational implications. San Diego: Robert Knapp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmelech, T., & Malach, R. (2013). Neurocognitive biases and the patterns of spontaneous correlations in the human cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(12), 606–615.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harmelech, T., Preminger, S., Wertman, E., & Malach, R. (2013). The day-after effect: long term, Hebbian-like restructuring of resting-state fMRI patterns induced by a single epoch of cortical activation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(22), 9488–9497.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hasenkamp, W., & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 1–14. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honey, C. J., Sporns, O., Cammoun, L., Gigandet, X., Thiran, J.-P., Meuli, R., & Hagmann, P. (2009). Predicting human resting-state functional connectivity from structural connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(6), 2035–2040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horan, R. (2009). The neuropsychological connection between creativity and meditation. Creativity Research Journal, 21(2), 199–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaušovec, N., & Jaušovec, K. (2000). Differences in resting EEG related to ability. Brain Topography, 12(3), 229–240.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jung, R. E., Segall, J. M., Jeremy Bockholt, H., Flores, R. A., Smith, S. M., Chavez, R. S., & Haier, R. J. (2010). Neuroanatomy of creativity. Human Brain Mapping, 31(3), 398–409.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jung, R. E., Mead, B. S., Carrasco, J., & Flores, R. A. (2013). The structure of creative cognition in the human brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00330.

  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice, 10(2), 144–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleibeuker, S. W., Koolschijn, P. C., Jolles, D. D., De Dreu, C. K., & Crone, E. A. (2013). The neural coding of creative idea generation across adolescence and early adulthood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(905), 10.3389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kühn, S., Ritter, S. M., Müller, B. C., Baaren, R. B., Brass, M., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). The importance of the default mode network in creativity—a structural MRI study. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 48(2), 152–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laufs, H., Krakow, K., Sterzer, P., Eger, E., Beyerle, A., Salek-Haddadi, A., & Kleinschmidt, A. (2003). Electroencephalographic signatures of attentional and cognitive default modes in spontaneous brain activity fluctuations at rest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(19), 11053–11058.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Levy-Drori, S., & Henik, A. (2006). Concreteness and context availability in lexical decision tasks. The American Journal of Psychology, 45–65.

  • Limb, C. J., & Braun, A. R. (2008). Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: an FMRI study of jazz improvisation. PLoS One, 3(2), e1679.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lippelt, D. P., Hommel, B., & Colzato, L. S. (2014). Focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation: effects on attention, conflict monitoring, and creativity—a review. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01083

  • Liu, S., Chow, H. M., Xu, Y., Erkkinen, M. G., Swett, K. E., Eagle, M. W., Rizik-Baer, D. A., & Braun, A. R. (2012). Neural correlates of lyrical improvisation: an fMRI study of freestyle rap. Scientific Reports, 2, 834. doi:10.1038/srep00834.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(4), 163–169.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mantini, D., Perrucci, M. G., Del Gratta, C., Romani, G. L., & Corbetta, M. (2007). Electrophysiological signatures of resting state networks in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 13170–13175.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, C. (1971). Degeneration, disinhibition, and genius. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 7(2), 177–182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, C. (1977). Creativity, consciousness, and cortical arousal. Journal of Altered States of Consciousness, 3(1), 69–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, C., & Hasenfus, N. (1978). EEG differences as a function of creativity, stage of the creative process, and effort to be original. Biological Psychology, 6(3), 157–167.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martindale, C., & Mines, D. (1975). Creativity and cortical activation during creative, intellectual and EEG feedback tasks. Biological Psychology, 3(2), 91–100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Conde, S., Macknik, S. L., & Hubel, D. H. (2004). The role of fixational eye movements in visual perception. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(3), 229–240.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Menon, V., & Uddin, L. Q. (2010). Saliency, switching, attention and control: a network model of insula function. Brain Structure and Function, 214(5–6), 655–667.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, B. L., Cummings, J., Mishkin, F., Boone, K., Prince, F., Ponton, M., & Cotman, C. (1998). Emergence of artistic talent in frontotemporal dementia. Neurology, 51(4), 978–982.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mok, L. W. (2014). The interplay between spontaneous and controlled processing in creative cognition. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 28, 1–5. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00663.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mormann, F., Lehnertz, K., David, P., & Elger, C. (2000). Mean phase coherence as a measure for phase synchronization and its application to the EEG of epilepsy patients. Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 144, 358–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Haire, T. D., & Marcia, J. E. (1980). Some personality characteristics associated with Ananda Marga meditators. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 5(1), 447–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orme-Johnson, D. W., & Granieri, B. (1977). The effects of the age of enlightenment Governor Training Courses on field independence, creativity, intelligence and behavioral flexibility. Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program Collected Papers, 1, 103,713–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orme-Johnson, D. W., Clements, G., Haynes, C. T., & Badaoui, K. (1977). Higher states of consciousness: EEG coherence, creativity, and experiences of the sidhis. Scientific Research on Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program, Collected Papers, 1, 705–712.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pereda, E., Quiroga, R. Q., & Bhattacharya, J. (2005). Nonlinear multivariate analysis of neurophysiological signals. Progress in Neurobiology, 77(1–2), 1–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perrin, F., Pernier, J., Bertrand, O., & Echallier, J. F. (1989). Spherical splines for scalp potential and current density mapping. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 72(2), 184–187.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Petsche, H. (1996). Approaches to verbal, visual and musical creativity by EEG coherence analysis. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 24(1), 145–159.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Radel, R., Davranche, K., Fournier, M., & Dietrich, A. (2015). The role of (dis) inhibition in creativity: decreased inhibition improves idea generation. Cognition, 134, 110–120.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(2), 676–682.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Russ, S. W. (1998). Play, creativity, and adaptive functioning: implications for play interventions. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27(4), 469–480.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seeley, W. W., Menon, V., Schatzberg, A. F., Keller, J., Glover, G. H., Kenna, H., Reiss, A. L., & Greicius, M. D. (2007). Dissociable intrinsic connectivity networks for salience processing and executive control. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(9), 2349–2356.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Adler, N., Aharon-Peretz, J., Perry, D., & Mayseless, N. (2011). The origins of originality: the neural bases of creative thinking and originality. Neuropsychologia, 49(2), 178–185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smallwood, J., Brown, K., Baird, B., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Cooperation between the default mode network and the frontal-parietal network in the production of an internal train of thought. Brain Research, 1428, 60–70.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, S. M., Fox, P. T., Miller, K. L., Glahn, D. C., Fox, P. M., Mackay, C. E., & Laird, A. R. (2009). Correspondence of the brain’s functional architecture during activation and rest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(31), 13040–13045.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, A., Mitchell, J., Bossomaier, T., & Pallier, G. (2004). The creativity quotient: an objective scoring of ideational fluency. Creativity Research Journal, 16(4), 415–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spreng, R. N., Stevens, W. D., Chamberlain, J. P., Gilmore, A. W., & Schacter, D. L. (2010). Default network activity, coupled with the frontoparietal control network, supports goal-directed cognition. NeuroImage, 53(1), 303–317.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1993). Investing in creativity. Psychological Inquiry, 4(3), 229–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takeuchi, H., Taki, Y., Hashizume, H., Sassa, Y., Nagase, T., Nouchi, R., & Kawashima, R. (2011). Cerebral blood flow during rest associates with general intelligence and creativity. PLoS One, 6(9), e25532.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Takeuchi, H., Taki, Y., Hashizume, H., Sassa, Y., Nagase, T., Nouchi, R., & Kawashima, R. (2012). The association between resting functional connectivity and creativity. Cerebral Cortex, 22(12), 2921–2929.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, Y.-Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213–225.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasino, B., Fregona, S., Skrap, M., & Fabbro, F. (2012). Meditation-related activations are modulated by the practices needed to obtain it and by the expertise: an ALE meta-analysis study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6(346), 1–14. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00346.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varela, F. J., & Thompson, E. (2003). Neural synchrony and the unity of mind: a neurophenomenological perspective. In In A.Cleeremans (Ed.), The unity of consciousness; Binding, integration, and dissociation (pp. 266–287). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Vincent, J. L., Kahn, I., Snyder, A. Z., Raichle, M. E., & Buckner, R. L. (2008). Evidence for a frontoparietal control system revealed by intrinsic functional connectivity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 100(6), 3328–3342.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, D., Yang, J., Li, W., Wang, K., Zhang, Q., & Qiu, J. (2014). Increased resting functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in creativity by means of cognitive stimulation. Cortex, 51, 92–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitham, E. M., Pope, K. J., Fitzgibbon, S. P., Lewis, T., Clark, C. R., Loveless, S., Broberg, M., Wallace, A., DeLosAngeles, D., & Lillie, P. (2007). Scalp electrical recording during paralysis: quantitative evidence that EEG frequencies above 20 Hz are contaminated by EMG. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118(8), 1877–1888.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yuval-Greenberg, S., & Deouell, L. Y. (2009). The broadband-transient induced gamma-band response in scalp EEG reflects the execution of saccades. Brain Topography, 22(1), 3–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zabelina, D. L., Robinson, M. D., Ostafin, B. D., & Council, J. R. (2011). Manipulating mindfulness benefits creative elaboration at high levels of neuroticism. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 29(2), 243–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This paper is based on a thesis (first author), supervised by the second and fourth authors, submitted to Bar-Ilan University in partial fulfilment of the requirements toward a Ph.D. This work was supported by the Mind and Life Institute Francisco J. Varela Research Award 6546 to A. Berkovich-Ohana.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Aviva Berkovich-Ohana

  2. The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel

    Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Joseph Glicksohn, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan & Abraham Goldstein

  3. Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel

    Joseph Glicksohn

  4. Education and Didactics, Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, Research Institute for Neuroscience, Assisi, 06081, Italy

    Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan

  5. Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel

    Abraham Goldstein

Authors
  1. Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joseph Glicksohn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Abraham Goldstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aviva Berkovich-Ohana.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 39 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., Ben-Soussan, T.D. et al. Creativity Is Enhanced by Long-Term Mindfulness Training and Is Negatively Correlated with Trait Default-Mode-Related Low-Gamma Inter-Hemispheric Connectivity. Mindfulness 8, 717–727 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation