Where in the brain is creativity: a brief account of a wild-goose chase

Abstract

The neuroscientific study of creativity is stuck and lost. Having perseverated on a paradigm — divergent thinking — that is theoretically incoherent, the field has neither produced intelligible data on the brain mechanisms of creativity nor developed alternative approaches to study the topic. This paper brings into sharp focus the three confounds — validity, false category formation, compound construct — that cripple this paradigm and shows how the use of in-vogue neuroscientific concepts — right brains, prefrontal cortex, default mode network, connectivity — might have contributed to the illusion of progress in the field. The paper concludes by putting forth five concrete steps towards a theoretical and conceptual restart: evolutionary algorithms, prediction system, dual-system view, Vaudeville conception, and valid subtypes of creativity. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd