The role of metacognition in creative thinking is beyond doubt, but, so far, most research has focused on just one metacognitive subcomponent – monitoring, especially idea evaluation. Less is known about the role of metacognitive knowledge and control. Here, we present an extended theoretical conceptualization of creative metacognition that distinguishes metacognitive processes associated with pre-task, during-task, and post-task phases, followed by an empirical examination of this process-oriented approach based on an online study (N = 425). We examine effects of creative knowledge, monitoring (metacognitive feelings and discernment of others’ ideas), and control on creative performance and explore relationships with surface (creative self-concept) and core personality characteristics (openness, narcissism). Our findings indicate the involvement of various predicted metacognitive processes in creative ideation and thereby provide initial empirical support for the proposed model of creative metacognition.

Myths about creativity and neuroscience keep contributing to their vague public conception despite growing scientific understanding of these complex areas. This study examined the prevalence of known creativity and neuroscience myths across six culturally diverse countries and explored why some people believe in them more than others. Results revealed persistent, widespread biases in the public conception of creativity and neuroscience, such as attributing creative achievements to spontaneity and chance rather than persistence and expertise or approving the facilitating effects of learning styles. Firmer belief in creativity myths was related to lower education, stronger reliance on undependable sources, and personality traits reflecting the willingness to accept questionable notions and to rely on opinions of others. Believing in myths was also related to endorsing facts, reflecting a tendency to support scientific-sounding statements. The findings highlight the need for better communication of evidence-based knowledge.

The associative theory of creativity proposes that creative ability relies on the organization of semantic memory, yet the relationships between semantic memory structure and brain connectivity, in relation to creativity, remain poorly understood. Here, we explored the relationships between the network properties of individual semantic memory, patterns of functional brain connectivity, and real-life creativity. To this end, we acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging data while participants underwent a semantic relatedness judgment task. Participants’ relatedness ratings between word-pairs were used to estimate their individual semantic networks, whose network properties were significantly related to their real-life creativity. Using a connectome-based predictive modeling approach, we identified patterns of on-task functional connectivity that predicted creativity-related semantic memory network properties in novel individuals. Furthermore, the predicted semantic network properties partially mediated the relationship between functional connectivity and real-life creativity. These results provide new insights on how brain connectivity supports the associative mechanisms of creativity.

Recent work suggests that perceptual decoupling (i.e., eye behavior becoming less determined by the sensory environment) is responsible for eye behaviour changes between externally and internally directed cognition. In the current study we investigated perceptual decoupling effects on smooth pursuit eye movements elicited by simultaneous engagement in internal visual and arithmetic task under two workload conditions. The results of multilevel modelling showed that effects of perceptual decoupling were moderated by task type (higher for visual internal activity), workload (higher for high internal demands) and follow a characteristic time course relative to internal operations. The findings indicate that perceptual decoupling is a central mechanism underlying differences in eye behaviour between internally and externally directed cognition and shed light on relevant conditions of this effect.

The associative theory of creativity suggests that creativeabilities rely on the organization of semantic associations inmemory. Recent research has demonstrated that semanticnetwork methods allow testing this hypothesis. The aim of thecurrent study was to investigate the properties of semanticnetworks at the individual level, in relation to creative abilities.Semantic judgement ratings were used to estimate individualsemantic networks, whose topological properties measured byseveral graph metrics were correlated with individual creativityscores. We found a correlation between the theoretical semanticdistance of our stimuli and the relatedness ratings given by theparticipants, demonstrating the validity of our approach.Importantly, we found a close relationship between creativeabilities assessed by an achievement questionnaire and divergentthinking tasks and individual semantic network metrics,replicating and extending previous similar findings.

How creative ideas emerge remains unclear. We designed an associative fluency task based on polysemous words to explore the neurocognitive correlates of semantic search related to creativity. We distinguished two search components by assessing clustering and switching performance from participant’s responses. We related these components to creativity, executive abilities, and semantic memory structure explored via semantic networks, and identified their predictive functional brain connectivity patterns. Clustering correlated with divergent thinking, and relied on interactions between control, salience, and attentional networks. Switching correlated with the ability to combine remote associates, memory structure, and executive abilities, and was predicted by connectivity between and within the default, control, and salience networks. These results suggest that switching captures interactions between memory structure and control processes guiding the search, while clustering may capture controlled processes related to persistent search. These findings shed new light on the neurocognitive mechanisms of semantic search supporting creativity.