Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 46, Issue 3, 1 July 2009, Pages 854-862
NeuroImage

Brain correlates underlying creative thinking: EEG alpha activity in professional vs. novice dancers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.02.036Get rights and content

Abstract

Neuroscientific research on creativity has revealed valuable insights into possible brain correlates underlying this complex mental ability domain. However, most of the studies investigated brain activity during the performance of comparatively simple (verbal) type of tasks and the majority of studies focused on samples of the normal population. In this study we investigate EEG activity in professional dancers (n = 15) who have attained a high level of expertise in this domain. This group was compared with a group of novices (n = 17) who have only basic experience in dancing and completed no comprehensive training in this field. The EEG was recorded during performance of two different dancing imagery tasks which differed with respect to creative demands. In the first task participants were instructed to mentally perform a dance which should be as unique and original as possible (improvisation dance). In the waltz task they were asked to imagine dancing the waltz, a standard dance which involves a sequence of monotonous steps (lower creative demands). In addition, brain activity was also measured during performance of the Alternative Uses test. We observed evidence that during the generation of alternative uses professional dancers show stronger alpha synchronization in posterior parietal brain regions than novice dancers. During improvisation dance, professional dancers exhibited more right-hemispheric alpha synchronization than the group of novices did, while during imagining dancing the waltz no significant group differences emerged. The findings complement and extend existing findings on the relationship between EEG alpha activity and creative thinking.

Section snippets

Participants

Thirty-four participants took part in this study. Due to extensive EEG artifacts the data of two persons had to be excluded from further analyses. The remaining sample (n = 32) consisted of 15 professional dances (11 females; mean age = 26.93, SD = 6.41) and 17 novices (14 females; mean age = 23.94, SD = 3.67). The group of professional dancers has completed a comprehensive training in dance and has perennial professional experience in this domain; they all started dancing already in early childhood.

Behavioral results

There were no significant differences between professional dancers and novices with respect to age (p > 0.05) and state anxiety during the EEG recording session (p > 0.05). Moreover, we observed no significant group differences with respect to the broad Big Five personality dimensions. However, professional dancers tend (p = 0.053) to display higher scores on the personality dimension openness to new experiences which is seen in close relation to creativity (e.g. Feist, 1998, King et al., 1996). With

Discussion

In this study we investigated EEG alpha activity in professional dancers who have attained a high level of expertise in ballet or modern dance. The group of professional dancers was compared with a group of novices who has only basic experience in dancing and completed no comprehensive training in this domain. The EEG was recorded during the performance of two different dancing imagery tasks which considerably differed with respect to their creative demands. In the dance improvisation task they

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their large gratitude to Cornelia Rendl and Andreas Schirgi for organizing and conducting the EEG test sessions and for analyzing the EEG data with great engagement.

References (48)

  • JaušovecN. et al.

    EEG activity during the performance of complex mental problems

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (2000)
  • KingL.A. et al.

    Creativity and the Five-Factor model

    J. Res. Pers.

    (1996)
  • KlimeschW. et al.

    “Paradoxical” alpha synchronization in a memory task

    Cogn. Brain Res.

    (1999)
  • KlimeschW. et al.

    EEG alpha oscillations: the inhibition-timing hypothesis

    Brain Res. Rev.

    (2007)
  • KnyazevG.G.

    Motivation, emotion, and their inhibitory control mirrored in brain oscillations

    Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

    (2007)
  • KnyazevG.G. et al.

    Alpha synchronization and anxiety: implications for inhibition vs. alertness hypotheses

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (2006)
  • MartindaleC. et al.

    EEG alpha asymmetry and creativity

    Pers. Individ. Differ.

    (1984)
  • MartindaleC. et al.

    EEG differences as a function of creativity, stage of the creative process, and effort to be original

    Biol. Psychol.

    (1978)
  • NeubauerA.C. et al.

    Sensitivity of alpha band ERD/ERS to individual differences in cognition

  • PetscheH.

    Approaches to verbal, visual and musical creativity by EEG coherence analysis

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (1996)
  • PfurtschellerG. et al.

    Event-related synchronization (ERS) in the alpha band — an electrophysiological correlate of cortical idling: a review

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (1996)
  • RazumnikovaO.M.

    Creativity related cortex activity in the remote associates task

    Brain Res. Bull.

    (2007)
  • Von SteinA. et al.

    Different frequencies for different scales of cortical integration: from local gamma to long range alpha/theta synchronization

    Int. J. Psychophysiol.

    (2000)
  • BarronF. et al.

    Creativity, intelligence, and personality

    Annu. Rev. Psychol.

    (1981)
  • Cited by (266)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text