Behavioral and Neurological Study of the Mechanisms of Creative Idea Production in Healthy Subjects
- Conditions
- Creativity
- Registration Number
- NCT06687642
- Lead Sponsor
- Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
- Brief Summary
Big or small, we face many challenges in our lives. In the process of solving them, one step is essential: we need ideas, and good ones. How do we find ideas, and how do we choose the best one? Finding ideas relies on our creativity, which is an essential part of our ability to promote change and solve problems. In cognitive sciences, it is generally accepted that creativity relies on a balance between associative and controlled processes. However, the neural basis of creativity is still poorly understood, and a consensus model of its neuro-cognitive mechanisms is lacking.
In CreaMap, I propose to exploit the analogy between "knowledge exploration in search of a creative idea" and "spatial navigation in search of a reward". I capitalize on my quadruple expertise in creativity, decision-making, computational modeling and neuroimaging to decipher the neuro-cognitive mechanisms involved in the production of creative ideas. My strategy is to use and adapt models of reinforcement learning. I will use behavioral experiments, neuroimaging (functional Magnetic Resonnance Imagery \[fMRI\]) and computational modeling. First, I will test the hypothesis that creativity is based on mental navigation through our knowledge. Second, I will test the hypothesis that creativity involves value-based decision-making to continue or stop mental navigation. Finally, I will develop a computational model that will provide explanations of the mechanisms underlying idea generation.
CreaMap thus proposes a new theoretical framework, but above all a mechanistic one. I anticipate two major impacts: establishing the empirical basis for a general theory of how we get ideas, and providing a tool for assessing creativity.
CreaMap consists of three circuits A, B and C, in which experiments 1 to 4 are performed.
* Circuit A comprises experiment 1 only, in which cognitive tests are carried out online, on a computer, with 660 participants. The experiment lasts approximately 1 hour.
* Circuit B includes experiments 1 to 4, in which cognitive tests are carried out on a computer at the Institut du Cerveau (ICM) PRISME Platform, with 440 participants (110 per experiment). Participants will come for a maximum of 3 hours.
* Circuit C includes experiments 1 to 4, in which cognitive tests are carried out in a fMRI, at the ICM's CENIR platform, with 200 participants (50 per experiment). Participants will come for a maximum of 3 hours.
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- NOT_YET_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 2090
- Age between 18 and 40 years old inclusive
- right-handed
- French mother tongue
- correct or corrected vision enabling instructions to be read on a computer screen
- enrolled in or benefiting from a social security scheme
- consent to participate in the study
- have a psychiatric or neurological disorder or progressive illness that interferes with the study tests
- being pregnant, parturient or breast-feeding
- declared chronic use of psychotropic substances or use on the day of the study visit and the previous day
- be deprived of liberty by judicial or administrative decision
- under guardianship, curatorship or safeguard of justice
- be in a period of exclusion from another research study
- have already participated in the CreaMap protocol
Additional exclusion criteria for circuit C (fMRI):
- have a metal implant (pacemaker, metal fragment injury, prosthesis, coil...)
- suffer from claustrophobia
- have a tattoo or permanent make-up near the head, or large and of black color
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Comparison between participant behavior and model - response Day 1 The responses provided by participants and by the model are compared
Comparison between participant behavior and model - choice Day 1 The choices selected by participants and by the model are compared
Comparison between participant behavior and model - time to response Day 1 The times to respond by participants and by the model are compared
Comparison between neural activity and model Day 1 The Blood-Oxygen-Level Dependent (BOLD) signal measured in participants and predicted by the model are compared
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Time to response during online behavioral experiment Day 1 The time to select a response by participants of Circuit A is measured
Onsite behavioral experiment - Response Day 1 The responses by participants of Circuit B are analyzed
Onsite behavioral experiment - Time to response Day 1 The time to select a response by participants of Circuit B is measured
Onsite behavioral experiment under MRI - Response Day 1 The responses by participants of Circuit C are analyzed
Behavioral experiment under MRI - Time to response Day 1 The time to select a response by participants of Circuit C is measured
Behavioral experiment under MRI - Neural activity Day 1 The BOLD signal is measured in participants of Circuit C
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Institut du Cerveau
🇫🇷Paris, Ile-de-France, France