Biology subjects

Kenett, Y. N.

Publications and source records attributed to Kenett, Y. N..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Lower engagement of cognitive control, attention, modulation networks and lower creativity in children while using ChatGPT: an fMRI study

Generative AI can scaffold idea generation, but how it engages control, attention, and memory systems in the developing versus mature brain, and how this relates to creativity, remains unclear. We compared 6-7-year-old (N = 15) children and adults (N = 16) during a naturalistic 5-minute co-creative dialogue with ChatGPT using the same prompt, in-scanner conversation, undergoing functional MRI scanning and their dialogues were recorded. Functional connectivity (Fishers z) was computed within and between seven large-scale networks: cingulo-opercular, default mode (DMN), memory retrieval, frontoparietal (FP), salience, ventral attention (VAN), and dorsal attention (DAN). Creativity scores, assessed outside of the scanner, did not differ between groups. Adults showed stronger within-network connectivity in control/attention systems, most robustly in FP, with additional effects in salience and DAN. Adults also exhibited greater cross-network integration, particularly FP-salience and FP-DAN couplings, alongside broader adult-greater effects among memory- and attention-related pairs. During a co-creative AI-assisted conversation, children exhibit a less coherent and integrated control-attention-memory architecture than adults. The combination of similar creativity scores with divergent neural profiles suggests that developmental differences in the implementation of creative cognition may be more pronounced than baseline capacity. Our findings highlight FP-centric pathways and their salience-gated interactions as candidate substrates by which creativity supports goal-directed co-creative dialogue with AI. HighlightsO_LIChildren demonstrate a lower within-network connectivity in the frontoparietal, salience, and dorsal attention systems while using ChatGPT compared to adults. C_LIO_LIReduced between-network integration in cognitive control and modulation networks (frontoparietal-salience and frontoparietal-dorsal) in children vs adults while using ChatGPT. C_LIO_LIIn adults, but not in children, higher creativity was associated with stronger connectivity within cognitive control networks. C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Neural Dynamics During the Generation and Evaluation of Creative and Non-Creative Ideas

What are the neural dynamics that drive creative thinking? Recent studies have provided much insight into the neural mechanisms of creative thought. Specifically, the interaction between the executive control, default mode, and salience brain networks has been shown to be an important marker of individual differences in creative ability. However, how these different brain systems might be recruited dynamically during the two key components of the creative process-- generation and evaluation of ideas--remains far from understood. In the current study we applied state-of-the-art network neuroscience methodologies to examine the neural dynamics related to the generation and evaluation of creative and non-creative ideas using a novel within-subjects design. Participants completed two functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions, taking place a week apart. In the first imaging session, participants generated either creative (alternative uses) or non-creative (common characteristics) responses to common objects. In the second imaging session, participants evaluated their own creative and non-creative responses to the same objects. Network neuroscience methods were applied to examine and directly compare reconfiguration, integration, and recruitment of brain networks during these four conditions. We found that generating creative ideas led to significantly higher network reconfiguration than generating non-creative ideas, whereas evaluating creative and non-creative ideas led to similar levels of network integration. Furthermore, we found that these differences were attributable to different dynamic patterns of neural activity across the executive control, default mode, and salience networks. This study is the first to show within-subject differences in neural dynamics related to generating and evaluating creative and non-creative ideas.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Simulated visual hallucinations in virtual reality enhance cognitive flexibility

Historically, psychedelic drugs are known to modulate cognitive flexibility, a central aspect of cognition permitting adaptation to changing environmental demands. Despite proof suggesting phenomenological similarities between artificially-induced and actual psychedelic altered perception, experimental evidence is still lacking about whether the former is also able to modulate cognitive flexibility. To address this, we measure participants cognitive flexibility through behavioral tasks after the exposure to virtual reality panoramic videos and their hallucinatory-like counterparts generated by the DeepDream algorithm. Results show that the estimated semantic network has a flexible structure when preceded by altered videos. Crucially, following the simulated psychedelic exposure, individuals also show an attenuated contribution of the automatic process and chaotic dynamics underlying the decision process. This suggests that simulated altered perceptual phenomenology enhances cognitive flexibility, presumably due to a reorganization in the cognitive dynamics that facilitates the exploration of uncommon decision strategies and inhibits automated choices.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2021

Brain connectivity-based prediction of real-life creativity is mediated by semantic memory structure

Creative cognition relies on the ability to form remote associations between concepts, which allows to generate novel ideas or solve new problems. Such an ability is related to the organization of semantic memory; yet whether real-life creative behavior relies on semantic memory organization and its neural substrates remains unclear. Therefore, this study explored associations between brain functional connectivity patterns, network properties of individual semantic memory, and real-life creativity. We acquired multi-echo functional MRI data while participants underwent a semantic relatedness judgment task. These ratings were used to estimate their individual semantic memory networks, whose properties significantly predicted their real-life creativity. Using a connectome-based predictive modeling approach, we identified patterns of task-based functional connectivity that predicted creativity-related semantic memory network properties. Furthermore, these properties mediated the relationship between functional connectivity and real-life creativity. These results provide new insights into how brain connectivity supports the associative mechanisms of creativity.

neuroscience↗