Creativity Development in Adolescence: Insight from Behavior, Brain, and Training Studies

Creativity is a multifaceted construct that recruits different cognitive processes. Here, we summarize studies that show that creativity develops considerably during adolescence with different developmental trajectories for insight, verbal divergent thinking, and visuospatial divergent thinking. Next, these developmental time courses are mapped to changes in brain activity when individuals perform divergent thinking tasks. The findings point to an important role of the prefrontal cortex for generating novelty and complexity. Finally, the potentials and limitations of training creativity in adolescence are described. The findings are interpreted vis-à-vis the dynamic changes that occur during adolescence in brain development and behavioral control processes.