Cortical correlates of creative thinking assessed by the figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking is the most widely used form of creativity test. Although creativity assessed using the figural form of Torrance Test of Creative Thinking has been considered non-unidimensional, the structural correlates for each separable dimension have yet to be explored. The present study investigated the underlying cortical structure of separable dimensions for creativity using the figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. To this end, we recruited healthy young adults and conducted a regression analysis of the figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking scores of gray matter volume after factorizing the five subscales using exploratory factor analysis. As a result, two factors of the figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking were identified: (1) 'FO' factor consisting of fluency and originality and (2) 'RAS' factor consisting resistance to premature closure, abstractness of titles, and sophistication/elaboration. Subsequently, the FO factor showed a positive association with cerebral volumes in the parieto-temporal regions of the left angular gyrus and the right inferior parietal lobule, inferior and middle temporal, and parahippocampal gyri, which overlapped the default network. The RAS factor showed a positive correlation with the fronto-temporal regions including the bilateral temporal area, the left inferior parietal, and the right dorsolateral prefrontal regions representing the semantic control network. Our findings revealed the morphological substrates for the figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking depending on two creative dimensions. The implications of the results are discussed.