Are False Memory and Creative Thinking Mediated by Common Neural Substrates? An fMRI Meta-Analysis

Episodic retrieval plays a functional-adaptive role in supporting divergent creative thinking, the ability to creatively combine different pieces of information. However, the same constructive memory process that provides this benefit can also lead to memory errors. Prior behavioral work has shown that there is a positive correlation between the false recognition of lure items in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, and divergent creative thinking as assessed on the alternate uses task (AUT). Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to test for convergence in the neural substrates associated with these cognitive linkages. Our individual meta-analyses of false recognition-related activity as well as divergent thinking-related neural activity replicated prior meta-analyses. However, there was no significant statistical overlap across the neural regions associated with false recognition and divergent creative thinking. These null findings may reflect the operation of distinct generative retrieval processes engaged during divergent thinking relative to false recognition.