Neural efficiency in creative decision-making: A sparse directed subnetwork in soccer experts revealed by fMRI

Creative choices often require quickly generating and evaluating possible actions under time pressure. However, it is still unclear whether creative continuation is expressed as a directed reconfiguration of whole-brain communication beyond undirected coupling or isolated regional responses. In this study, we identify directed, multiscale network signatures that separate creative from obvious action continuations in a naturalistic soccer decision task and measure how these patterns relate to creative decision skills. We estimated directed effective connectivity among 112 regions from whole-brain fMRI during Think (creative continuation) versus Video (obvious continuation) trials and tested condition effects using nonparametric permutation inference with family-wise error (FWE) control, and network organization was summarized using triad motifs and community structure, and related to Soccer Video Test scores (SVT). Twenty-two directed connections showed Think-Video differences at FWE α=0.05 in the 33 participants with usable data in both conditions. Think increased network description length (ρ=0.05: 6.20 vs 5.72; t₃₂=6.23; P_FWE=0.0001) and reduced feedforward-closure and convergent fan-in motifs (t₃₂=-4.59 and -4.66; P_FWE=0.0013). Across players, higher SVT scores predicted higher convergent fan-in motif counts (021U) (β=0.35 to 0.40; p=0.006 to 0.016; q≤0.047) and lower description length (β=-0.32 to -0.37;p=0.014 to 0.035; q≤0.047). Collectively, these findings demonstrate previously unresolved directed reweighting of local motifs and mesoscale organization during creative continuation, and provide a framework for mechanistic tests of creative expertise in real-world decisions.