Brain Areas Subserving Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: An Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is a well-known and commonly used measure of creativity. However, the TTCT-induced creative hemodynamic brain activity is rarely revealed. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the neural correlates of creative thinking in the setting of a modified version of the figural TTCT adapted for an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. METHODS: We designed a blocked fMRI experiment. Twenty-five participants (11 males, 14 females, mean age 19.9±1.8) were asked to complete the partially presented line drawing of the figural TTCT (creative drawing imagery; creative). As a control condition, subjects were asked to keep tracking the line on the screen (line tracking; control). RESULTS: Compared to the control condition, creative condition revealed greater activation in the distributed and bilateral brain regions including the left anterior cingulate, bilateral frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital regions as shown in the previous creativity studies. CONCLUSIONS: The present revealed the neural basis underlying the figural TTCT using fMRI, providing an evidence of brain areas encompassing the figural TTCT. Considering the significance of a creativity test for dementia patients, the neural correlates of TTCT elucidated by this study may be valuable to evaluate the brain function of patients in the clinical field.

Factorial structure analysis of the Torrance Test with Portuguese students / Análise da estrutura fatorial dos Testes de Torrance em estudantes portugueses

In order to verify the factorial structures of the Torrance verbal and figural tests, two activities of each instrument were applied with 193 students from the 10th and 12th years of education in Portugal. We tried to demonstrate that the collinearity of the fluency and flexibility variables could create methodological artifacts that hinder the understanding of the internal structure underlying the test. The principal component analysis without control of collinearity indicated a solution composed of four basic factors that separeted activities. Controlling for collinearity, we found a new solution, which also contained four factors that, unlike the previous result, grouped variables with similar processes but of different activities. The verbal and figural content is also an important element in the factor structure. This new arrangement makes more sense with the theory that underlies the instruments separating the different processes and content which are being measured by the activities.

Com a finalidade de verificar a estrutura fatorial dos testes de Torrance, duas atividades verbais e duas figurais foram aplicadas em 193 estudantes do 10º e 12º ano do ensino secundário de Portugal. Tentou-se demonstrar que a colinearidade das variáveis fluência e flexibilidade podem criar artefatos metodológicos que dificultam o entendimento da estrutura interna subjacente ao teste. A análise fatorial dos componentes principais, sem controle da colinearidade, indicou uma solução composta por quatro fatores que separam basicamente as atividades. Controlando-se a colinearidade, encontrou-se uma nova solução, também composta por quatro fatores, que, diferentemente da anterior, organizou variáveis com processos semelhantes, mas de diferentes atividades. O tipo de conteúdo, verbal e figural, mostrou-se ainda um importante elemento na organização dos fatores. Esse novo arranjo fez mais sentido diante da teoria que embasa os instrumentos, ao separar os diferentes processos e conteúdos por eles avaliados.