Hippocampal amnesia disrupts creative thinking

Melissa C Duff; Jake Kurczek; Rachael Rubin; Neal J Cohen; Daniel Tranel

doi:10.1002/hipo.22208

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Hippocampal amnesia disrupts creative thinking

Journal article

Open access

Hippocampal amnesia disrupts creative thinking

Melissa C Duff, Jake Kurczek, Rachael Rubin, Neal J Cohen and Daniel Tranel

Hippocampus, Vol.23(12), pp.1143-1149

12/2013

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22208

PMCID: PMC4010315

PMID: 24123555

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http://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.22208View

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Abstract

Creativity requires the rapid combination and recombination of existing mental representations to create novel ideas and ways of thinking. The hippocampal system, through its interaction with neocortical storage sites, provides a relational database necessary for the creation, updating, maintenance, and juxtaposition of mental representations used in service of declarative memory. Given this functionality, we hypothesized that hippocampus would play a critical role in creative thinking. We examined creative thinking, as measured by verbal and figural forms of the torrance tests of creative thinking (TTCT), in a group of participants with hippocampal damage and severe declarative memory impairment as well as in a group of demographically matched healthy comparison participants. The patients with bilateral hippocampal damage performed significantly worse than comparison participants on both the verbal and figural portions of the TTCT. These findings suggest that hippocampus plays a role critical in creative thinking, adding to a growing body of work pointing to the diverse ways the hallmark processing features of hippocampus serve a variety of behaviors that require flexible cognition.

Neuropsychological Tests

Verbal Learning

Amnesia - complications

Cognition Disorders

Humans

Middle Aged

Female

Male

Hippocampus - pathology

Amnesia - pathology

Creativity

Details

Title: Subtitle: Hippocampal amnesia disrupts creative thinking
Creators: Melissa C Duff - Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Jake Kurczek
Rachael Rubin
Neal J Cohen
Daniel Tranel
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Hippocampus, Vol.23(12), pp.1143-1149
DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22208
PMID: 24123555
PMCID: PMC4010315
NLM abbreviation: Hippocampus
ISSN: 1050-9631
eISSN: 1098-1063
Publisher: United States
Grant note: R01 DC011755 / NIDCD NIH HHS P01 NS019632 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 MH062500 / NIMH NIH HHS P01 NS19632 / NINDS NIH HHS F32 DC008825 / NIDCD NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 12/2013
Academic Unit: Neurology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984002346302771

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