The brain functional bases of field-dependent/field-independent cognitive styles and creative thinking

Cognitive styles refer to the habitualized behavior patterns of individuals in perceiving, learning, thinking, problem-solving, and interacting with others. They affect how individuals perceive the environment from which they receive information, how they organize and interpret this information, and how they use these explanations to guide their behavior. A concrete manifestation of individual creativity is creative thinking, and the core is divergent thinking, which refers to the production of diversified and huge output from a given information. Several studies have shown that cognitive styles have an important impact on an individuals’ creative thinking. Field dependence/independence (FDI) is the most common dimension in current studies, and most studies believe that field-independent (FI) individuals have higher creativity than field-dependent (FD) individuals. There are relatively few studies of the brain functional connection between FDI cognitive styles and creativity. In this study, we assessed FDI cognitive styles using the Embedded Figures Test and creative thinking using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking in a sample of 414 healthy college students. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to test the degree centrality (DC). First, the resting state brain image of each subject was scanned. Second, the DC was calculated and regressed with creative thinking. Finally, the mediating effect analysis was conducted on the brain regions obtained, FDI cognitive styles, and creative thinking. Behavioral results showed that cognitive styles are significantly correlated with originality, flexibility, fluency and the total score of creativity, which were consistent with the existing research conclusions. The fMRI results showed that creative thinking was positively related to the right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG), right anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), left superior temporal gyrus (lSTG), right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG), and left putamen. Importantly, the rACC and rMFG partially mediated the relationship between FDI cognitive styles and creative thinking. FI cognitive style may be associated with better inhibition of irrelevant information and cognitive flexibility, which may recruit the rACC and rMFG. This study hypothesizes that FDI cognitive styles may have a partial path to affect creative thinking through cognitive control. This means that FI individuals may have higher cognitive flexibility, better cognitive control, and greater ability to exclude irrelevant information and focus attention, thus perform better in creative thinking tests. Therefore, these findings offer new empirical evidence for a better understanding of the relationship between FDI cognitive styles and cognitive thinking. This study may have some useful implications; FDI cognitive styles may affect creative thinking through the brain areas of cognitive control. In the future, researchers could train individuals on their cognitive control ability and improve the brain functional connection, thus enhancing creative thinking scores.