Data_Sheet_1_High Phase Synchronization in Alpha Band Activity in Older Subjects With High Creativity.PDF

Despite growing evidence that high creativity leads to mental well-being in older individuals, the neurophysiological bases of creativity remain elusive. Creativity reportedly involves multiple brain areas and their functional interconnections. In particular, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to investigate the role of patterns of functional connectivity between the default network and other networks in creative activity. These interactions among networks play the role of integrating various neural processes to support creative activity and involve attention, cognitive control, and memory. The electroencephalogram (EEG) enables researchers to capture a pattern of band-specific functional connectivity, as well as moment-to-moment dynamics of brain activity; this can be accomplished even in the resting-state by exploiting the excellent temporal resolution of the EEG. Furthermore, the recent advent of functional connectivity analysis in EEG studies has focused on the phase-difference variable because of its fine spatio-temporal resolution. Therefore, we hypothesized that the combining method of EEG signals having high-temporal resolution and the phase synchronization analysis having high-spatio-temporal resolutions brings a new insight of functional connectivity regarding high creative activity of older participants. In this study, we examined the resting-state EEG signal in 20 healthy older participants and estimated functional connectivities using the phase lag index (PLI), which evaluates the phase synchronization of EEG signals. Individual creativity was assessed using the S-A creativity test in a separate session before the EEG recording. In the analysis of associations of EEG measures with the S-A test scores, the covariate effect of the intelligence quotient was evaluated. As a result, higher individual S-A scores were significantly associated with higher node degrees, defined as the average PLI of a node (electrode) across all links with the remaining nodes, across all nodes at the alpha band. A conventional power spectrum analysis revealed no significant association with S-A scores in any frequency band. Older participants with high creativity exhibited high functional connectivity even in the resting-state, irrespective of intelligence quotient, which supports the theory that creativity entails widespread brain connectivity. Thus, PLIs derived from EEG data may provide new insights into the relationship between functional connectivity and creativity in healthy older people.

尽管日益增多的证据表明高创造力有助于老年人心理健康，但创造力的神经生理基础仍难以捉摸。据称，创造力涉及多个大脑区域及其功能间的相互连接。特别是，功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）被用于研究在创造性活动中默认网络与其他网络之间功能连接模式的角色。这些网络间的相互作用发挥着整合各种神经过程以支持创造性活动的作用，并涉及注意力、认知控制和记忆。脑电图（EEG）使研究人员能够捕捉特定频段的功能连接模式，以及脑活动的一瞬间动态变化；这甚至可以在静息状态下通过利用EEG卓越的时间分辨率来实现。此外，由于相位差变量的精细时空分辨率，EEG研究中最近出现的功能连接分析已专注于这一变量。因此，我们假设将具有高时间分辨率的EEG信号与具有高时空分辨率的相位同步分析相结合，可以为老年参与者的创造性活动提供关于功能连接的新洞见。在本研究中，我们检查了20名健康老年人的静息态EEG信号，并使用相位滞后指数（PLI）估计了功能连接，PLI评估了EEG信号的相位同步性。个体创造力在EEG记录之前的一个单独会话中使用S-A创造力测试进行评估。在分析EEG测量值与S-A测试分数的相关性时，评估了智商的协变量效应。结果发现，较高的个体S-A分数与较高的节点度数显著相关，节点度数定义为节点（电极）在所有与剩余节点连接的平均PLI，在所有节点在α频带。传统的功率谱分析在任何频段均未显示出与S-A分数的显著关联。具有高创造力的老年人即使在静息状态下也表现出高功能连接，这与智商无关，这支持了创造力涉及广泛大脑连接的理论。因此，从EEG数据中得出的PLIs可能为健康老年人的功能连接与创造力之间的关系提供新的见解。