Differential predictions of various types of mind-wandering on creative thinking and the underlying neural mechanisms

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.1090

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (6): 1090-1112.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.1090

• Reports of Empirical Studies • Previous Articles Next Articles

Differential predictions of various types of mind-wandering on creative thinking and the underlying neural mechanisms

LI Yadan¹(), XIE Cong², ZHANG Jiyu¹, SU Jiahao¹

¹MOE Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an710062, China
²The School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China

Published:2026-06-25 Online:2026-04-28
Contact: LI Yadan E-mail:liyadan@snnu.edu.cn

Abstract

LI Yadan, XIE Cong, ZHANG Jiyu, SU Jiahao. (2026). Differential predictions of various types of mind-wandering on creative thinking and the underlying neural mechanisms. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(6), 1090-1112.

Figures/Tables 5

Figure 1. The mediating role of PCD between the static functional connectivity of the bilateral STG and creative idea generation. L: Left; R: Right; STG: Superior Temporal Gyrus; MTG: Middle Temporal Gyrus; SFG (FP): Frontal Pole; DLPFC: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; IFG: Inferior Frontal Gyrus.

Figure 2. The mediating role of PCD between the static functional connectivity of the left DLPFC and the right IFG and creative idea selection. L: Left; R: Right; STG: Superior Temporal Gyrus; MTG: Middle Temporal Gyrus; SFG (FP): Frontal Pole; DLPFC: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; IFG: Inferior Frontal Gyrus.

Figure 3. The mediating role of PCD in the relationship between the dynamic functional connectivity of the left MTG and SFG (FP) and creative idea generation. L: Left; R: Right; STG: Superior Temporal Gyrus; MTG: Middle Temporal Gyrus; SFG (FP): Frontal Pole; DLPFC: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; IFG: Inferior Frontal Gyrus.

Table 1 Regression of post-incubation creative thinking functional connectivity on MW-r

Predictors	IFG.L ? SMG.L			IFG.L ? IFG.R			DLPFC.R ? IFG.R^a
Predictors	Step1	Step2	Step3	Step1	Step2	Step3	Step1	Step2	Step3
Gender	?0.12	?0.05	?0.03	?0.33^*	?0.09	0.00	0.10	0.12	0.11
Age	?0.16	?0.05	?0.06	0.13	0.06	0.01	0.13	0.13	0.15
Pre		0.29^*	0.30^*		0.49^***	0.65^***		0.30^*	0.24
MW-r			?0.27^*	0.02		?0.45^***			0.29^*
R²	0.04	0.10	0.17	0.13	0.31	0.49	0.04	0.13	0.21
ΔR²	0.04	0.06	0.07	0.13	0.18	0.18	0.04	0.09	0.08
F	1.14	2.14	2.87^*	4.11^*	8.23^***	10.03^***	1.09	2.67	3.60^*
ΔF	1.14	4.02^*	4.65^*	0.47	14.5^***	13.9^***	1.09	5.64*	5.74^*

Figure 4. Predictive effect of MW-r on functional connectivity of post-incubation creative thinking. The lower panel shows the corresponding estimated marginal means. L: Left; R: Right; IFG: Inferior Frontal Gyrus; SMG: Supramarginal Gyrus; DLPFC: Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex; MW-r: Task-Related Mind Wandering; FC: Estimated functional connectivity.

Differential predictions of various types of mind-wandering on creative thinking and the underlying neural mechanisms

RichHTML

PDF (PC)

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

Figures/Tables 5

References

Related Articles 0

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments