1 Scientific RepoRts | 5:10894 | DOi: 10.1038/srep10894 www.nature.com/scientificreports pictionary-based fMRI paradigm to study the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and fgural creativity Manish saggar 1 , eve-Marie Quintin 1 , eliza Kienitz 1,2 , Nicholas t. Bott 1,2 , Zhaochun sun 1,7 , Wei-Chen Hong 3 , Yin-hsuan Chien 1,4 , Ning Liu 1 , Robert F. Dougherty 5 , Adam Royalty 6 , Grace Hawthorne 6 & Allan L. Reiss 1,8 A novel game-like and creativity-conducive fMRI paradigm is developed to assess the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and fgural creativity in healthy adults. Participants were engaged in the word-guessing game of pictionary tM , using an MR-safe drawing tablet and no explicit instructions to be “creative”. Using the primary contrast of drawing a given word versus drawing a control word (zigzag), we observed increased engagement of cerebellum, thalamus, left parietal cortex, right superior frontal, left prefrontal and paracingulate/cingulate regions, such that activation in the cingulate and left prefrontal cortices negatively infuenced task performance. Further, using parametric fMRI analysis, increasing subjective difculty ratings for drawing the word engaged higher activations in the left pre-frontal cortices, whereas higher expert-rated creative content in the drawings was associated with increased engagement of bilateral cerebellum. Altogether, our data suggest that cerebral-cerebellar interaction underlying implicit processing of mental representations has a facilitative efect on spontaneous improvisation and fgural creativity. Creativity – the ability to create novel but appropriate outcomes, is considered as the driving force behind all human progress. Given the wide import of creativity and its association with mental health across the life span 1,2 , it is quintessential to examine the neural networks associated with creative thinking so that novel interventions to foster creativity can be developed. Previously several neuroimaging studies of creativity have been conducted. However, these studies have produced varied fndings 3 , with little overlap 4 . Methodological issues might account for this variation, particularly, the inherent elusiveness of the creativity construct itself, diversity in assessments, and the wide range of experimental procedures currently employed 5,6 . Recent neuroimaging studies have devised new avenues for exploring the neural basis of applied creativity. For example, by comparing functional brain activation in artists with non-artists, research- ers examined the neural correlates of enhanced artistic creativity 7–9 . Similarly, the neural correlates of 1 center for interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, 401 Quarry Road, Stanford, cA 94305. 2 Pacifc Graduate School of Psychology- Stanford University Psy.D. consortium, 1791 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, cA 94304. 3 institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan. 4 Taipei City Hospital, Zhong-Xing Branch, No. 145, Datong Rd, 10341, Taipei, Taiwan. 5 Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Building 420, Stanford, CA 94305. 6 Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University, Building 550, 416 Escondido Mall, Stanford, CA 94305. 7 Brain and Language Lab, School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, 510420.China. 8 Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Road, Stanford, CA 94305. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.S. (email: saggar@stanford.edu) Received: 29 October 2014 Accepted: 22 April 2015 Published: 28 May 2015 opeN