The contribution of the lesion approach to the neuroscience of creative cognition

Psychological and recent neuroimaging findings indicate that creativity relies on a balance between associative thinking likely supported by the default mode network and cognitive control processes sustained by control-related networks including frontoparietal regions. Exploring patients with brain lesions allows testing this model and ascertaining a more causal link between creative processes and brain systems. Results from the lesion approach provide arguments for the critical role of the default mode network and the frontoparietal control network for associative and controlled processes, respectively, and identify critical nodes within these networks. The few lesion studies that have been performed also suggest a functional specialization of several prefrontal regions for distinct creative processes. In the current review, we integrate the results of lesion studies with the findings emerging from both recent functional imaging and non-invasive brain stimulation studies, in an attempt to better understand the cognitive and brain mechanisms of creativity or the potential ways to improve this knowledge.