Neuronal mechanisms of creative solutions in complex environments

Starting from previous work on neuronal correlates underlying creativity, the proposed project aims at delineating neural mechanisms involved in the generation of creative solutions in more complex, real-life creativity tasks. We focus on the domain of sports (and particularly on soccer) as this field could be considered as worthwhile field to study behavior in a complex context (Memmert, 2011, p. 373), and it facilitates the investigation of creative performance in an ecologically valid way. For instance, in order to achieve original and successful solutions in soccer game situations, players need to base their decisions on all relevant information from their environments (positions or anticipated behavior of teammates and opponents, players emerging unexpectedly, etc.), and in order to select the most promising solution they continuously need to find a balance between actual stimulus constellation and task-relevant information stored in memory (e. g. inhibiting inappropriate solution approaches). Creative solutions in sport game situations thus appear to be strikingly similar to well- known concepts of creativity such as divergent and convergent modes of thinking, and they seem to require manifold attentional processes, domain-specific knowledge or memory-related demands processes that are known as important ingredients of creativity. This project will be conducted in close collaboration with Daniel Memmert from the German Sport University Cologne, a world-wide leading expert in research on cognitive mechanisms (including creativity) underlying behavior in complex environments and in different kind of sports. In a first step, we develop experimental tasks that allow the assessment of creativity-related demands involved in creative solutions in soccer game situations in the neuroscientific laboratory. Then, brain activity will be measured during the performance of soccer game situations in a sample of sport students, along with brain activity patterns in the classic AU task (a measure of creative thought in general), in order to ensure comparability with previous research. In doing so, we aim at extending our knowledge about potential brain mechanisms implicated in creativity.

This project investigated neural mechanisms involved in the imagination of creative solutions in soccer game situations. Successful solutions in soccer game situations are often original and surprising, suggesting that not only the technical and physical skills of the players, but also cognitive and creativity related functions are important factors in soccer. For example, soccer players need to focus their attention on critical conditions of the soccer scenario, to anticipate the behavior of other players (teammates, opponents), and in imagining creative moves they are required to search and retrieve task-relevant information from memory. In addition, they need to evaluate the efficacy and the appropriateness of the imagined move, along with the inhibition of obvious, conventional task solutions. Successful solutions in soccer game situations hence require various processes that are likewise seen in classic creativity task demands. The domain of sports (and especially soccer) might thus provide a promising field to study creativity in more real-life settings. This project was conducted in close collaboration with the German Sport University Cologne, involving leading experts in research on cognitive mechanisms (including creativity) underlying behavior in complex environments and in different kinds of sports. In several studies, electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was applied while hobby and amateur soccer players generated creative solutions in soccer decision-making situations. In these studies, brief video clips of naturalistic soccer decision- making situations were shown, and after the image was frozen they were asked to imagine themselves as the acting player of the attacking team and to think of creative/original moves that might lead to a goal. Findings revealed that the generation of creative solutions in naturalistic soccer decision-making situations recruits specific brain networks supporting neurocognitive processes such as visuospatial attention, motor imagery, or the processing and integration of somatosensory and sensorimotor information. Taken together, these neuroscientific findings complement and extend behavioral findings in this field, which highlight the particular role of cognitive processes (including creativity) for success in soccer performance.