Structural Brain Correlates of Creative Personality: A Voxel-Based Morphometric Study

The current study explored the neuroanatomical basis of creative personality using the voxel-based morphometric (VBM) approach. The sample comprised two groups -- Creative (CR) group (professional creative artists) and matched controls with no demonstrated artistic creativity (NC) with 20 participants in each group, in the age range of 20-40 years, right-handed (screened using Edinburgh Handedness Inventory) and had minimum average intelligence (IQ > 90 on Raven's Progressive Matrices). Professional creative artists were selected using the creativity achievement questionnaire, creativity was assessed using the Wallach & Kogan test of creativity, and personality was administered using NEO-FFI. The result indicates that creative individuals have significantly higher openness to new experiences and it positively correlates with the right middle frontal gyrus. VBM analysis indicates increased gray matter volume in the inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus in the CR group, pointing toward the integration of cognitive and imaginative processes that might be implicated in creative personality.