Beyond the uniform creative brain: Inter-individual variability in functional connectivity correlates with creativity

Creativity, characterized by the pursuit of uniqueness and novelty, highlights the importance of individual variability, which have been a key focus in cognitive and behavioral research on creativity. However, most studies on the neural basis of creativity have primarily focused on consistent patterns of brain activity across individuals, with little attention to the variability in brain function. In this study, inter-subject representational similarity analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between inter-individual variability in resting-state functional connectivity and creative ability. The results revealed significant positive correlations between individual variability in functional connectivity maps of multiple brain regions, including the superior frontal gyrus, orbital gyrus, precuneus, cingulate gyrus, and lateral occipital cortex, and variability in creative ability. Notably, both intra-network variability within the default mode network (DMN) and visual network, as well as inter-network variability among the DMN, visual, sensorimotor, dorsal attention, and fronto-parietal networks, were linked to the variability in creative ability. The variations in functional connectivity patterns effectively distinguished individuals with high creative ability from those with lower ability. By examining creativity from the perspective of individual variability, this study provides new insights into the neural mechanisms underlying creativity.