Temporal characteristics of frontoparietal control network related to inhibiting low creative ideas in creative tasks

In the present study, we hypothesized that the frontoparietal control network played important roles in effectively inhibiting the low creative ideas when performing the creative tasks. To test this hypothesis, the alternative uses task was used to obtain the creative score and the low-creative ideas ratio (LCIR), and the resting-state electroencephalogram (RS-EEG) microstates were used to measure the temporal characteristics of the frontoparietal control network. The results showed that the creative score plays moderating roles in the relationships between the LCIR and the parameters of the fourth microstate (MS4) which is generated from the frontoparietal control network. Specifically, for the individuals with higher creative score, the LCIR were negatively associated with the coverage rate of the MS4 and the possibilities of transitions between MS4 and MS1 (related to the semantic network), while the relationships were not observed for the individuals with lower creative score. Thus, we thought that the frontoparietal control network might be easier to sequentially activate the semantic network for the individuals with higher creative score, which make them more effectively inhibiting the low creative ideas under the creative tasks.