To test the role of episodic memory in future imagining and creative thinking, researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a noninvasive method, to disrupt neural activity in the brain's hippocampus, which is implicated in episodic memory; analysis of 18 participants, 19-26 years of age, revealed that individuals generated few details when imagining future events and produced few creative ideas following targeted TMS, and the decline in future imagining and creative thinking was linked to reduced activity in the hippocampus.
Article #20-03535: "Modulation of hippocampal brain networks produces changes in episodic simulation and divergent thinking," by Preston P. Thakral, Kevin P. Madore, Sarah E. Kalinowski, and Daniel L. Schacter.
MEDIA CONTACT: Preston P Thakral, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; tel: 617-347-2737; e-mail: prestonthakral@fas.harvard.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences