Association, prediction, and engram cells in creative thinking

Creative thinking can be defined as a form of neural processing in the human brain that develops a novel and valuable unity between different or remote percepts or concepts. Recently, experimental studies have demonstrated that the connections made between engram cells or associative memory cells through synaptic plasticity are the neural substrates of memory. Considering the concept of cell assembly, which conjectures that a special group of neurons that connect together and fire simultaneously or sequentially is the neural basis for a percept, memory, or concept, we propose herein that when we acquire a new percept or learn a new concept, a group of new engram cells and their associated circuits will be formed in the brain. We postulate that creative thinking is a form of neurophysiological processing in which a new engram cell group encoding a novel design, concept, or idea arises through the formation of novel connections and/or modulates associations between already existing engram cell groups representing preexisting percepts, memories, or concepts. Aspects of associative and predictive processing are the key components of this proposed mechanism of creative thinking and memory formation.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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