The role of the default mode network in creativity

The brain’s default mode network (DMN) is increasingly recognized as key to creative thinking. Early work laid the foundations for this understanding, allowing us to indirectly infer the DMN’s importance for creative thinking through correlational studies. More recently, research has aimed at providing a mechanistic explanation of the relationship between DMN and creativity. Here, we outline current trends in neuroscientific research of creativity, emphasizing recent insights on the role of the DMN. We highlight four promising research directions for advancing our understanding of the DMN’s role in creativity: (1) its causal involvement in creative thinking processes, (2) its contribution to the processes of remote associative thinking and (3) to the processes of creative idea evaluation, and (4) its capacity to functionally integrate diverse information from distant brain regions. We explore possible future directions in these lines of research toward a mechanistic understanding of how the DMN supports creativity.