1. Introduction
Creativity is the ability to re-experience mental representations and is the basis of intuitive thinking when constructing images prior to creating and executing an action plan [
1].
For creativity to manifest, it is necessary to analyze and interpret the available information on a given topic [
2] and feel the need to increase one’s knowledge (that is, be curious), starting with the interpretation of the stimuli received from the environment and a personal motivation to transform problems into results [
3].
Creativity includes originality in solving problems, breaking rules when necessary and meeting the expectations of the situation [
4]. Given all these statements, creativity should be conceptualized as a process that involves a variety of steps to generate novel and contextually appropriate ideas [
5,
6], and in this way, it can be conceived as the result of applying basic cognitive processes to existing knowledge structures [
7].
Starting with genetics, it has been shown that there is genetic influence on intelligence and that this influence extends to creative scientific achievements [
8,
9]. This suggests that creative work can be achieved through a variety of cognitive processes and through different cognitive strategies, which pose different demands on information processing depending on the domains of expression. Cognitive abilities, personality, interests and the probability of participating, enjoying and excelling in certain activities or domains are affected by both genetic composition and life experiences [
8].
Cognitive flexibility and persistence lead to creative achievements as they allow for free and fluid associative thinking between semantic concepts, enabling systematic, effortful and deep explorations of an issue [
8].
Therefore, creativity is the result of a dynamic interaction between various brain regions, networks and systems. The patterns of brain activity seen during creative problem solving depend largely on the problem-solving strategies used [
10] and in turn on the objective of the task. For instance, the lateral prefrontal cortex exerts top-down control on intended behavior, and the medial prefrontal cortex is activated to organize brain systems into automated processes [
8].
Creative performance can be associated with both increased and decreased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and other working memory regions, depending on the prerequisites of the task [
10].
It is known that the inferior prefrontal cortex, related to memory retrieval, executive processes and focused attention, plays a predominant role in divergent reasoning [
10,
11]. Divergent reasoning is as a central component of creative capacity, being understood as the production of original ideas to solve problems [
12] and implying fluidity of thought, ideas, flexibility and elaboration or complexity [
13].
Some studies have already found that damage to the ventromedial areas of the frontal lobe is associated with a low reactivity of the central nervous system [
14].
The integration of different cognitive components associated with the prefrontal cortex through the activation of synaptic networks that connect prefrontal areas with cortical and subcortical areas in order to process complex information gives rise to the decision-making process. Decision making consists of appropriately selecting response alternatives to complete a task or action plan or for problem resolution; it requires evaluating, initiating, supervising, monitoring and controlling the established plan [
15].
Controlling the plan to be executed implies pre-considering and prioritizing actions to carry out what is important. Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress inappropriate responses and allow other responses that could resolve a situation to continue [
16,
17].
Inhibitory control has been associated with the orbitofrontal cortex, as this region modulates anticipatory stimulation and immediate rewards [
15] and is aided by alpha brain wave activity [
18].
In decision making, the acceptance of limits and rules helps guide the generation of a variety of possibilities of how to direct intentional behavior [
19]. In this way, decision making is closely related to the ability to measure risk in a situation. Risk probability analysis is one of the variables evaluated in decision-making studies, as it is related to the anticipation of behavior [
15]. Risk–benefit analysis depends on the initial activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and involves the decision-making process mentioned above to select the best option without variance that will attain the result with the greatest benefits [
20,
21].
Inhibitory control, risk–benefit analysis and acceptance of limits and rules represent the basic components of the decision-making process since they prepare one for all possible scenarios [
15,
22].
In the context of students who are intellectually gifted, creativity is an essential characteristic that helps resolve difficulties when preparing projects [
23]. Despite extensive research on the cognitive components of creativity, further research on this topic is needed in the context of intelligence, as Stenberg et al. [
24] discuss.
Creativity is thought to be related to some orbitofrontal functions that govern decision making [
15,
22]. Inhibitory control is associated with the activity of the orbitofrontal cortex, which modulates anticipated stimuli and immediate rewards [
15], supported by alpha brain wave activity [
18].
Creativity has been described as a characteristic of gifted students, and some studies define creativity as divergent thinking [
25] that allows ideas and processes to be related creatively in order to find alternatives to solving a problem. Therefore, a question arises about the relationship between creativity and decision making in gifted students, which could help us to better understand the needs of students with intellectual giftedness.
This study takes Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent and Mexican regulations for identification [
26,
27] as the bases for identifying giftedness in students, in which the conceptualization of this term is proposed as the possession and use of untrained and spontaneously expressed natural abilities (called aptitudes or gifts) in at least one skill domain to a degree that places the child or adult at least in the top 15% of their age peers.
The aim of this research is to analyze the relationship between creativity and decision making in students with intellectual giftedness.
4. Discussion
The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between creativity and decision making in gifted students.
In this study, we present results on three relationships: verbal creativity and decision-making functions, graphic creativity and decision-making functions and general creativity and decision-making functions.
Moderate correlations were found between decision-making functions and both verbal and graphic creativity. Specifically, the results show moderate correlations between creative narrative flexibility with risk–benefit analysis in decision making, between creative narrative flexibility and the effectiveness of risk–benefit analysis in decision making and between shadow and color (as a measure of graphic creativity) and the effectiveness of the risk–benefit analysis in decision making in a gambling cards game. Few studies have focused on this topic, especially not on an intellectually gifted population.
After evaluating 113 university students using the Iowa Gambling task, Harada [
29] found that people with characteristic results of divergent thinking, also understood as creative thinking, tend to adopt more risky behaviors in the face of losses; he found a relationship between risk attitudes and creativity. In a subsequent study, Harada [
30] tested the effects of positive mood and risk taking on creativity using a rigorous computational approach and found that risk-taking behavior in the face of losses exhibited positive effects on divergent thinking. This finding suggests that risk taking contributed to driving exploratory behavior, which in turn facilitated divergent thinking as a determinant of creativity.
This study employs the principles of the Iowa Gambling task, included in the BANFE-2 [
22] battery, an instrument validated in the ages of our evaluated population, whose results reinforce the relationship between creativity and risk attitudes. This relationship is presented as the percentage that is deduced from the frequency of choosing stimuli that represent a higher score with a greater probability of loss.
On the other hand, looking at the results of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test based on the BANFE-2 [
22] sorting cards, we found normal levels for all intellectually gifted participants, that is, average levels of performance. These results differ from the results of Viana-Saenz [
31] who evaluated 30 children between 9 and 11 years old with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, using a free BCST version that is similar to the BANFE-2 [
22] sorting cards. In that study, statistical differences were found between gifted and talented children in terms of maintenance errors, which means that children with intellectual giftedness made fewer maintenance errors than talented children.
Sastré-Ribe [
32] examined 41 participants who were 13 years old. This study showed differences between the cognitive profiles of talented children and children with intellectual giftedness as evaluated using the Torrance Differential Aptitude and Creative Thinking Test. In this study, intellectually gifted participants’ decision-making results were similar to average levels of executive development; that is, higher scores were not found in the decision-making tests among intellectually gifted students.
Concerning graphic creativity and decision-making functions, we found a moderate negative correlation with inhibition effectiveness.
Benedek et al. [
33] examined the role of cognitive inhibition and intelligence in creativity and found a positive correlation between cognitive inhibition, assessed by the random motor generation task, with creativity. In this study, it was found that the cognitive control used to inhibit irrelevant responses seems to facilitate the fluid generation of new ideas on a topic, suppressing the proactive interference of previous responses. This result is compatible with the results of the present study, which found a correlation between both variables. However, in the current study a negative correlation was found that could explain the response to the underlying process in the Stroop-type tasks. In this way, our study coincides with that carried out by Sánchez-Macias et al. [
34], who found a negative correlation between creativity and verbal inhibition in their evaluation of high school students between 14 and 17 years old.
On the other hand, in this research, a correlation was found between an aspect of inhibition in the Stroop task (i.e., inhibition of effectiveness in the Stroop B BANFE-2 [
22] task) and some variables of graphic creativity but not of narrative creativity. Cipolotti et al. [
16] advocate for exhaustive cognitive evaluation, including executive functions, among which is decision making; they also state that fluid intelligence is part of a set of specific functions in cognitive estimation.
When considering the general scores, there was only a negative correlation between the general scores of graphic creativity and inhibition of effectiveness. Cipolotti et al. [
16] evaluated 30 adult patients with frontal lesions and 60 healthy adults and reported that the Stroop test is an executive task that represents a small component of fluid intelligence. Research is still needed regarding cognitive functioning, intelligence and creativity.
Benedek et al. [
35] evaluated 230 people with an average age of 23 years to examine the relative contributions of different executive functions to individual differences in fluid intelligence and creativity and to understand the structural relationship between intelligence and creativity. They found no correlation between fluid intelligence and creativity and did not find inhibition to be a predictor of fluid intelligence; however, they discovered that inhibition could predict creativity. This study is compatible with the results of the present study demonstrating the correlation between inhibition effectiveness and graphic creativity.
Some limitations of this study stem from its correlational nature, which demonstrates associations between variables without establishing causal relationships. Consequently, it is impossible to determine from this study alone which variable influences the other. Moreover, there may be additional unobserved variables (third variables) that could be intervening factors. These variables may encompass sociodemographic, socioemotional, biological and educational factors, among others.
The limitations of this study suggest future studies should be conducted with a larger sample size, a search for a biological marker (EEG, fMRI) to clarify the abovementioned processes, a case–control study and an evaluation of the adolescent population.
5. Conclusions
In conclusion, it was found that creativity in students with intellectual giftedness is favored by the relationship with orbitofrontal functions. In addition, it was found that analysis of risk situations and effective decision making increase narrative creation, whereas decreased inhibition allows creative graphic production.
Although this is an evaluation study, the results show the association between decision-making variables and creativity. This is a field that requires further research, including the adoption of other techniques such as neuroimaging. For now, our study shows that different aspects of creativity correlate with different aspects of orbitofrontal functions, including inhibitory behavior, analysis of risk situations and decision making.
It is important to make these results and associations known and to observe and try to understand, within their limitations, the creativity of children with high intellectual capacity and their behavior in school contexts. In addition, along with the accompaniment of an adult, such as the teacher, as a guide, and in an environment of respect and understanding, the need for graphic and/or narrative expression to aid in the inhibited expression of their behavior can be better understood.