Beyond alpha-band: The neural correlate of creative thinking.

The compound nature of creativity entails the interplay of multiple cognitive processes, making it difficult to attribute creativity to a single neural signature. Divergent thinking paradigms, widely adopted to investigate creative production, have highlighted the key role of specific mental operations subserving creativity, such as inhibition of external stimuli, loose semantic associations, and mental imagery. Neurophysiological studies have typically shown a high alpha rhythm synchronization when individuals are engaged in creative ideation. Also, oculomotor activity and pupil diameter have been proposed as useful indicators of mental operations involved in such a thinking process. The goal of this study was to investigate whether beyond alpha-band activity other higher frequency bands, such as beta and gamma, may subserve divergent and convergent thinking and whether those could be associated with a different gaze bias and pupil response during ideas generation. Implementing a within-subjects design we collected behavioral measures, neural activity, gaze patterns, and pupil dilation while participants performed a revised version of the Alternative Uses Task, in which divergent thinking is contrasted to convergent thinking. As expected, participants took longer to generate creative ideas as compared to common ones. Interestingly, during divergent thinking participants displayed alpha synchronization along with beta and gamma desynchronization, more pronounced leftward gaze shift, and greater pupil dilation. During convergent thinking, an opposite pattern was observed: desynchronization in alpha and an increase in beta and gamma rhythm, along with a reduction of leftward gaze shift and greater pupil constriction. The present study uncovered specific neural dynamics and physiological patterns during idea generation, providing novel insight into the complex physiological signature of creative production.

Intraoperative parathyroid hormone testing in primary hyperparathyroidism surgery: time for giving up?

PURPOSE: Intraoperative PTH testing (IOPTH) in treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism (PH) is debated. Some authors advise against IOPTH in patients with concordant preoperative imaging undergoing focused parathyroidectomy. This study aims to compare focused parathyroidectomy success rates with and without IOPTH in patients with concordant preoperative imaging. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study involving 599 consecutive patients underwent surgery for PH from 2012 to 2017. Patients with discordant preoperative imaging were excluded. 426 patients underwent focused parathyroidectomy (214 patients without IOPTH and 212 with IOPTH) and were considered for the statistical analysis. In case of insufficient IOPTH decay (less than 50%), a bilateral exploration was carried out. RESULTS: The IOPTH group and the non-IOPTH group were similar for demographics and preoperative PTH and calcaemia. 413 patients were cured and disease persistence rates between groups were not significantly different (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Although further testing and randomized-controlled trials are required to validate our findings, our data show that IOPTH does not seem to improve the outcome in patients with concordant preoperative imaging undergoing focused parathyroidectomy.