Our brains create highly individualized maps of the world around us. Not only does it represent complex relationships in language, for example, but even abstract sounds have different representations. This was shown by a team of scientists from FIAS together with colleagues from Mainz in a recent study. The “brain maps” for sounds and sentence structures are individual to each person and predict their creative abilities. This finding has implications for psychological research, the study of creativity in animals, and the study of artificial intelligence.

The world around us is represented in the network of our brains. But people sort impressions differently – and with varying efficiency. Studies show that we store words and complex language in specific “maps” in the brain. A joint research team from FIAS and the University of Mainz has now shown that this is also true for simpler structures. With the help of sound signals, i. e. “beeps”, they investigated this also for lower levels of perception.

At the Institute of Physiology at the University of Mainz, 148 subjects were played both challenging word pairs and simple tones and asked to rate their perceived similarity. The researchers at FIAS analyzed the resulting data in complex computational processes. “The similarities between simple auditory events and complex linguistic processes are greater than expected,” says FIAS PhD student Jonas Elpelt, describing his evaluations of how people sort sounds and words. Apparently, every brain has a personal “map structure” that spans all areas of the brain. This way of processing is an important and characteristic basis for creative thinking.

Recent studies suggest that this map structure reflects a person’s ability to make creative associations. Previously, this had only been shown for complex linguistic contexts. According to the new findings, even simple perceptions – such as simple beeps – could provide information about creative abilities. “Our results point to a common representational architecture for each individual that links perception and association across modalities and thus shapes creative thinking and behavior,” the authors write.

This could have implications for the simplification of experiments on creativity. In addition, this finding could be transferred and applied to animal behavior, since language skills are apparently not required to demonstrate the basis of creative behavior. To confirm this, data from behavioral experiments will also be supplemented by neural studies. The results could also be used to gain a deeper understanding of artificial intelligent systems and to enhance their human-inspired creativity.