The Effect of Mindfulness Training on Creativity in Healthy Subjects: A Pilot EEG Study

Many studies have investigated the relationship between mindfulness and creativity; however, there are a limited number of studies on the neurological basis of this therapeutic approach using electroencephalogram (EEG). This study aimed at evaluating the effect of mindfulness on improving the creativity of healthy individuals. In this study, 7 healthy subjects (1 male and 6 females) with a mean age of 40.37 years and a standard deviation of 14.52 years received group mindfulness training for 8 weeks. They had no experience of mindfulness training up to that time. Before and after mindfulness training, EEG signal was recorded from all participants in eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions on Fz, C3, C4, and Pz electrodes. After data preprocessing, wavelet coefficients were extracted from each frequency band of EEG signal and evaluated using paired sample t-test and correlation methods. The gamma-band on C3 (t = 2.89, p=0.03) and Pz (t= 2.54, P = 0.04) significantly increased as a result of mindfulness training. Also, significant correlations were found between the anxiety and the gamma band in Pz (r = 0.76, P = 0.04) and Fz (r = 0.75, P = 0.04) channels and between arousal and the gamma band in the Fz channel (r=0.88, P = 0.008). Mindfulness training to promote creativity leads to the increase of gamma bands in the central and parietal regions.