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White Matter Integrity and Creativity in the Aging Mind

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Michelle L. Houston¹ (), Tara Kirkpatrick², James R. Houston², Katherine A. Gifford³, Kimberly R. Pechman¹, Niranjana Shashikumar¹, Bennett Landman¹, Elizabeth E. Moore⁴, Timothy J. Hohman¹, Angela L. Jefferson¹, Philip A. Allen⁵; ¹Vanderbilt University Medical Center, ²Middle Tennessee State University, ³Boston University, ⁴Mass General Brigham, ⁵University of Akron

Although aging is associated with declines in white matter integrity and some cognitive abilities, creativity often remains stable, suggesting possible neural compensation or reorganization. We examined associations between white matter microstructure and creative potential and achievement in middle- and older-aged adults to identify neural mechanisms supporting creativity in aging. A subset of 76 cognitively unimpaired participants from the Vanderbilt Memory and Aging Project completed the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA), Creativity Assessment Questionnaire (CAQ), Behavioral Inventory for Creative Behavior (BICB), and Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (KDCS). Composite scores were derived for artistic and scientific creative achievement (CAQ, KDCS) and everyday creativity (BICB, KDCS). Participants also underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Images were manually inspected for artifacts and processed using standard FSL and tract-based spatial statistics pipelines. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values were extracted and voxel-wise linear regressions examined associations between DTI metrics and creativity measures, controlling for age and sex. Participants were mostly female (56.3%), non-Hispanic White (67.1%), college educated (M=16.63±2.30), and had a mean age of 62.18 years (SD=7.06). ATTA scores were not associated with FA in any region (all p>0.466), nor were creative achievement composite scores associated with FA in any region (all p>0.069). No associations were found between white matter integrity and creative potential or achievement in middle- and older-aged adults. Because creativity relies on diverse cognitive processes, age-related compensatory neural recruitment may underlie the observed absence of associations. This theory remains speculative and warrants further investigation into the neural mechanisms underlying creativity in aging.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Development &aging