Lower engagement of cognitive control, attention, modulation networks and lower creativity in children while using ChatGPT: an fMRI study

Source: Cerebral Cortex 36(10) bhag167 (Horowitz-Kraus, Kenett, Link-Sourani, Ashqar, Farah; Technion); preprint bioRxiv 10.1101/2025.11.07.687207 · 2026-10-06

Generative AI can scaffold idea generation, but how it engages control, attention, and memory systems in the developing versus mature brain, and how this relates to creativity, remains unclear. We compared 6-7-year-old (N = 15) children and adults (N = 16) during a naturalistic 5-minute co-creative dialogue with ChatGPT using the same prompt, in-scanner conversation, undergoing functional MRI scanning and their dialogues were recorded. Functional connectivity (Fisher’s z) was computed within and between seven large-scale networks: cingulo-opercular, default mode (DMN), memory retrieval, frontoparietal (FP), salience, ventral attention (VAN), and dorsal attention (DAN). Creativity scores, assessed outside of the scanner, did not differ between groups. Adults showed stronger within-network connectivity in control/attention systems, most robustly in FP, with additional effects in salience and DAN. Adults also exhibited greater cross-network integration, particularly FP-salience and FP-DAN couplings, alongside broader adult-greater effects among memory- and attention-related pairs. During a co-creative AI-assisted conversation, children exhibit a less coherent and integrated control–attention–memory architecture than adults. The combination of similar creativity scores with divergent neural profiles suggests that developmental differences in the implementation of creative cognition may be more pronounced than baseline capacity. Our findings highlight FP-centric pathways and their salience-gated interactions as candidate substrates by which creativity supports goal-directed co-creative dialogue with AI.

Children demonstrate a lower within-network connectivity in the frontoparietal, salience, and dorsal attention systems while using ChatGPT compared to adults.

Reduced between-network integration in cognitive control and modulation networks (frontoparietal–salience and frontoparietal–dorsal) in children vs adults while using ChatGPT.

In adults, but not in children, higher creativity was associated with stronger connectivity within cognitive control networks.

Children’s interactions with generative AI (GenAI) are emerging as both opportunities for creativity and challenges for critical engagement. Experimental studies have shown that tools like ChatGPT can support young children’s storytelling by providing interactive, adaptive dialogue 8. For example, a study of 5–6-year-olds found that children enjoyed storytelling with ChatGPT, which provided more frequent positive feedback and open-ended prompts than parents, suggesting potential for supporting children’s creative expression when parental time is limited 8. Similarly, interventions using games such as Bot VoyAIge engaged 10–12-year-olds in critically examining ChatGPT’s responses, revealing that children could identify gender, cultural, and age biases embedded in its outputs 9. These findings highlight that while children can find GenAI engaging and even preferable in certain contexts, structured support is necessary to help them navigate its biases and limitations.

Creativity is broadly defined as the ability to generate ideas that are both novel and useful within a given social context 37–39. This construct relies on cognitive processes, including divergent thinking (DT), which encompasses fluency, originality, and flexibility 40,41, memory 42,43, cognitive control 44, attention 45, and associative thinking 46. Developmental perspectives emphasize that creativity is not a fixed trait but an emergent process, with executive functions (EF) providing regulatory mechanisms to support idea generation and sustain attention 47.

The DMN, as part of the modulation system, comprising regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, angular gyrus, and hippocampus— has emerged as central to creative cognition due to its role in memory retrieval and associative thinking 66. The DMN supports memory processes essential to creative ideation, especially remote associative thinking—the ability to link conceptually distant ideas 46,67,68. Beyond idea generation, the DMN also contributes to evaluating ideas by comparing them to stored knowledge to determine novelty and by mentally simulating their feasibility to assess appropriateness 42. The salience network is comprised of the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex—orchestrates interactions between the DMN and the EF system, dynamically transitioning between generative and evaluative modes 61,63,64. Supporting this gating function, multilayer network analyses demonstrate extensive reconfiguration among the EF system, DMN, and SN during creative idea generation, while evaluation engages a more integrated yet stable network architecture 69.

Alongside the modulation system, the EF networks —comprising primarily lateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices—provides top-down regulation to steer creative thinking toward task goals, such as response inhibition and idea revision that are critical for refining creative ideas. The EF system is particularly involved in suppressing dominant but less original responses, enabling individuals to consider novel, more creative alternatives 68. Such cognitive control engagement tends to vary with creative task demands 70, with flexible down-regulation often facilitating originality when dominant responses must be overcome 44. Creative thinking is characterized by heightened cooperation among these networks, with stronger coupling between the DMN and EF consistently predicting higher creative performance 61,63. Connectome-based predictive modeling reliably links enhanced functional connectivity across DMN, EF, and SN regions to individual differences in creative ability 62,65,71. Highly creative individuals exhibit greater network flexibility, showing more frequent transitions between the DMN and EF system 64 and increased temporal variability, especially within the DMN 72.