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Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia as a model for understanding the cognitive and cerebral determinants of verbal creativity
Victor Altmayer, Marcela Ovando‐Tellez, Théophile Bieth, Bénédicte Batrancourt, Armelle Rametti‐Lacroux, Lucy Bernardaud, Sarah Moreno-Rodriguez, Lucie Vigreux et al.. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2025-08-23
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
We dissociated four key cognitive components underlying remote thinking: spontaneous associative thinking, inhibition of unoriginal responses, intentional remote associative thinking, and verbal initiation; and replicated them in three independent datasets. Spontaneous associative thinking relied on temporal and cerebellar regions involved in low-order and automatic semantic processing, connected with the DMN, ECN and SN. Inhibition of prepotent unoriginal responses depended on key nodes of the SN. The ability to intentionally generate remote semantic associations was underpinned by key regions of the DMN. Finally, initiation of verbal responses relied on the right dorsolateral PFC, connected to the ECN. BvFTD patients were impaired in the last three components. Two components, cognitive inhibition and intentional remote thinking, mediated the link between atrophy in critical regions and an independent measure of creative abilities. These findings advance our understanding of creative neurocognition, distinguishing components of creative thinking and clarifying their critical cerebral bases, and participate in the characterization of creativity impairment in patients with bvFTD.
Key findings
- We dissociated four key cognitive components underlying remote thinking: spontaneous associative thinking, inhibition of unoriginal responses, intentional remote associative thinking, and verbal initiation; and replicated them in three independent datasets.
- Spontaneous associative thinking relied on temporal and cerebellar regions involved in low-order and automatic semantic processing, connected with the DMN, ECN and SN.
- Inhibition of prepotent unoriginal responses depended on key nodes of the SN.
- The ability to intentionally generate remote semantic associations was underpinned by key regions of the DMN.
- Finally, initiation of verbal responses relied on the right dorsolateral PFC, connected to the ECN.
Why it matters
This study identified four cognitive components of remote thinking and found that patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia were impaired in three of them, with two components mediating the link between brain atrophy and creative ability. It advances understanding of creative thinking and its impairment but offers no treatment, cure or prevention.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 40/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 38 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 40 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Behavioral and Brain Functions) |
| Journal's citation record | 1 / 4 | Behavioral and Brain Functions: journal h-index 95 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 4 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 1.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 4 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: institution h-index 2,511 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 7 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40849488) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 38 / 96 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 38 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 40 out of 100. |
| Total | 40 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1186/s12993-025-00292-z
- PubMed: 40849488
- Original source →
- Free full text: Behavioral and Brain Functions →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Altmayer, V., Ovando‐Tellez, M., Bieth, T., Batrancourt, B., Rametti‐Lacroux, A., Bernardaud, L., et al. (2025). Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia as a model for understanding the cognitive and cerebral determinants of verbal creativity. Behavioral and Brain Functions. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12993-025-00292-z
Vancouver
Altmayer V, Ovando‐Tellez M, Bieth T, Batrancourt B, Rametti‐Lacroux A, Bernardaud L, et al. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia as a model for understanding the cognitive and cerebral determinants of verbal creativity. Behavioral and Brain Functions. 2025. doi:10.1186/s12993-025-00292-z. PMID: 40849488.
BibTeX
@article{altmayer2025-40849488,
author = {Altmayer, Victor and Ovando‐Tellez, Marcela and Bieth, Théophile and Batrancourt, Bénédicte and Rametti‐Lacroux, Armelle and Bernardaud, Lucy and Moreno-Rodriguez, Sarah and Vigreux, Lucie and others},
title = {{Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia as a model for understanding the cognitive and cerebral determinants of verbal creativity}},
journal = {Behavioral and Brain Functions},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1186/s12993-025-00292-z},
pmid = {40849488},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12993-025-00292-z}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.