Publications

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Books

Author:
  1. Abraham A (2024). The Creative Brain: Myths and Truths. MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262548007.
  2. Abraham A (2018). The Neuroscience of Creativity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781316629611.
Editor:
  1. Abraham A [Ed] (2020). The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781108429245.
  2. Abraham A [Ed] (2015). Madness and Creativity: Yes, No or Maybe? Lausanne: Frontiers Media. ISBN: 9782889196708. [ebook]

Journal Articles

  1. Abraham A (2025). Many Roads to Rome: Cautious Considerations on the Computability of Creativity. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 1-9.  [ADVANCED ONLINE PUBLICATION]
  2. Chapman H, Asquith SL, & Abraham A (2025). An Examination of Schizotypy, Creativity, and Wellbeing in Young Populations. Behavioral Sciences, 14(4), 533.
  3. Kutsche J, Taylor JJ, Erkkinen MG, Akkad H, Khosravani S, Drew W, Abraham A, Ott DVM, Wall J, Cohen AL, Horn A, Neumann WJ, Kletenik I & Fox MD (2025). Creativity and Brain Disease: Mapping Neuroimaging Findings onto a Common Brain Circuit. JAMA Network Open, 8(2):e2459297. [Publication awarded the QUEST Open Data Reuse Award]
  4. Abraham A (2025). Why the Standard Definition of Creativity Fails to Capture the Creative Act. Theory & Psychology, 35(1), 40-60.
  5. Abraham A (2025). Hating an Outgroup is to Render their Stories a Fiction: A BLINCS Model Hypothesis and Commentary. Imagination, Cognition & Personality, 44(3), 315-330.  
  6. Abraham A, Mardones-Segovia C, Sarles-Whittlesey H, & Cohen AS (2024). Themes and trends in creativity research between 1894-2022: A topic modeling approach. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. [ADVANCED ONLINE PUBLICATION]  [click here to access FIGURES & TABLES] 
  7. ​Chapman H & Abraham A (2024). Trending Now: Implicit Factors Influence Users’ Online Audiovisual Media Motivations and Engagement. Imagination, Cognition & Personality, 44(2), 195-219. 
  8. Chapman H & Abraham A (2024). Recommended For You: Explicit Motivations and Recommender Systems Influence Users’ Media Engagement and Well-being. Imagination, Cognition & Personality, 44(1), 38-65. 
  9. Asquith SA, Wang X, Quintana DS & Abraham A (2024). Predictors of change in creative thinking abilities in young people: A longitudinal study. Journal of Creative Behavior, 58(2), 262-278.
  10. Ahmed H, Pauly-Takacs K & Abraham A (2023). Evaluating the effects of episodic and semantic memory induction procedures on divergent thinking in younger and older adults. PLoS ONE, 18(6): e0286305.
  11. Asquith SA, Wang X, Quintana D & Abraham A (2022). The Role of Personality Traits and Leisure Activities in Predicting Wellbeing in Young People. BMC Psychology, 10: 249. 
  12. Abraham A (2022). Creativity or creativities? Why context matters. Design Studies, 78: 101060. ​
  13. Abraham A (2022). How we tell apart fiction from reality. American Journal of Psychology, 135 (1), 1-18. 
  14. Asquith SA, Wang X, Quintana D & Abraham A (2022). Predictors of Creativity in Young People: Using Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches in Estimating the Importance of Individual and Contextual Factors. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 16(2), 209–220. PDF  Supp Info
  15. Abraham A, Rutter B & Hermann C (2021). Conceptual expansion via novel metaphor processing: An ERP replication and extension study examining individual differences in creativity​. Brain and Language, 221: 105007. ​
  16. Abraham A (2021). The Problem of Equating Content with Process in the Mythopoetic Model. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 5 (2), 33-36. 
  17. Abraham A (2021). The ingredients of the creative mind. American Journal of Psychology, 134 (1), 107-110.  PDF
  18. Abraham A (2019). The neuropsychology of creativity. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 27, 71-76. PDF
  19. Abraham A, Asquith S, Ahmed H & Bourisly AK (2019). Comparing the efficacy of four brief inductions in boosting short-term creativity. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 3 (1), 85-93. PDF
  20. Abraham A (2018). The wandering mind: Where imagination meets consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 25 (11-12), 34-52.  PDF
  21. Abraham A, Rutter B, Bantin T & Hermann C (2018). Creative conceptual expansion: A combined fMRI replication and extension study to examine individual differences in creativity. Neuropsychologia, 118, 29-39. PDF
  22. Abraham A (2016). The imaginative mind. Human Brain Mapping, 37, 4197-4211. PDF
  23. Ballan H & Abraham A (2016). Multimodal imagery in music: Active ingredients and mechanisms underlying music therapy engagement. Music and Medicine, 8 (4), 170-179. PDF
  24. Abraham A (2016). Gender and creativity: An overview of psychological and neuroscientific literature. Brain Imaging & Behavior,  10 (2), 609-618. PDF
  25. Abraham A (2016). Commentary: Creativity and Memory: Effects of an Episodic-Specificity Induction on Divergent Thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 824: 1-3. PDF
  26. Abraham A & Hermann C (2015). Biases in probabilistic category learning in relation to social anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1218: 1-12. PDF
  27. Abraham A (2015). Editorial: Madness and Creativity – Yes, No or Maybe? Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1055: 1-3. PDF
  28. Abraham A & Bubic A (2015). Semantic memory as the root of imagination. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 325:1-4. PDF
  29. Bubic A & Abraham A (2014). Neurocognitive bases of future oriented cognition. Review of Psychology, 21(1), 3-15. PDF
  30. Abraham A (2014). Is there an inverted-U relationship between creativity and psychopathology? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 750: 1-2. PDF 
  31. Abraham A (2014). Creative thinking as orchestrated by semantic processing versus cognitive control brain networks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 95: 1-4. PDF
  32. Abraham A, Thybusch K, Pieritz K & Hermann C (2014). Gender Differences in Creative Thinking: Behavioral and fMRI Findings. Brain Imaging & Behavior, 8 (1): 39-51. PDF
  33. Stevens S, Peters A, Abraham A & Hermann C (2014). Enhanced avoidance behavior in social anxiety: Evidence from a probabilistic learning task. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 45 (1), 39-45. PDF
  34. Kröger S, Rutter B, Hill H, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2013). An ERP study of passive creative conceptual expansion using a modified alternate uses task. Brain Research, 1527: 189-98.  PDF    Supp Info
  35. Abraham A (2013). The world according to me: Personal relevance and the medial prefrontal cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 341: 1-4. PDF 
  36. Abraham A (2013). The promises and perils of the neuroscience of creativity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 246: 1-9. PDF
  37. Abraham A, Kaufmann C, Redlich R, Hermann A, Stark R, Stevens S & Hermann C (2013). Self-referential and anxiety-relevant information processing in subclinical social anxiety: An fMRI study. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 7 (1), 35-48.  PDF
  38. Abraham A, Beudt S, Ott DV & von Cramon DY (2012). Creative cognition and the brain: Dissociations between frontal, parieto-temporal and basal ganglia groups. Brain Research, 1482, 55-70.  PDF     Supp Info
  39. Abraham A, Pieritz K, Thybusch K, Rutter B, Kröger S, Schweckendiek J, Stark R, Windmann S & Hermann C (2012). Creativity and the brain: Uncovering the neural signature of conceptual expansion. Neuropsychologia, 50 (8), 1906-17.  PDF     Supp Info   Stimuli 
  40. Kröger S, Rutter B, Stark R, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Using a shoe as a plant pot: Neural correlates of passive conceptual expansion. Brain Research, 1430, 52-61.  PDF     Supp Info
  41. Rutter B, Kröger S, Hill H, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Can clouds dance? Part 2: An ERP investigation of passive conceptual expansion. Brain and Cognition, 80 (3), 301-310.  PDF     Supp Info
  42. Rutter B, Kröger S, Stark R, Schweckendiek J, Windmann S, Hermann C & Abraham A (2012). Can clouds dance? A new approach to investigate neural correlates of creativity using unusual metaphors in an fMRI setting. Brain and Cognition, 78 (2), 114-122.  PDF     Supp Info
  43. Abraham A, Rakoczy H, Werning M, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2010). Matching mind to world and vice versa: Functional dissociations between belief and desire mental state processing. Social Neuroscience, 5 (1), 1-18.  PDF
  44. Abraham A & von Cramon DY (2009) Reality = Relevance? Insights from spontaneous modulations of the brain’s default network when telling apart reality from fiction. PLoS ONE, 4(3), e4741: 1-9.  PDF
  45. Abraham A, Schubotz RI & von Cramon DY (2008) Thinking about the future versus the past in personal and non-personal contexts. Brain Research, 1233, 106-119.   PDF     Supp Info
  46. Abraham A, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2008). Meeting George Bush versus meeting Cinderella: The neural response when telling apart what is real from what is fictional in the context of our reality. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20 (6), 965-976.  PDF
  47. Abraham A, Werning M, Rakoczy H, von Cramon DY & Schubotz RI (2008). Minds, persons, and space: An fMRI investigation into the relational complexity of higher-order intentionality. Consciousness and Cognition, 17 (2), 438-450.  PDF   Stimuli 
  48. Abraham A & Windmann S (2008). Selective information processing advantages in creative cognition as a function of schizotypy. Creativity Research Journal, 20(1), 1-6.  PDF
  49. Abraham A & Windmann S (2007) Creative cognition: The diverse operations and the prospect of applying a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Methods, 42 (1), 38-48.  PDF
  50. Abraham A (2007). Can a neural system geared to bring about rapid, predictive and efficient function explain creativity? Creativity Research Journal, 19 (1), 19-24.  PDF
  51. Karimi Z, Windmann S, Güntürkün O & Abraham A (2007). Insight problem solving in individuals with high versus low schizotypy. Journal of Research in Personality, 41 (7), 473-480.  PDF
  52. Abraham A, Windmann S, McKenna PJ & Güntürkün O (2007). Creative thinking in schizophrenia: The role of executive dysfunction and symptom severity. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12 (3), 235-258.  PDF
  53. Abraham A, Windmann S, Siefen R., Daum I & Güntürkün O (2006) Creative thinking in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Neuropsychology, 12 (2), 111-123.  PDF
  54. Abraham A, Windmann S, Daum I & Güntürkün O (2005) Conceptual expansion and creative imagery as a function of psychoticism. Consciousness and Cognition, 14 (3), 520-534.  PDF
  55. Nayak MB, Byrne CA, Martin MK & Abraham AG (2003). Attitudes towards violence against women: A cross-nation study. Sex Roles, 49 (7-8), 333-342.  PDF

Book Chapters

  1. Abraham A & Sharpe DI (accepted). E. P. Torrance on Cultivating Conditions that are Conducive to Creativity. In V. Glaveanu, G. Puccio & M. Schwartz (Eds.). Mid-Century Creativity Reader. Oxford University Press.
  2. Ahmed H, Pauly-Takacs K & Abraham A (2023). The role of semantic versus episodic memory in creative cognition. In L J. Ball & F. Vallée-Tourangeau (Eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Creative Cognition. London: Routledge. 
  3. Abraham A (2020). Surveying the imagination landscape. In A. Abraham (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination (pp. 1-10). Cambridge University Press. PDF
  4. Abraham A (2020). The force of the imagination. In A. Abraham (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination (pp. 811-814). Cambridge University Press. PDF
  5. Abraham A (2018). Creativity and the social brain. In V. Glaveanu & I. Lebuda (Eds.) Re/Searching the Social in Creativity Research: Methods, Studies, and Reflections (pp. 527-239). Palgrave Macmillan. PDF
  6. Asquith S, Wang X & Abraham A (2018). The antecedents and outcomes of creative cognition. In A. Harris, P. Thomson & K. Snepvangers (Eds.) Creativity Partnerships, Policy and Practice in Education (pp. 215-237). Palgrave Macmillan. PDF
  7. Abraham A (2018). The forest versus the trees: Creativity, cognition and imagination. In R. E. Jung & O. Vartanian (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity (pp. 195-210). Cambridge University Press. PDF
  8. Abraham A (2015). How social dynamics shape our understanding of reality. In J. E. Warnick & D. Landis (Eds.) Neuroscience in Intercultural Contexts (pp. 243-256). New York: Springer. PDF
  9. Abraham A (2014). Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying creative thinking: Indications from studies of mental illness. In J. Kaufmann (Ed.) Creativity and Mental Illness (pp. 79-101). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. PDF         
  10. Abraham A (2012). The neuroscience of creativity: A promising or perilous enterprise? In A. P. Alejandre (Ed.), Creativity and Cognitive Neuroscience (pp. 15-24). Madrid: Fundación Tomás Pascual y Pilar Gómez-Cuétera.  PDF
  11. Schubotz RI & Abraham A (2008). Ich glaube, dass Du denkst, dass ich hoffe, dass es stimmt. In R. I. Schubotz (Ed.), Other Minds: Die Gedanken und Gefühle Anderer (pp. 71-78). Paderborn, Germany: Mentis.  PDF
Images on this website adapted from: Abraham et al. (2005) Consciousness and Cognition.