Abstract: Semantic network is a pivotal representation of semantic memory structure or conceptual system. It enables researchers to examine the theories of creative process in an operable and quantifiable manner. Given the role of?semantic memory?in creativity has been highlighted, it is of great importance to study the cognitive mechanisms underlying creative process from the semantic network perspective. Accordingly, first, this paper summarizes the theoretical reflection as well as the research?status of how semantic network plays a role in creative process.?Then, the future directions in understanding the cognitive mechanisms of creative process through semantic network would be discussed. Theoretically, the concepts encoded in the semantic network can be regarded as the “raw materials”, which are necessary for the creative thinking. On the one hand, the organizational structure of semantic network directly determines the connection characteristics of concepts in a bottom-up way. Individuals with higher creativity level are believed to store richer concepts in their semantic memory, and at the same time, have more diverse and flexible connections among these concepts. On the other hand, the related cognitive processes (e.g., controlled retrieval) over the concepts affect individual’s creative performance from top to bottom. The more effective the memory retrieval and executive control could be, the higher the creativity level is. Simultaneously, the semantic memory is not only a static storage system, but could also undergo structural adjustment based on external?environment, which precisely meets the need of flexibility and originality for creative process. Practically, the evolving network science methods in recent years provide powerful methodology framework and quantitative tools for creativity research, allowing researchers to explore the internal relationship between semantic network and creativity from the perspective of semantic network structure and related cognitive processing. At present, the empirical studies mainly focus on how semantic network structure affects creativity in group level. Related studies portrayed the structural?characteristics of semantic network either by graph theory metrics or by simulating the uncontrolled search processes over a specific network structure. Except that, another research orientation tends to focus on how different concepts stored in the semantic network could be connected to each other under the intervention of different mental operations. This research orientation essentially regards the concepts as the objects, while the connections between them as the consequences of creative processing. Although previous studies have highlighted the significance of semantic network structures and related mental operations in creative thinking, so far, the above two aspects are relatively separated embodied in different studies, leading to a failure of illustrating how they interactively contribute to creativity. In particular, there is still a lack of studies combining neuroscience techniques to provide evidence for the neural substrate underlying their neural instantiation. Therefore, the future studies should concern more about how to explore the relationship between creativity and semantic network in a relatively integrated cognitive processing framework, and simultaneously, apply tools from neuroimaging technologies, allowing this framework can be well compatible with neuroscience.

Key words: Creativity, Semantic Network, Semantic Distance

摘要： 语义网络是主要的知识表征方式之一，对创造性研究具有重要意义。近年来不断发展的网络科学方法为相关研究提供了强大的方法论框架及量化工具，研究者得以分别从语义网络结构及语义相关认知操作的角度探讨语义网络与创造性的内在联系。已有证据表明语义网络中所储存的概念越丰富、概念间的连接通路越多元化或越灵活，则个体创造性水平越高；而个体创造性水平亦受制于个体对概念的检索、抑制、选择、整合及扩展等认知能力。在此方向上，未来研究工作应当更多地思考如何在一个相对整合的认知框架中深入探讨语义网络结构及相关认知过程对创造性的交互作用，并结合神经影像等技术手段，将语义网络之于创造性的认知机制嵌套于神经科学体系中进行解释。

关键词: 创造性, 语义网络, 语义距离