Hippocampus and amygdala: An insight-related network involved in metaphorical solution to mental distress problem

Abstract

This study was designed to determine whether metaphorical solutions to mental distress problems result in an insightful mental experience and activate the hippocampus and amygdala: areas associated with insight. We recruited 22 healthy university students. Trials presented 75 micro-counseling scenarios while event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was applied to detect neural responses. Each scenario included a mental distress problem and one of the following solution types: metaphorical, literal, or problem-restatement. The results revealed that, compared with literal solutions or problem-restatement solutions, metaphorical solutions activated two neural networks: one associated with basic metaphorical language processing (i.e., the left inferior frontal gyrus and middle and superior temporal gyri), and a specific network associated with insightful problem solving (i.e., the bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, and fusiform gyrus). Our findings indicate that the use of metaphorical solutions to mental distress problems reliably produces salient neural activities for insight. Keywords Metaphor. Insight. Novelty. Hippocampus. Amygdala. Micro-counseling scenario Metaphor plays an important role in the transmission of new schemata of thought during cognitive therapy (Muran & Digiuseppe, 1990). In the field of psycholinguistics, neural correlates of metaphor comprehension have been widely investigated over the past decade (

Left‐hemispheric predominance on appropriateness evaluation of restructuring during chunk decomposition problem solving

“…First, the current study supports the view that both the right and left hemispheres are involved in processing restructuring in insightful problem solving (Dietrich & Kanso, 2010). Consistent with the bilateral LPC effect in the present study, numerous studies have also found bilateral instead of unilateral activations related to insightful events (e.g., Aziz‐Zadeh et al., 2009; Tik et al., 2018; Tang et al., 2016; Yu et al, 2019). Though Beeman and colleagues emphasize RH dominance during insightful problem solving (Bowden et al., 2005; Kounios & Beeman, 2014) based on their early findings (Bowden & Beeman, 1998; Beeman & Bowden, 2000; Bowden & Jung‐Beeman, 2003; Jung‐Beeman et al., 2004), a recent study extends the “right‐side” findings to bilateral brain activations by employing ultra‐high‐field 7‐T fMRI, based on a German version of the same remote associate tasks (Tik et al., 2018).…”

“…Further, there is an ongoing debate regarding the hemispheric effect of insightful problem solving (Dietrich & Kanso, 2010). Whereas some groups observed a right‐hemisphere dominance in processing insight (Jung‐Beeman et al., 2004; Kounios et al., 2008; Sandkühler & Bhattacharya, 2008; Zhao et al., 2014), several other studies found bilateral activations related to insightful events (e.g., Aziz‐Zadeh et al., 2009; Tik et al., 2018; Tang et al., 2016; Yu et al, 2019; also see reviews in Dietrich & Kanso, 2010). One reason for the debate may be that these studies did not distinguish different components of insightful restructuring.…”

What makes creative advertisements memorable? The role of insight

“…In this way, a person who abruptly understands a creative advertisement or an idea behind it will experience a similar positive affective state to that accompanying insight-based solutions to problems. We note that this account of the memorability of creative advertisements is also supported by recent findings demonstrating the robust activation arising in both the amygdala, which is associated with emotion processing, and the hippocampus, which is associated with memory processing (see Balderston, Schultz, & Helmstetter, 2011) during moments of insight in problem solving (e.g., Yu , Zhang, Fan, Luo, & Zhang, 2019;Lumder et al, 2011;Kizilirmak et al, 2019).…”

Enhanced insightfulness and neural activation induced by metaphorical solutions to appropriate mental distress problems

“…Two minutes later, they were asked to complete a post-experimental rating of materials in another quiet laboratory. During the rating phase, the participants were instructed to assess the descriptions of problem scenarios in terms of emotional valence and adaptability (i.e., to what extent the solution was functional or helpful in adapting to Yu et al (2019). The sequence of the materials presented was the same as that in the scanning phase.…”