Neural basis of functional fixedness during creative idea generation: An EEG study

Abstract

Decades of problem solving and creativity research have converged to show that the ability to generate new and useful ideas can be blocked or impeded by intuitive biases leading to mental fixations. The present study aimed at investigating the neural bases of the processes involved in overcoming fixation effects during creative idea generation. Using the AU task adapted for EEG recording, we examined whether participant's ability to provide original ideas was related to alpha power changes in both the frontal and temporo-parietal regions. Critically, for half of the presented objects, the classical use of the object was primed orally, and a picture of the classical use was presented visually to increase functional fixedness (Fixation Priming condition). For the other half, only the name of the object and a picture of the object was provided to the participants (control condition). As expected, priming the classical use of an object before the generation of creative alternative uses of the object impeded participants' performances in terms of remoteness. In the control condition, while the frontal alpha synchronization was maintained across all successive time windows in participants with high remoteness scores, the frontal alpha synchronization decreased in participants with low remoteness scores. In the Fixation Priming condition, in which functional fixedness was maximal, both participants with high and low remoteness scores maintained frontal alpha synchronization throughout the period preceding their answer. Whereas participants with high remoteness scores maintained alpha synchronization in the temporo-parietal regions throughout the creative idea generation period, participants with low remoteness scores displayed alpha desynchronization in the same regions during this period. We speculate that individuals with high remoteness scores might generate more creative ideas than individuals with low remoteness scores because they rely more on internal semantic association and selection processes.

Use a Spoon as a Spade?: Changes in the Upper and Lower Alpha Bands in Evaluating Alternate Object Use

“…Similar frontal alpha synchronization was reported by Camarda et al ( 2018 ), who observed a positive relationship between frontal alpha and the remoteness of the alternate uses generated by the participants who completed an alternate uses task. Interestingly, the authors split the time windows in the analysis and observed that participants who generated less original uses showed a decrease in frontal alpha synchronization over time, while participants who generated original uses maintained this synchronization over all the time windows analyzed.…”

“…Interestingly, the more original the generated use, the stronger the asymmetry of the observed effect was. Finally, Camarda et al ( 2018 ) linked alpha synchronization over the temporo-parietal sites (not lateralized) to the novelty of the generated responses, and interpreted it as related to internal semantic processing demands.…”

Music Improvisation Is Characterized by Increase EEG Spectral Power in Prefrontal and Perceptual Motor Cortical Sources and Can be Reliably Classified From Non-improvisatory Performance

“…This, however, is not always the case. The alpha frequency range has been reported to be involved with cortical excitation in the MFC in tasks involving creative processing and improvisation consistent with the conclusions of our study (Fink and Neubauer, 2008;Jauk et al, 2012;Benedek et al, 2014;Schwab et al, 2014;Lopata et al, 2017;Camarda et al, 2018;Lopata et al, 2017;Stevens and Zabelina, 2019). Furthermore, studies using fMRI and EEG have shown increased alpha synchronization in frontal and parietotemporal brain regions associated with brain activation during creative processing (Fink and Neubauer, 2008).…”

The effect of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) over bilateral posterior parietal cortex on divergent and convergent thinking

“…Taking together both RAT and visual originality results, we could speculate that the alpha power effect could reflect more internally oriented attention 53 , which may reflect selective inhibition of interfering external input 48,77,78 . This internally-directed attention could therefore facilitate the combination of remotely associated semantic information 25 and prevent functional fixedness during the creative ideation phase of creativity 79 . However, there are other possible explanations for the role of PPC, such as its role in efficient effective memory search and retrieval that could have a positive impact on these tasks 53 , working memory for object location 80 or spatial representation and updating 81 .…”