Riddle Guessing Task Low-quality Message To Trigger Epiphany Erp Study

Nowadays,the study of the neural mechanism of insight in problem solving is still relative new in psychology.In this field,the experimental paradigms and materials still need to be refined,and there is yet no consensus about the understanding of the cognitive mechanism of insight.In the present research,high-density event-related potentials(ERPs) were recorded to examine the electrophysiologic correlates of insight problem solving.One hundred forty interesting Chinese riddles(half common riddles and half 'Aha' riddles)were adopted as materials,the experiment process is to show subjects low quality prompt cues to prime insight,and the operational concepts of response styles were differentiated between 'insight','non-insight' and 'no insight'.In the analysis of the EEG wave of three type of responses, the waves were overlapped and averaged,all of the three types response induced a N2 negative component between 300～400ms,and a P300 positive component between 380～480ms,and a later positive component between 480～700ms;there are significant difference between the three time windows of 'insight/no-insight' response in fore and hind brain;there is significant difference between the 'insight/non-insight' response in 300～400ms and 380～480ms time window.Research showed that the difference between 'insight/non-insight' mainly determined by whether embodies cognitive conflict in breaking a mental set;whether the information was retrieved from long-term memory to verify the answers,and to update the working memory representation;and whether new 'task related association' was established.The significant difference between 'insight/non-insight' was determined by whether the answer was based on information retrieved from long-term memory,verification of the understanding of riddles,and updating the working memory representation.It also showed that,insight was not a pure cognitive psychological process,but a compound cognitive process that fused with attention and memory activities.This study is a double stimuli experiment,the results in the stage of correct answer presenting was in line with former studies.300～400ms after the presentation of the stimuli,obvious N2 components were induced in the anterior by two types of response,and significant difference in the posterior between two types of response,and the 'insight' response was more negative than the 'non-insight' ones.There were also latter positive components in anterior and posterior in the latency of 450～1000ms and 600～900ms,which meant the sensitivity to the task related strange association and the unexpected answer relationship.