The Neural Basis Of Different Types Of Insight:an Event-related Potential Study

Insight is an important component of creative thinking.Remote associates test is the tool of researching insight problems.This study draws up the remote associates problem bank with the cue word and compares the differences of solving the insight problems with or without cue word using high-density event-related potentials(ERPs).Study 1: This study establishes the indices of the difficulty,RTs,the sense of insight and the prompt degree of cue words of the test through the experiments.It helps to distinguish the trial-and-error and the insight.Cue words overcome the shortcoming that is without apparent reconstruction of remote associates test.This study provides a new material and method for the insight problem solving research.There is no difference in difficulty between difficult problems with more effective cue words and less effective cue words and all difficult problems are more difficult than simple problems.Difficult problems with less effective cues have the longest RTs and difficult problems with more effective cue words have longer RTs than simple problems.In the sense of insight,difficult problems are higher than simple problems.There is no difference in the sense of insight between difficult problems with more effective cue words and less effective cue words.The indices of the remote associates problem bank with the cue words meet our expectations,achieving the requirements of the material to study the insight.Study 2: This study compares the difference between solving the remote associates problems with or without cue words using ERPs.We draw the following conclusions: P170 activated in the right frontal lobe may be associated with the expectation of mental impasses before the stimulus presentation.N400 activated in the right frontal lobe might be related to the representation restructuring.Late Negative Component(LNC)activated in the left frontal lobe and the left central region might be related to breaking mental sets.Late Positive Component(LPC1)activated in the right frontal lobe might be involved in forming novel associations.Late Positive Component(LNC2)activated in the right central region might be related to “Aha” feeling.