Cognitive%20and%20neural%20mechanisms%20of%20insightful%20solutions

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Cognitive and neural mechanisms of insightful
solutions

• Mark Jung-Beeman, Northwestern University
• In collaboration with
• John Kounios, Ed Bowden, Karuna Subramaniam, Ezra
  Wegbreit
• Thanks to
• Todd Parrish, Paul Reber, Jason Haberman, Zoe
  Clancy, Jennifer Frymaire, and many others.

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Left Hemisphere Relatively fine semantic
coding Good for strong activation, rapid
selection, categorization Might miss distant
associations
Right Hemisphere Relatively coarse semantic
coding Weak, diffuse activation, not easily
accessible (unconscious?) Better able to detect
semantic overlap from distant associations
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Insight as creative problem solving

• Generally considered a type of creative thought
• Requires cognitive flexibility (restructuring)
• Divergent thinking (plus convergent)
• Correlated with other creative processes
• distinct marker instance of creative thinking

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Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight

• Objective measure of subjective experience
• Covert measure / Access to unconscious processing
• Brain structures, type of activity can inform
  theories of cognitive processing

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Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight

• Objective measure of subjective experience
• Covert measure / Access to unconscious processing
• Brain structures, type of activity can inform
  theories of cognitive processing
• Methodological Constraints
• Need many trials for adequate signal noise
• Need proper control condition

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Short insight-like problems, based on the
Remote Associates Test RAT (Mednick, 1962)
RAT Compound Remote Associate Problems
Bowden Jung Beeman, 1998
child
tennis
scan
bird
strike
same
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Short insight-like problems, based on the
Remote Associates Test RAT (Mednick, 1962)
RAT Compound Remote Associate Problems
Bowden Jung Beeman, 1998
child
tennis
scan
BRAIN
bird
MATCH
strike
same
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RAT CRAP More flexibility
Less Unknown type of association Compound
Harder Easier Solve more
analytic possible (still
insightgtanalytic)
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Unconscious processing?Behavioral methods
testing solution activation

• Primary task try to solve problems
• After time limit (or after solving), target word
  appears
• Solution or unrelated word (priming?)
• lvf-RH or rvf-LH

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Right visual field
Left visual field
Left Hemisphere
Right Hemisphere
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time box free
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lunch
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lunch time lunch box free lunch
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Conclusions from behavioral studies of
insight-like problem solving

• Solution priming for unsolved problems
• Unconscious solution activation prior to
  solving
• Especially in RH (lvf)
• RH solution activation useful for recognizing
  solutions
• Faster solution decisions for lvf-RH than rvf-LH!
• More priming, faster recognition with insight gt
  analytic
• Especially in RH (lvf)

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What happens during solving?

• Our behavioral methods require presenting
  solution
• FMRI or EEG allow covert measure during solving
• Neural correlates of insight
• Really sudden?

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Neural correlates during solving?

• Area of activation helps constrain cognitive
  theories
• Is insight really different?
• How?
• Semantic/lexical integration - making new
  connections RH anterior temporal lobe
• Cognitive control, switching ACC? DLPFC?

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Cognitive Neuroscience of InsightMethodological
Constraints

• Controlling for difficulty AND general
  strategies, cognitive processes
• Analytic solving - high WM demand
• Different processes, nothing to do with
  insight

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Event-related neuroimaging design(solution-locked
potentials)

• Insight solutions versus noninsight solutions
• Very tight comparison
• Not reveal whole network of problem solving
• Highlights just components that are uniquely
  engaged (emphasized) for insight solutions

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Tooth Heart Potato
Preparation period
Solution?
Problem onset
Analytic or Insight?
Variable solving time
2-8s
0-30s
2s
2s
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Eureka! or Aha! experience

• Solution appears sudden and obvious
• As soon as you think of solution, you just know
  it works for all three words
• Comes as a whole, not part by part
• (vs strategic, step-by-step testing, etc)

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Tooth Heart Potato
Preparation period
Solution?
Problem onset
Analytic or Insight?
Variable solving time
2-8s
0-30s
2s
2s
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Replication from converging methods

• Electroencephalography (EEG)
• Parallel simultaneous experiment, different
  subs
• Better temporal resolution
• Type of activity informative

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Gamma band insight effects
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Replication from converging methods
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Replication from converging methods
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Replication with fMRI

• more subs
• better scanning
•  better design to separate sequential processes
• shorter solving time (15s)

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Neural correlates of insight solutions
R
L

• Right middle/superior temporal lobe
• lexical / semantic integration of distant
  relations - making new connections
• Also Hippocampus/ parahippocampal gyrus
• distinct memory retrieval
• Posterior cingulate cortex
• visual attention

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Neural correlates of insight solutions
R
L

• Dorsal anterior cingulate/ medial frontal
  gyrus(BA 24, 32, 9)
• Cognitive control
• Detecting competing activations (solution
  candidates), i.e., something to switch attention
  to

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What factors influence ability to achieve insight
solutions?

• Fluctuations in attention (Kounios)
• Individual differences (Kounios)

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What factors influence ability to achieve insight
solutions?

• Fluctuations in attention (Kounios)
• Individual differences, resting state (Kounios)
• Mood (affect) - assessed or induced
• Attention state - assessed or induced

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Positive Affect facilitates insight

• Solving RAT probs, medical diagnoses, other
  (Isen, many papers)
• Solving RAT problems global attention
  (Anderson et al., 2006)
• Work place diaries (Amabile, 2005)
• How?
• Specifically facilitate insight solving?
• Facilitate use of analytic strategy on insight
  problems?
• Activate right hemisphere?
• Modulate cognitive control, interacting w/ other
  processes

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Positive affect modulates attention

• Biases a global or broader focus of attention? 1
• Facilitates integrating distant elements of
  problems? 2
• Facilitates switching between solving strategies,
  3
• or between global and local attention?
• Facilitates detecting competing solution
  candidates? 4
• 1 Gasper et al, 2002, Anderson et al. 2006
• 2 Fedemeier et al, 2001
• 3 Dreisbach et al, 2004
• 4 Baumann Kuhl., 2005

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Behavioral Results - I

p lt .05
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Behavioral Results - I



p lt .05
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Behavioral Summary

• Subjects higher in positive mood
• solve more (insight-like) problems overall
• solve more with insight
• Subjects higher in anxiety
• solve fewer problems with insight

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Neuroimaging Evidence

• Does positive affect alter approach to problem
• (vs reaction to it?)
• Multiple analyses examining relation between
  positive mood, insight solving, insight
  preparation, and overall preparation in brain
  activity
• Anatomical overlap across all analyses?

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Tooth Heart Potato
Preparation Period
Solution?
Problem onset
Analytical or Insight?
Variable solving time
2-8s
0-15s
2s
2s
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Analysis I Signal increased during prep in
ACC, PCC (some) ONLY prep activity in ACC
increased with positive affect across all 27
subs
Preparatory activity in ACC (t 4.5, v 2940
mm)
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Neuroimaging Summary Convergent Analysis Only
ACC region showed functional overlap (black)
with positive affect states (red) active
preparatory region (blue) insight
solution-related effect (yellow)
ACC (i) (preparatory
activity) (insight effect)
(ii)
(preparatory activity)
(positive affect) (iii)
(preparatory activity)
(positive affect) (insight
effect)
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Conclusions from assessing Affect

• Positive affect alters preparatory activity in
  the ACC to predispose solving with insight by
• (i) enhancing detection of competing
  alternatives?
• (ii) enhancing predisposition to switch b/w
  strategies?
• (iii) enhancing selection?

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Inducing pos affect anxiety, w/in subs


p lt .05
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Attention and insight

• ACC part of attention cognitive control
• Distractibility and insight, creativity
• Less latent inhibition - ability to suppress
• Global attention, global processing
• Pos mood -gt incd insight incd attentional
  breadth

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Attention and insight

• Attention battery 20 tasks, 4 correlated
• Rapid Identification - more solved, more
  insight
• Central focus - less insight
• Global motion - more solved
• Multiple object (ball) tracking

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Inducing attention for insight

• Set 1 CRA problems
• all 4 attention tasks,
• - Central Focus --gt Rapid ID (less to more
  insight)
• Set 2 CRA problmes
• Correlations?
• Changes in performance

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Inducing attention for insight

• Set 1 CRA problems
• 1 attention tasks X 4 groups
• - Central Focus
• - Rapid ID
• - Ball tracking
• - Global motion
• Set 2 CRA problems
• Changes in performance?

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Inducing attention for insight

• Changes in performance?
• Central Focus
• - solving, analytic, insight
• Rapid ID
• - solving, analytic, insight
• Ball tracking Global motion - ns diffs

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Conclusions

• Insight emphasizes different cognitive and neural
  components than does analytic processing
• Right aSTG - integrate distant elements
• ACC readiness to detect/switch to competing
  candidates
• overall more top-down approach disengage from
  input
• Mood and attentional states modulate component
  processes conducive to insight
• Pos affect enhances, anxiety impedes
• ACC, readiness to detect competing candidates
• - which are more likely to be (weakly) active
  in RH

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Conclusions

• Insight emphasizes different cognitive and neural
  components than does analytic processing
• Right aSTG - integrate distant elements
• ACC readiness to detect/switch to competing
  candidates
• overall more top-down approach disengage from
  input
• Mood and attentional states modulate component
  processes conducive to insight
• Pos affect enhances, anxiety impedes
• ACC, readiness to detect competing candidates
• - which are more likely to be (weakly) active
  in RH
• Neural evidence can be used to constrain and
  expand theories of insight creative cognition

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General vs specific mechanisms - Visual Aha!

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Visual Aha! effect in RH anterior Mid Temporal
Gyrus FMRI signal for insight gt noninsight
recognition
L R
Post Ant L R
L coronal R
axial sagittal p lt .01, cluster gt 500 mm3
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Visual Aha! effect in RH Angular Gyrus FMRI
signal for insight gt noninsight recognition
L R
Post Ant L R
L coronal R
axial sagittal p lt .01, cluster gt 500
mm3 Also RH Sup Frontal Gyrus
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Visual Aha! effect in Bilateral M. Occipital
Gyri FMRI signal for NONinsight gt insight
recognition
L R
Post Ant L R
L coronal R
axial sagittal p lt .005, cluster gt 500 mm3
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Visual Aha! conclusions

• NOT just for verbal problems
• Similarities - shared mechanisms (not insight,
  but)
• Insight top-down, cognitive control, integration
• RH unconscious, weak but mutually constraining,
  integration
• Recognition comes as a whole, not part by part
• Noninsight bottom-up (vis cortex)

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General vs specific mechanisms - Visual Aha!

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General vs specific mechanisms - Visual Aha!

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Visual Aha! conclusions

• Some differences -
• Angular Gyrus somewhat surprising
• Non-canonical object recognition (Kosslyn et al)
• Simultaneous object (part) recognition?
• Simulagnosia