The Emergence of Creativity

Creativity is one of the central dimensions of human achievement and social development and has always fascinated scientists and non-scientists alike. But what is the essential nature of creativity? And what is the role of consciousness in the emergence of creativity? If it is true that it has been explored in many aspects in the cognitive and neurobiological field, it is also true that the lore chest—from which the conscious mind through unconscious mechanisms extracts the rough material that is then brought to the surface—has been less investigated. The purpose of this article is to give an account of how the multiplicity of levels of awareness is made possible by a spontaneous order that has nothing to do with a monolithic view of creativity.     

Prediction and unconscious attention operate synergistically to facilitate stimulus processing: An fMRI study

There is considerable evidence that prediction and attention aid perception. However, little is known about the possible neural mechanisms underlying the impact of prediction and unconscious attention on perception, probably due to the relative neglect of unconscious attention in scholarly literature. Here, we addressed this issue using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We adopted a variant of the double-cue paradigm, in which prediction and attention were factorially manipulated by two separate cues (prediction and attention cues). To manipulate consciousness, the attention cues were presented subliminally and supraliminally. Behaviorally, we reported an unconscious-attended effect in the predictable trials and a conscious-attended effect in the unpredictable trials. On the neural level, it was shown that prediction and unconscious attention interacted in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). More specifically, there was a significantly decreased activation in dlPFC for predictable relative to unpredictable stimuli in the unconscious-attended trials, but not in the unconscious-unattended trials. This result suggests that prediction and unconscious attention operate synergistically to facilitate stimulus processing. This is further corroborated by the subsequent functional connectivity analysis, which revealed increased functional connectivity between the left dlPFC and the premotor cortex for predictable versus unpredictable stimuli in the unconscious-attended trials.     

Mindfulness meditation and consciousness: An integrative neuroscientific perspective

Although mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, Western scientific research and healthcare programs have only recently drawn their attention to it. Basically, the concept of mindfulness hinges on focusing on one’s own awareness at the present moment. In this review we analyze different hypotheses about the functioning and the cerebral correlates of mindfulness meditation. Since mindfulness is strictly associated with a particular state of consciousness, we also examine some of the most relevant theories that have been proposed as accounts of consciousness. Finally, we suggest that consciousness and mindfulness meditation can be integrated within a neuroscientific perspective, by identifying the brain areas which seem to play an essential role in both, namely the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, insula and thalamus.     

Can we distinguish an “I” and “ME” during listening?—an event-related EEG study on the processing of first and second person personal and possessive pronouns

Theoretically, stimuli can be related to the self as subject (“I”) or object (“ME”) of experience. This event-related brain potential (ERP) study investigated whether listening to personal and possessive pronouns elicits different modes of self-processing regarding time-course and neural sources. Going beyond previous research, first (1PP) and second person (2PP) pronouns were included to determine the specificity of self-processing. Participants listened passively to German pronouns while the electroencephalogram was recorded. Modulation of ERPs revealed a processing advantage for the 2PP personal pronoun “du” (“you”) already in early time windows. Regarding possessive pronouns, N1 amplitudes indicated increased attention orientation to the 1PP pronoun “mein” (“my”), whereas during later time windows, processing of 1PP and 2PP possessive pronouns did not differ but differed from the third person pronoun “sein” (“his”). ERP source imaging suggests that primary sensory brain regions (auditory cortex), the insula and cortical midline structures are differentially involved into these two processing modes. The results support the idea of distinct self-processing modes (“I” and “ME”) and confirm their dynamic nature. Moreover, they demonstrate that on a neural level neither “I” or “ME” are invariantly tied to the first person, in line with the hypothesis that self-processing is relational and context-dependent.     

消费者购买决定与前额叶脑活动的不对称性——来自EEG的证据

摘要：目前营销科学界对消费者购买决策阶段的神经运作机制仍然缺乏准确的理解,本研究探索了大脑前额叶不对称性是否与消费者购买决策有关。采用田野实验方法,21名受试者在真实的在线购物中,分别对自己购物车里5件物品做出真实的购买决策,他们的EEG脑电图被完整记录了下来,共观察到104次购买决策过程。结果表明,在产品页面观看过程中,受试者的gamma频带前额叶不对称,与随后真实购买行为显著相关。alpha、beta频带额叶不对称与购买决策无关。结果还发现与商品的售价对beta和gamma不对称指数的调节效应,且调节效果正好相反。本研究发现了消费者在购买决策过程中一种独特的EEG成分——前额叶gamma波不对称指数（PAIγ）与肯定的购买意愿和实际购买行为相关性最强。     

A Voxel-based lesion study on facial emotion recognition after circumscribed prefrontal cortex damage

Previous studies have shown inconsistent findings regarding the contribution of the different prefrontal regions in emotion recognition. Moreover, the hemispheric lateralization hypothesis posits that the right hemisphere is dominant for processing all emotions regardless of affective valence, whereas the valence specificity hypothesis posits that the left hemisphere is specialized for processing positive emotions while the right hemisphere is specialized for negative emotions. However, recent findings suggest that the evidence for such lateralization has been less consistent. In this study, we investigated emotion recognition of fear, surprise, happiness, sadness, disgust, and anger in 30 patients with focal prefrontal cortex lesions and 30 control subjects. We also examined the impact of lesion laterality on recognition of the six basic emotions. The results showed that compared to control subjects, the frontal subgroups were impaired in recognition of three negative basic emotions of fear, sadness, and anger – regardless of the lesion laterality. Therefore, our findings did not establish that each hemisphere is specialized for processing specific emotions. Moreover, the voxel-based lesion symptom mapping analysis showed that recognition of fear, sadness, and anger draws on a partially common bilaterally distributed prefrontal network.     

Parametric effects of syntactic-semantic conflict in Broca's area during sentence processing

The hypothesized role of Broca’s area in sentence processing ranges from domain-general executive function to domain-specific computation that is specific to certain syntactic structures. We examined this issue by manipulating syntactic structure and conflict between syntactic and semantic cues in a sentence processing task. Functional neuroimaging revealed that activation within several Broca’s area regions of interest reflected the parametric variation in syntactic-semantic conflict. These results suggest that Broca’s area supports sentence processing by mediating between multiple incompatible constraints on sentence interpretation, consistent with this area’s well-known role in conflict resolution in other linguistic and non-linguistic tasks.     

Differential effects of differing intensities of acute exercise on speed and accuracy of cognition: A meta-analytical investigation

The primary purpose of this study was to examine, using meta-analytical techniques, the differential effects of differing intensities of acute exercise on speed and accuracy of cognition. Overall, exercise demonstrated a small, significant mean effect size (g = 0.14, p < 0.01) on cognition. Examination of the comparison between speed and accuracy dependent variables showed that speed accounted for most of the effect. For speed, moderate intensity exercise demonstrated a significantly larger mean effect size than those for low and high intensities. For speed of processing during moderate intensity exercise, central executive tasks showed a larger effect size than recall and alertness/attention tasks; and mean effect size for counterbalanced or randomized studies was significantly greater than for studies in which a pre-exercise followed by during or post-exercise protocol was used. There was no significant difference between mean effect sizes when testing took place post-exercise compared to during exercise for speed but accuracy studies demonstrated a significantly larger mean effect size post-exercise. It was concluded that increased arousal during moderate intensity exercise resulted in faster speed of processing. The very limited effect on accuracy may be due to the failure to choose tests which are complex enough to measure exercise-induced changes in accuracy of performance.     

Reducing self‐control depletion effects through enhanced sensitivity to implementation: Evidence from fMRI and behavioral studies

Research suggests self-control relies on a limited set of resources that can be diminished by use. Recent theories posit that there are two stages of self-control: recognizing the need for control and implementing controlled responses. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and an intervention experiment to investigate whether one or both stages were affected by the prior exercise of self-control. Results from both experiments indicated that only the implementation stage was affected. Further, we demonstrate that self-control can be increased by an intervention designed to boost implementation, as opposed to the recognition of the need to control one's responses.     

Inhibitory Control in Children with Frontal Infarcts Related to Sickle Cell Disease

Evidence from past studies indicates that children with traumatic brain injury experience difficulties with inhibitory control. Less is known about inhibitory control in children with frontal brain injury related to cerebral infarction. We compared the inhibitory performance of children with frontal infarcts related to sickle cell disease with that of a control group of children with sickle cell disease but no history of cerebral infarction. On a stimulus-response reversal task, children with frontal infarcts made significantly more accuracy errors in the inhibitory condition than controls. Findings from this study and from previous research suggest that impairments in inhibitory control are common following frontal injury in a range of pediatric populations.