Aha-Moments, Gamma ,Consciousness and Creativity

Complex problem solving can happen analytically and spontaneously. Sudden insight arises from within and is followed by a rewarding feeling and confidence, also known by the name of the ‘aha-moment (Rosen & Rainer, 2015). Sudden comprehension is innovative and creative: it asks for investigation to find out what happens in the brain. Are there differences between analytical problem solving and sudden discovery of a solution? Using EEG and fMRI to measure electrical activity and blood flow in the brain, Kounios and Beeman (2009) presented a verbal problem to participants that were prompted to immedately press a button after they found a solution. Brain activity was measured shortly before pressing the button. Different groups were formed according to solution finding through analytical processing or sudden insight. The study demonstrates a difference between the two ways of coming to a solution. Sudden insights show a quick burst of slow 10 Hz alpha-frequency followed by an immediate burst of 40Hz gamma-band frequency, whereas analytical solving did not display similar spikes. Since gamma frequencies are associated with unity of consciousness and alpha frequencies with an idle but alert state and perception of calmness (Desai, Tailor & Bhatt, 2015), these results indicate that insight problem solving activates attention to go inwards to retrieve information from intuitively connected areas of the brain (Kounios & Beeman, 2009).  

References

Kounios, J. & Beeman, M. (2009). The Aha! Moment: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight. Association for Psychological Science, 18:4. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01638.x

                   Rosen, A. & Reiner, M. (2016). Right frontal gamma and beta band enhancement while solving a spatial puzzle with insight. International Journal of Psychophysiology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.09.008

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