Department for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
Brain Cogn. 2012 Dec;80(3):301-10. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.08.003. Epub 2012 Oct 11.
Conceptual expansion, one of the core operations in creative cognition, was investigated in the present ERP study. An experimental paradigm using novel metaphoric, nonsensical and literal phrases was employed where individual differences in conceptual knowledge organization were accounted for by using participants' responses to categorize the stimuli to each condition. The categorization was determined by their judgment of the stimuli on the two defining criteria of creativity: unusualness and appropriateness. Phrases judged as unusual and appropriate were of special interest as they are novel and unfamiliar phrases thought to passively induce conceptual expansion. The results showed a graded N400 modulation for phrases judged to be unusual and inappropriate (nonsense) or unusual and appropriate (conceptual expansion, novel metaphorical) relative to usual and appropriate (literal) phrases. The N400 is interpreted as indexing greater effort to retrieve semantic information and integrate the novel concepts presented through the phrases. Analyses of the later time-window showed an ongoing negativity that was graded in the same manner as the N400. The findings attest to the usefulness of investigating creative cognition using event-related electrophysiology.
概念扩展是创造性认知的核心操作之一，本研究采用事件相关电位（ERP）技术对此进行了研究。实验采用了新颖的隐喻、荒谬和字面短语，通过参与者对刺激进行分类的反应来考虑概念知识组织的个体差异，这些分类是根据他们对刺激的两个创造性定义标准（不寻常性和适当性）的判断来确定的。被判断为不寻常和适当的短语特别有趣，因为它们是新颖的、不熟悉的短语，被认为可以被动地诱导概念扩展。结果表明，相对于通常和适当的（字面）短语，被判断为不寻常和不适当（荒谬）或不寻常和适当（概念扩展，新颖的隐喻）的短语在 N400 上有逐渐的调制。N400 被解释为索引更大的努力来检索语义信息，并整合通过短语呈现的新的概念。对后期时间窗口的分析显示，一种持续的负性波，其分级方式与 N400 相同。这些发现证明了使用事件相关的电生理学来研究创造性认知的有效性。
