Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University, Building 550, 416 Escondido Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Neuroimage. 2019 Dec;203:116161. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116161. Epub 2019 Sep 4.
It is often assumed that groups of individuals can work together to achieve innovation and solve complex problems they are unable to solve on their own. One of the underlying assumptions is that a group can be more creative and innovative than single individuals. Previous research has begun to examine the process by which problem solving occurs in teams looking to achieve innovation. Despite this progress, a clear, brain-based model that informs how team interactivity contributes and impacts the outcome of an innovation event is lacking. Here we present a naturalistic study designed to examine creative problem solving involving team cooperation. We used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure inter-brain synchrony (IBS) between interacting partners engaged in a creative design task. Results implicate the involvement of cognitive control coupled with the mentalizing and mirror neuron networks in IBS. Post hoc behavioral and temporal analyses revealed an increase in cooperation over time in association with reduction in IBS. Our results demonstrate the importance of a naturalistic design for investigating the neural underpinnings of team interactions as well as suggest a possible mechanism for team creativity.
人们通常认为，个体可以通过合作来实现创新，并解决他们自身无法解决的复杂问题。其中一个基本假设是，一个团队的创造力和创新性可能会高于单个个体。先前的研究已经开始探讨团队在寻求创新时解决问题的过程。尽管取得了这一进展，但对于团队互动如何促进和影响创新事件结果的明确的基于大脑的模型仍然缺乏。在这里，我们展示了一项旨在检验涉及团队合作的创造性问题解决的自然主义研究。我们使用功能近红外光谱 (fNIRS) 来测量参与创造性设计任务的互动伙伴之间的脑间同步 (IBS)。结果表明，认知控制与心理化和镜像神经元网络的参与与 IBS 有关。事后的行为和时间分析表明，随着 IBS 的减少，合作随着时间的推移而增加。我们的研究结果表明，对于研究团队互动的神经基础，自然主义设计具有重要意义，同时也为团队创造力提出了一个可能的机制。
