Relaxing learned constraints through cathodal tDCS on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

We solve problems by applying previously learned rules. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a pivotal role in automating this process of rule induction. Despite its usual efficiency, this process fails when we encounter new problems in which past experience leads to a mental rut. Learned rules could therefore act as constraints which need to be removed in order to change the problem representation for producing the solution. We investigated the possibility of suppressing the DLPFC by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to facilitate such representational change. Participants solved matchstick arithmetic problems before and after receiving cathodal, anodal or sham tDCS to the left DLPFC. Participants who received cathodal tDCS were more likely to solve the problems that require the maximal relaxation of previously learned constraints than the participants who received anodal or sham tDCS. We conclude that cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC might facilitate the relaxation of learned constraints, leading to a successful representational change

Grounding Word Learning in Space

Humans and objects, and thus social interactions about objects, exist within space. Words direct listeners' attention to specific regions of space. Thus, a strong correspondence exists between where one looks, one's bodily orientation, and what one sees. This leads to further correspondence with what one remembers. Here, we present data suggesting that children use associations between space and objects and space and words to link words and objects—space binds labels to their referents. We tested this claim in four experiments, showing that the spatial consistency of where objects are presented affects children's word learning. Next, we demonstrate that a process model that grounds word learning in the known neural dynamics of spatial attention, spatial memory, and associative learning can capture the suite of results reported here. This model also predicts that space is special, a prediction supported in a fifth experiment that shows children do not use color as a cue to bind words and objects. In a final experiment, we ask whether spatial consistency affects word learning in naturalistic word learning contexts. Children of parents who spontaneously keep objects in a consistent spatial location during naming interactions learn words more effectively. Together, the model and data show that space is a powerful tool that can effectively ground word learning in social contexts

Zapping in the gap: Reducing the multisensory temporal binding window by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects stimulus conflict but not response conflict

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The relevance of the irrelevant: Attentional distractor-response binding predicts performance in the remote associates task.

Psychologists have long thought that an inability to suppress irrelevant information hinders our ability to solve problems. However, most studies have investigated analytical rather than creative problem solving. Here, we examine whether the way in which the brain processes task-irrelevant information affects its ability to solve complex and creative problems. Using well-established paradigms from the attentional-perceptual literature (the event-file binding task) and problem-solving literature (the Remote Associates Test and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices), we found that greater attentional leakage, as manifest by strong perceptual distractor-response binding, might be beneficial for solving insight-based creative problems but not necessarily for problems that require pattern finding and logic. These results suggest a specific advantage for spreading attention more equally between relevant and irrelevant information in order to creatively ‘think outside of the box’. This delineates a beautiful mapping between the way our sensory systems interact with the external world and our brain’s formation of internal semantic networks that underlie our creative capacities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)Action Contro

Zooming into creativity: Individual differences in attentional global-local biases are linked to creative thinking

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