TY - JOUR
T1 - Hemispheric alpha asymmetry and self-rated originality of ideas
AU - O’Rourke, Polly
AU - Haarmann, Henk J.
AU - George, Tim
AU - Smaliy, Alexei
AU - Grunewald, Kristin
AU - Dien, Joseph
N1 - Funding Information:
Address correspondence to: Polly O’Rourke, Center for Advanced Study of Language, University of Maryland, 7005 52nd Avenue, College Park, MD 20742, USA. E-mail: [email protected] No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. This research is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, with funding from the US Government. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Maryland, College Park and/or any agency or entity of the US Government. Polly O’Rourke and Henk J. Haarmann contributed equally to this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2015/11/2
Y1 - 2015/11/2
N2 - The generation of highly original ideas in divergent thinking tasks has been found to be associated with task-related changes in the alpha band. The goal of the current study was to determine if exposure to brainwave entrainment (BWE) at the alpha centre frequency before and during performance of a divergent thinking task would result in increases in task-related, event-related synchrony and the production of more highly original ideas. We found that alpha entrainment interfered with the oscillatory dynamics associated with divergent thinking such that only the control group showed greater right hemispheric engagement. Furthermore, the control group showed greater self-rated originality. These findings provide confirmation of the importance of hemispheric asymmetry in alpha power to successful divergent thinking and indicate that refinements are required in order for BWE to be used effectively to improve divergent thinking performance.
AB - The generation of highly original ideas in divergent thinking tasks has been found to be associated with task-related changes in the alpha band. The goal of the current study was to determine if exposure to brainwave entrainment (BWE) at the alpha centre frequency before and during performance of a divergent thinking task would result in increases in task-related, event-related synchrony and the production of more highly original ideas. We found that alpha entrainment interfered with the oscillatory dynamics associated with divergent thinking such that only the control group showed greater right hemispheric engagement. Furthermore, the control group showed greater self-rated originality. These findings provide confirmation of the importance of hemispheric asymmetry in alpha power to successful divergent thinking and indicate that refinements are required in order for BWE to be used effectively to improve divergent thinking performance.
KW - Alpha
KW - Brainwave entrainment
KW - Divergent thinking
KW - Hemispheric asymmetry
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84940459280
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84940459280#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1080/1357650X.2015.1037309
DO - 10.1080/1357650X.2015.1037309
M3 - Article
C2 - 25960194
AN - SCOPUS:84940459280
SN - 1357-650X
VL - 20
SP - 685
EP - 698
JO - Laterality
JF - Laterality
IS - 6
ER -