Chance favors the prepared mind, said Louis Pasteur. Sometimes, significant breakthroughs occur when we creatively integrate new information, leading to a creative insight or an Aha! moment, while at other times when we fail to use a clue, we remain stuck in our habitual thinking patterns. In this study, we hypothesized that the brain's transient…

The objective of this study was to measure the contribution of the left frontopolar cortex (FPC) to analogical reasoning. Our measure of analogical reasoning derives from performance on the radiation problem, a creative problem-solving task first used in Gestalt psychology (Duncker, 1945). Success on this task is as low as 10 % without the…

Creative thinking stems from the cognitive process that fosters the creation of new ideas and problem-solving solutions. Artificial intelligence systems and neural network models can reduce the intricacy of understanding creative cognition. For instance, the generation of ideas could be symbolized as patterns of binary code in which clusters of…

To solve a new problem, people spontaneously engage multiple cognitive processes. Previous work has identified a diverse set of oscillatory components critical at different stages of creative problem solving. In this project, we use hidden state modeling to untangle the roles of oscillation processes over time as people solve puzzles. Building on…

Growth mindset, the belief that one's abilities can improve through cognitive effort, is an important psychological construct with broad implications for enabling children to reach their highest potential. However, surprisingly little is known about malleability of growth mindset in response to cognitive interventions in children and its…

The purpose of this study aimed to analyze the process of online collaborative problem solving (CPS) via brain-to-brain synchrony (BS) at the problem-understanding and problem-solving stages. Aiming to obtain additional insights than traditional approaches (survey and observation), BS refers to the synchronization of brain activity between two or…

Curiosity, creativity, and aesthetics are typically studied separately. The extent to which they share psychological and neural mechanisms is not well understood, despite all being linked to broader personality characteristics like Openness to Experience and are driven by a desire for information and knowledge. Here, we review evidence and advance…

This study explored the effects of a professional development (PD) on neuroeducation general pedagogical knowledge and instructional strategies for three cohorts of in-service teachers on their teaching self-efficacy beliefs. Teacher self-efficacy is one of the most influential factors for teaching practices, student outcomes, and teacher…

Art therapy can be particularly successful in addressing the specific needs of individuals struggling with anorexia nervosa (AN) through the use of the creative process. This article provides an understanding of the effect of malnourishment on the brain for individuals with AN and discusses how their unique needs can be met through the application…

Evidence from a range of fields shows that representation-connection (RC) is the key step towards the solution of a real-world insight problem. However, no study has focused on the inter-individual variability in RC, and little is known about whether structural and resting-state functional signals can account for inter-individual differences in…

The ability to reason and problem-solve in novel situations, as measured by the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM), is highly predictive of both cognitive task performance and real-world outcomes. Here we provide evidence that RAPM performance depends on the ability to reallocate attention in response to self-generated feedback about…

Case studies are helpful teaching tools that can bring scientific concepts to life. Here, we present a case study related to protein-ligand interactions, amino acids, protein structure, and protein modification. While protein-ligand interaction is a foundational concept within Biochemistry, there are few available case studies that focus on this…

Mathematical knowledge is constructed hierarchically from basic understanding of quantities and the symbols that denote them. Discrimination of numerical quantity in both symbolic and non-symbolic formats has been linked to mathematical problem-solving abilities. However, little is known of the extent to which overlap in quantity representations…

In a recent theoretical article, I proposed that the efficiency of mitochondrial functioning is the most fundamental biological mechanism contributing to individual differences in general intelligence ("g;" Geary, 2018). The hypothesis accommodates other contributing mechanisms at higher levels of analysis (e.g., brain networks), and is…

The present study aims at answering the question of whether there is any relationship between brain hemisphericity and non-routine problem solving skills of prospective teachers. One hundred twenty-three prospective teachers participated in the study. The Brain Hemisphericity Test and Non-routine Problem Solving Test were used to evaluate…