Abstract
AbstractThis paper presents the results of studying the brain activations of 30 engineering students when using three different design concept generation techniques: brainstorming, morphological analysis, and TRIZ. Changes in students’ brain activation in the prefrontal cortex were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results are based on the area under the curve analysis of oxygenated hemodynamic response as well as an assessment of functional connectivity using Pearson’s correlation to compare students’ cognitive brain activations using these three different ideation techniques. The results indicate that brainstorming and morphological analysis demand more cognitive activation across the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to TRIZ. The highest cognitive activation when brainstorming and using morphological analysis is in the right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC. These regions are associated with divergent thinking and ill-defined problem-solving. TRIZ produces more cognitive activation in the left DLPFC. This region is associated with convergent thinking and making judgments. Morphological analysis and TRIZ also enable greater coordination (i.e., synchronized activation) between brain regions. These findings offer new evidence that structured techniques like TRIZ reduce cognitive activation, change patterns of activation and increase coordination between regions in the brain.
Highlights
Engineering design is an iterative process of problem exploration, concept generation and evaluation (Cross 1989)
We observed that TRIZ reduces the cognitive load required in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to brainstorming and morphological analysis
The neuroimaging methods adopted in this study explored how concept generation techniques influence neurocognition during design
Summary
Engineering design is an iterative process of problem exploration, concept generation and evaluation (Cross 1989). Three well-known design ideation techniques: brainstorming (Osborn 1953), morphological analysis (Allen 1962) and TRIZ (Altshuller 1984) encapsulate different characteristics in terms of ideation intuitiveness and motivation as well as technique structuredness, as Table 1 shows. Such techniques can be used either individually or in groups (Gero, Jiang & Williams 2013). TRIZ offers engineering principles and cataloged solutions (i.e., design reference of engineering parameters and innovative principles)
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