EEG alpha activity is moderated by the serial order effect during divergent thinking

Abstract

Prior work has demonstrated that the serial order effect is commonly observed during the Alternative Uses Task, where generated uses become more creative over time while fluency decreases. Yet the neural correlates of the serial order effect are still relatively unexplored. The present study aimed to investigate the electrophysiological correlates underlying this effect. EEG alpha activity was measured using a task-related power paradigm while participants completed both the Alternative Uses Task as well as a Category Fluency Task. The results indicated that left hemisphere alpha power increased relative to right alpha power as a function of the serial order effect in the Alternative Uses Task, but not in the Category Fluency Task. This finding provides evidence that the pattern of observed EEG alpha activity changes over the course of the serial order effect.