Abstract
People may experience an “aha” moment, when suddenly realizing a solution of a puzzling problem. This experience is called insight problem solving. Several findings suggest that catecholamine-related genes may contribute to insight problem solving, among which the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is the most promising candidate. The current study examined 753 healthy individuals to determine the associations between 7 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms on the COMT gene and insight problem-solving performance, while considering gender differences. The results showed that individuals carrying A allele of rs4680 or T allele of rs4633 scored significantly higher on insight problem-solving tasks, and the COMT gene rs5993883 combined with gender interacted with correct solutions of insight problems, specifically showing that this gene only influenced insight problem-solving performance in males. This study presents the first investigation of the genetic impact on insight problem solving and provides evidence that highlights the role that the COMT gene plays in insight problem solving.
Highlights
In daily life, people may get stuck with some problems that cannot be solved using regular methods, and suddenly somehow get the solution or an idea, accompanying with a delightful “aha” feeling
The present study aimed to investigate a possible association between insight problem solving and the COMT gene, including several single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rather than only rs4680 to look at the broader picture of COMT gene influences, and considering gender as a potential moderator
All seven SNPs were polymorphic with minor allele frequency (MAF) > 5% and in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium
Summary
People may get stuck with some problems that cannot be solved using regular methods, and suddenly somehow get the solution or an idea, accompanying with a delightful “aha” feeling This experience is called insight problem solving (Sternberg and Davidson, 1995; Smith and Kounios, 1996; Bowden et al, 2005; Chu and MacGregor, 2011). Insight problem solving is not a unique human capacity – it has been found in non-human species (Shettleworth, 2012), Insight problem-solving and COMT gene such as chimpanzees (Köhler, 1925) and elephants (Foerder et al, 2011). It is essential to investigate the deep genetic influences on insight problem solving, to improve our understanding of insight problem solving and creativity
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