Peculiarities of brain electric activity in young males and females of different creativity levels

Abstract

AbstractThis article shows that the peculiarities of divergent and convergent thinking in young males and females of various creativity levels are stipulated by a definite EEG frequency-and-spatial arrangement. Young males and females of mixed and left lateral arrangement profiles demonstrate an expressed activity of occipital, central, and temporal areas of both cerebral hemispheres. In young males and females of right LAP (lateral arrangement profile), connections are clearly localized in case of solution of both convergent and divergent tasks. Solution of divergent and convergent tasks may condition certain frequency-and-spatial arrangement of EEG in young males and females with different levels of academic progress and a different lateral arrangement profile (LAP).DOI: 10.11621/pir.2013.0303Pages: 31-40By: Ermakov, Pavel N. Saakyan, Oxana S.Themes: Special Section: Science in Dialogue -- 10th Sino-German Workshop Selected PapersKeywords: creativity, lateral arrangement profile (LAP), intrahemispheric and interhemispheric coherent connections, convergent tasks, divergent tasks, academic progress, gender.1. IntroductionThe problem of brain mechanisms in creative thinking is among the most prominent in modern psychophysiology (Bekhtereva, 2006; Volf, Razumnikova, 2009, 2010; Fink, 2010; Mihov, Denzlerb, Forsterb, 2010; Zenasni, Lubarta, 2011, etc.).There are currently quite a number of investigations devoted to the peculiarities of interhemispheric action, and the specific roles played by each hemisphere in creative thinking and individual diversities (Razumnikolva, 2001; Hoppe, 1988; Zenasni, Lubart?, 2011, etc.). Some other investigations show the role of the prefrontal areas in both hemispheres, the frontal and temporal areas in the right hemisphere, the occipital zone in the left hemisphere, the parietal and central areas in both hemispheres, and the frontal temporal areas in both hemispheres in verbal and non-verbal creative thinking (Bekhtereva, 2006; Volf, Razumnikova, Bryzgalov, 2010, etc.).The existing data on the roles of the right and left brain hemispheres in creative thinking are rather contradictory: on the one hand, the right hemisphere is involved in creation in divergent thinking (Razumnikolva 2001, 2009; Shamay-Tsoorya, Adlera, Aharon-Peretzb, Perrya, Mayselessa, 2011, etc.); on the other hand, the activation of the right cortex is also possible in convergent thinking (Hoppe, 1988).There is also data fr om many researchers indicating a closer interhemispheric integration and a less expressed brain asymmetry in creative individuals.The topicality of studying the professional behavior of the personality, specifically its creative potential, development and formation mechanisms, has greatly increased under the conditions of the economy of Russia (Barysheva, 2006; Guselnikova, 2008; Petrova, 2009, etc.).However, there are practically no investigations concerning specific brain mechanisms (EEG correlates) in people of different creativity levels, and concerning their connection with individual typological peculiarities.The objective of this investigation is to study brain electric activity peculiarities in young males and females of different creativity levels in solving cognitive tasks.2. Subject and research methods2.1 Subject of researchThe subject under examination is the frequency-and-spatial EEG characteristics in young males and females of different creativity levels and lateral arrangement profiles (LAP) in the solution of cognitive tasks.The test group included 2nd to 5th year students of the Southern Federal University majoring in humanities: 190 people aged between 18 and 23, among them 93 males and 97 females. In accordance with the above objective, all the test subjects were subdivided into smaller groups depending on creativity level, academic performance level, lateral arrangement profile (LAP), and gender. …