Neural Mechanisms of Creative Problem Solving: From Representational Change to Memory Formation

Despite the need for innovative solutions to contemporary challenges, the neural mechanisms driving creative problem-solving, including representational change and its relation to memory, still remain largely unknown. We focused on the powerful creative process of insight, wherein rapid knowledge reorganisation and integration--termed representational change--yield solutions that evoke suddenness, certainty, positive emotion, and enduring memory. We posit that this process manifests as stronger shifts in activation patterns within brain regions housing solution-relevant information, including the visual cortex for visual problems, alongside regions linked to feelings of emotion, suddenness and subsequent memory. Our findings substantiate these hypotheses, revealing stronger representational changes in visual cortex, conjoined with activations in the amygdala and hippocampus--forming an interconnected network. Importantly, the representational change and hippocampal effects serve as predictive markers of subsequent memory. This study provides evidence of an integrated insight mechanism influencing memory. Implications extend to education, emphasising the significance of discovery-based learning approaches for boosting knowledge retention.