Posterior Cingulate Cortex- More Creativity

It is interesting to know how many of us have ever stuck in a wheel track or a rut. Research has been done and the researchers found that stimulating Posterior Cingulate Cortex, a part of the brain, may lead to changes in routine behaviour as the neurons present over there ramp up their firing rates and peak just before a pattern shifts. Understanding this could help businesses better know how to spur employee innovation, exploration and creativity.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Columbia University and Duke University are in a good position now to better understand how this happens, and its effect on the Posterior Cingulate Cortex. They analysed their study and published their findings in the journal Neuron. The research team conducted two experiments called the Patch- Leaving task and the Dubbed the Traveling Salesman. In the first experiment, the team looked at the foraging behaviours of rhesus macaques, a non-human primate species that the researchers have studied both in the lab and in the wild. The animals had the choice between harvesting a juice reward that depleted over time but was guaranteed and immediate or moving to a new patch which would require more time and energy but offered a potentially larger reward. The second experiment was related to an effective traveling salesman. Suppose the merchant moves from door to door, interacting with people in the hopes of making a deal but everyone does not make purchase of a product, though there is an ideal pattern for success. Once the salesman understands this, he follows that pattern until it stops working and a behaviour change is necessary for continued prosperity. The monkeys in this experiment were given an option to visit six different locations, two of which contained rewards, one large and one small. The team recorded the neuron behaviour in the Posterior Cingulate Cortex and noted that neural activity was built till the peak at which point the animals changed course, concluding the correlational evidence that this spike in brain function leads to the divergent thinking and action rather than happens because of it. The team said "If you increased activity in the area exogenously, if I put an electrode in there and stimulated, then you would break off from the routine, you would become more exploratory. Similarly, if you could suppress activity, you'd see the opposite. You'd become hyper-focused on one option, and you may never make a change. Hence, it concluded that people with more activity have more mind-wandering and are more creative. Techniques that directly activate the Posterior Cingulate Cortex like brain stimulation or game play that promotes distraction directly can lead to more creativity.

By- Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171024105656.htm