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Features of temporal dynamics of oscillatory brain activity during creative problem solving in young and elderly adults

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Abstract

Considering evidence from psychological research, successful aging is accompanied by long-term preservation of creative potential despite slowing of mental processes; however, the neurophysiological mechanisms that ensure the maintenance of those abilities are unclear. In this study, we compared temporal dynamics of changes induced by divergent task electrical activity (event-related spectral perturbations, ERSP) in a wide range of EEG frequencies in the younger (YA, N = 80, 22.6 ± 3 years) and older (OA, N = 80, 63.4 ± 6.7 years) age groups. The groups were sex-matched. EEG was recorded while participants performed the “alternate uses task”. The time ranges 200–400, 400–600 and 600–800 ms after stimulus presentation were analyzed. It was found that task performance was associated with distinct patterns of ERSP changes in the θ and α3 rhythms in young and elderly subjects. The elderly subjects exhibited smaller θ-desyn-chronization of anterior brain areas at the initial stage of creative thinking as compared to young participants. The gradient of fronto-parietal activation was unchanged during the entire interval of analysis in the elderly subjects, whereas it was observed in young adults in the interval 200–400 ms only. Decrease in desynchronization of the parieto-occipital area in the α3 rhythm in the interval 600–800 ms in elderly subjects was revealed, and it resulted in disappearance of differences between parietal and fronto-temporal areas, while they were preserved in the young group. Significant correlations between ERSP in the α3 band and originality, in the β1 band and solution rate were obtained in old adults exclusively. Identified age-related changes in oscillatory activity may be the basis of different strategies in solving creative task in young and elderly adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine, Novosibirsk, 630117, Russia

    E. Yu. Privodnova & N. V. Volf

  2. Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    N. V. Volf

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  1. E. Yu. Privodnova
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Original Russian Text © E.Yu. Privodnova, N.V. Volf, 2016, published in Fiziologiya Cheloveka, 2016, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 5–12.

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Privodnova, E.Y., Volf, N.V. Features of temporal dynamics of oscillatory brain activity during creative problem solving in young and elderly adults. Hum Physiol 42, 469–475 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119716050133

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