Competition during verbal creative processes influences on ERS/ERD.

Humans are social creatures, and many tasks in our daily lives are solved together. The two main forms of social interaction in problem solving could be defined as competition and cooperation. In our study, we compared the ERS/ERD when performing a creative task (Alternative Uses Test, AUT) and a control task ("naming the objects from the presented category") under competitive conditions in dyads (22 dyads, m-m, f-f, 18-23 years old) compared to the performance of tasks individually. The number of answers given by subjects under competitive conditions was significantly lower than during the execution of the tasks individually. The solving of the creative task in competition versus individual performance was accompanied by EEG synchronization (9-30 hz) clusters: 140-1220 ms and 900-1780 ms after stimulus presentation; 13.5-30 hz (1800-1980 ms), reflecting the creative thinking mode, and expected cognitive, emotional answers' assessment. The control task under competitive conditions was accompanied by pronounced synchronization of low frequencies in the frontal areas (2-7 hz, 0-1980 ms), due to a greater working memory load; synchronization clusters in broadband (10-30 hz, 100-320 ms, 400-860 ms) and in the beta EEG band (17-30 hz, 1140-1980 ms). The competitive conditions significantly modulated the brain activity underlying creative and non-creative cognitive task performance, and resulted in greater induced EEG synchronization.