EXERSIGHT

This research proposal aims to identify conditions that can help individuals to gain insight for solving complex problems. Insights appear when a solution has been generated by unconscious processing and then suddenly pop up into consciousness. The work done by Dijksterhuis (external collaborator) in the frame of his Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT, Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006) has extensively supported the fact that solutions to complex problems and creative ideas more likely result from the implicit mode of thought that depends on unconscious processes than from the explicit system depending on conscious processes (e.g., Dijksterhuis, Bos, Nordgren, & Van Baaren, 2006; Dijksterhuis & Meurs, 2006). Nevertheless, a recent study has shown that if solutions are actually generated by the implicit system, they often fail to emerge into consciousness, leaving individuals unaware of potentially very valuable knowledge (Zhong, Dijksterhuis & Galinsky, 2008). In this regard, an important research avenue is to identify conditions that favor transfer of unconscious knowledge into consciousness. Radel (PI) and Dijksterhuis have already started to work together to investigate this question. In a set of preliminary studies, they have tested the idea that when the executive control is undermined such as during altered states of consciousness (ASC), the working memory space, which greatly corresponds to the content of consciousness (Baars & Franklin, 2003), would be preferably filled by unconscious knowledge (Radel & Dijksterhuis, 2012). Another preliminary study by Radel, Brisswalter (co-PI), and Davranche (co-PI, 2013) supports this finding and indicates which executive function would be specifically involved for insight retrieval. More specifically, these preliminary results show that a transient incapacity of the inhibition function can result in increased performance at solving insight-problems. Among the different kinds of ASC, exercise seems to be a prototypical case for experiencing insights. First, research on the effect of exercise on cognitive performance, such as those by Brisswalter (co-investigator, see Brisswalter, Collardeau, & Arcellin, 2002) and Davranche (co-investigator, Davranche, Burle, Audiffren, & Hasbroucq, 2006), showed that while acute exercise improves the efficiency of the implicit system, some exercise conditions can also undermined performance of the explicit system. Second, a recent model by Dietrich (external collaborator, Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011) assumes that acute exercise would engender a disengagement of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is the center of cognitive control (Miller & Cohen, 2001). Third, other neurocognitive models indicate that the cerebellum, which is one of the main brain areas in charge of motor control, would also play a crucial role in creativity (Vandervert, Schimpf, & Liu, 2007). Therefore, this proposal will be more specifically devoted to examine the capacity of exercise to facilitate occurrence of insights. To accomplish this goal, we will start our investigation by determining physiological conditions of exercise practice that lead to the disengagement of frontal regions supporting the inhibition function, i.e., the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC), the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and in a less important manner, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Then, we will verify that a reduced activity of these frontal areas during exercise is associated with a decreased cognitive control, and that this leads to an enhanced retrieval of unconscious knowledge. Following the tests of these theoretical prerequisites underlying our model, we will directly test the effect of acute exercise to gain access to insights in different experimental tasks and in more natural creative situations (i.e., engineering). Finally, this proposal is aimed at determining the best temporal sequence to benefit from this presumed positive effect of exercise.