Designing-Related Neural Processes: Higher Alpha, Theta and Beta Bands’ Key Roles in Distinguishing Designing from Problem-Solving (original) (raw)

Industrial designers problem-solving and designing: An EEG study

2020

This paper presents results from an experiment to determine brain activation differences between problem-solving and designing of industrial designers. The study adopted and extended the tasks described in a fMRI study of design cognition and measured brain activation using electroencephalography (EEG). By taking advantage of EEG's high temporal resolution we focus on time-related neural responses during problem-solving compared to design tasks. The experiment consists of multiple tasks: problem-solving, basic design and open design using a tangible interface. The tasks are preceded by a familiarizing pre-task and then extended to a fourth open design task using free-hand sketching. The results indicate design cognition differences in the brain measurements of task-related power and temporal analysis of transformed power between the constrained problem-solving task and the open design tasks. Statistical analyses indicate increased brain activation when designing compared to problem-solving. Results of time-related neural responses connected to Brodmann' areas cognitive functions, contribute to a better understanding of industrial designers' cognition in open and constrained design spaces and how the problem statement can constrain or expand conceptual expansion.

The Neurophysiological Activations of Novice and Experienced Professionals When Designing and Problem-Solving

Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference, 2020

We present results from an EEG experiment EEG to measure neurophysiological activation to study novice and experienced designers when designing and problem-solving. We adopted and extended the tasks described in a previous fMRI study. The block experiment consists of 3 tasks: problem-solving, basic design, and open layout design. The block is preceded by a familiarizing pre-task and extended to an open design sketching task. Results from 36 sessions of mechanical engineers and industrial designers indicate significant differences in activations between the problem-solving and the design tasks.

The neurophysiological activations of mechanical engineers and industrial designers while designing and problem-solving

Design Science 6 e26, 2022

This paper presents results from an experiment using electroencephalography to measure neurophysiological activations of mechanical engineers and industrial designers when designing and problem-solving. In this study, we adopted and then extended the tasks described in a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study reported in the literature. The block experiment consists of a sequence of three tasks: problem-solving, basic design and open design using a physical interface. The block is preceded by a familiarizing pre-task and then extended to a fourth open design task using free-hand sketching. This paper presents the neurophysiological results from 36 experimental sessions of mechanical engineers and industrial designers. Results indicate significant differences in activations between the problem-solving and the open design tasks. The paper focuses on the two prototypical tasks of problem-solving layout and open design sketching and presents results for both aggregate and temporal activations across participants within each domain and across domains.

Brain Activity of Industrial Designers in Constrained and Open Design: The Effect of Gender on Frequency Bands

Proceedings of the Design Society, 2021

In this paper, we present results from an experiment using EEG to measure brain activity and explore EEG frequency power associated with gender differences of professional industrial designers while performing two prototypical stages of constrained and open design tasks, problem-solving and design sketching. Results indicate no main effect of gender. However, among other main effects, a consistent main effect of hemisphere for the six frequency bands under analysis was found. In the problem-solving stage, male designers show higher alpha and beta bands in channels of the prefrontal cortices and female designers in the right occipitotemporal cortex and secondary visual cortices. In the design sketching stage, male designers show higher alpha and beta bands in the right prefrontal cortex, and female designers in the right temporal cortex and left prefrontal cortex, where higher theta is also found. Prioritising different cognitive functions seem to play a role in each gender's app...

Comparing the Design Neurocognition of Mechanical Engineers and Architects: A Study of the Effect of Designer’s Domain

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 2019

New tools from neuroscience allow design researchers to explore design neurocognition. By taking the advantage of EEG's temporal resolution we give up spatial resolution to focus on the performance of time-related design tasks. This paper presents results from an experiment using EEG to measure brain activation to study mechanical engineers and architects to compare their design neurocognition. In this study, we adopted and extended the tasks described in a previous fMRI study of design neurocognition reported in the literature. The block experiment consists of a sequence of 3 tasks: problem solving, basic design and open design using a physical interface. The block is preceded by a familiarizing pre-task using the physical interface and then extended to a fourth task using free-hand sketching. Brainwaves were collected from both mechanical engineers and architects. Results comparing 36 mechanical engineers and architects while designing were produced. These results indicate des...

Understanding the Design Neurocognition of Mechanical Engineers When Designing and Problem-Solving

Volume 7: 31st International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology

This paper presents results from an experiment to determine brain activation differences between problem-solving and designing of mechanical engineers. The study is part of a research project whose goal is to correlate design cognition with brain behavior across design domains. The study adopted and extended the tasks described in a fMRI study of design cognition and measured brain activation using EEG. By taking the advantage of EEG’s temporal resolution we focus on time-related neural responses during problem-solving compared to design tasks. Statistical analyses indicate increased activation when designing compared to problem-solving. Results of time-related neural responses connected to Brodmann areas cognitive functions, contribute to a better understanding of mechanical engineers’ cognition in open design tasks.

Brain activity In constrained and open Design spaces: An Eeg Study

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2020), 2020

Creativity is recognized as essential for changing the design space from constrained to open spaces. This study compares the neurophysiological activations of 18 professional industrial designers in two prototypical tasks, a problem-solving constrained layout task and an open design task. The analysis focused on measuring the cognitive demand in three stages of designing in constrained and open design spaces, namely: reading, problem-solving/reflection and layout/sketching. Results indicate significant differences in activations between the constrained task and the design task. Significant differences in activations involved in design reading, reflecting and sketching in open design tasks can be found in the left prefrontal cortex, temporal and occipital cortices. In particular, reading open or constrained requests evoked different levels of conceptual expansion prompting designers to change their design space, while reflecting evoked visual imagination and associative reasoning modes and hemispheric differences from problem-solving leading to expanded activation in sketching, which translates in higher activation in the open design task. These results show significantly different brain activations when designing in constrained and open design spaces.

Correlating Design Performance to Eeg Activation: Early Evidence from Experimental Data

Proceedings of the Design Society

This paper presents an EEG (Electroencephalography) study that explores correlations between the neurophysiological activations, the nature of the design task and its outputs. We propose an experimental protocol that covers several design-related tasks: including fundamental activities (e.g. idea generation and problem-solving) as well as more comprehensive task requiring the complex higher-level reasoning of designing. We clustered the collected data according to the characteristics of the design outcome and measured EEG alpha band activation during elementary and higher-level design task, whereas just the former yielded statistically significant different behaviour in the left frontal and occipital area. We also found a significant correlation between the ratings for elementary sketching task outcomes and EEG activation at the higher-level design task. These results suggested that EEG activation enables distinguishing groups according to their performance only for elementary tasks...

To investigate power of brain activity using EEG comparison between creative and non-creative design task

2017

In recent times, neurophysiological measurement methods such as EEG and fMRI are widely used in an Engineering field to study designer’s brain activity during creative thinking. In literature, many researchers reported the synchronization and desynchronization of EEG activity in specific brain cortex during creative thinking. However, we do not find many studies associated to comparison of designer’s brain activity during creativity/non-creativity related task demands. The chief objective of present thesis is to investigate the power of brain activity using EEG comparison between creative and non-creative design task. For psychometric measures of creative thinking, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance, 1966) is widely used. In present thesis, we use modified TTCT according to our experiment requirement. The test was decomposed between creative and non-creative design task. In creative design task, designers were instructed to think creatively whereas in non-creative d...

Exploring the neurological basis of design cognition using brain imaging: some preliminary results

Design Studies, 2009

The paper presents a pilot interdisciplinary research study carried out as a step towards understanding the neurological basis of design thinking. The study involved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of volunteers while performing design and problem-solving tasks. The findings suggest that design and problem solving involve distinct cognitive functions associated with distinct brain networks. The paper introduces the methodology, presents the findings, and discusses the potential role of brain imaging in design research.