title: Chunk decomposition contributes to forming new mental representations: An ERP study.
abstract: Whereas previous studies mainly focused on the role of chunk decomposition on how to break impasse in insight occurrence, our study aimed to investigate the role of chunk decomposition in forming new mental representations. For this purpose, the Chinese riddle comprehension task was employed in which the riddle involves either tight or loose chunk decomposition. The event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured after the onset of an answer hint, with which participants were instructed to comprehend the Chinese riddles. The behavioral results showed that participants performed worse on riddle comprehension in tight chunk condition than in loose chunk condition. In addition, we found larger N100 and P300 deflections in the former condition than in the latter condition. These findings suggest that early perceptual processing is crucially required by chunk decomposition, which contributes to forming new mental representations by integrating the perceptual and semantic information.
authors.affiliation: College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, PR China; Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhonglu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China. Electronic address: qiang_xingpsy@126.com.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Brain Function and Psychological Science, Shenzhen University, PR China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Leiden University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christopher Michael
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou 510303, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiwen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Nanfang Vocational College, Jiangmen 529000, PR China.
authors.forename: Jingshang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Che
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003405:Creativity; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011340:Problem Solving; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese character; Chinese riddle; Chunk decomposition; ERPs