title: Timing matters! The neural signature of intuitive judgments differs according to the way information is presented.
abstract: One can conceive of intuition as the preliminary perception of coherence. Since this requires holistic perception, it is hypothesized that underlying processing strategies are dependent on the possibility to obtain all relevant information at once. The present study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate neural mechanisms underlying intuitive coherence perception when semantic concepts are presented all together (simultaneously) or one after the other (sequentially). With simultaneous presentation, absolute activation increases in the left OFC when participants recognize coherence. With sequential presentation activation increases in the right OFC when participants conclude that there is no common associate between the words presented. Behavioral performance was similar in the two experiments. These results demonstrate that the way information is revealed over time changes the processing of intuitive coherence perception. We propose that such changes must be taken into account to disentangle the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying different accounts of intuition and related phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany; Research Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics, University of Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: nkh320@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ninja K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Horr
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany; MEG-Centre, University of Tübingen, Germany; CIMeC, Centre for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany; International Max Planck Research School, Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thea
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zander
authors.affiliation: Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Kirsten G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Volz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition / Q000502:physiology*; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Automatic spread of activation; Coherence judgments; Intuition; Magnetoencephalography; Orbitofrontal cortex; Semantic processing