Be Merry and Solve Problems!

(1) DREAM BREAK LIGHT

What is the word that forms a common compound or a common phrase with all these words?

How about (2) FLAKE MOBILE CONE
Or (3) PRINT BERRY BIRD

So often in our lives we are presented with new problems; yet we come up with solutions based on what has worked in the past. Only this time the solution does not fit. So we try to think of an alternate answer to the problem, but we get stuck. We perseverate on an easy and familiar answer (which could be evolutionary adaptive, but in this case isn't). This time we must reach out further, get out of our comfort zone, and think more broadly. This may seem impossible, can feel uncomfortable, and even frustrating.

A recent feature article in the Science section of the New York Times discusses research by Mark Beeman, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University (who happens to be my Ph.D. advisor). It turns out that simply being in a good mood may facilitate the sudden insight to the answer. In a study by Subramaniam, Beeman and colleagues, participants watched a short comedy film or an anxiety-inducing film, after which they solved word problems akin to the ones at the top of this page. People who watched the comedy film came up with significantly more solutions than those who watched the anxiety film.

"What we think is happening," said Mark Beeman, "is that the ... positive mood is lowering the brain's threshold for detecting weaker or more remote connections" to solve puzzles. Another interpretation is that positive mood may be an evolutionary signal that our environment is safe and it is alright to move around and explore. There is even some evidence that people in a positive mood literally see more of their surroundings than those in a negative or a neutral mood. Perhaps the perceptual breadth translates into the neural breadth, or vice versa - and we start noticing things we have not noticed previously. Or maybe positive mood facilitates the fun game-like atmosphere and lets us approach problems in a game-like manner.

Whatever the explanation, positive mood seems to lead to more solutions to problems. Sounds like a win-win kind of situation to me! If you'd like to test your problem-solving skills, a fun test can be found here.

Solutions:
(1) day
(2) snow
(3) blue

References:

Subramaniam, K., Kounios, J., Parrish, T. B. & Jung-Beeman, M. (2009). A brain mechanism for facilitation of insight by positive affect. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 415-432.

Schmitz, T. W, De Rosa E., & Anderson, A. K. (2009). Opposing influences of affective state valence on visual cortical encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 7199-207.