The effects of emotional valence on insight problem solving in global-local processing: An ERP study

Recently, some studies have reported that the joint effects of different processing types and emotions can lead to different task outcomes, but it remains unclear how they affect insight problem solving. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERP) to examine the joint effect and neural mechanism of processing type and emotional valence on insight problem solving. Behavioural results found that, compared to positive emotion, negative emotion promoted insight problem solving in the global processing condition. In contrast, in the local processing condition, positive emotion promoted insight problem solving compared to negative emotion. ERP results further found that local processing elicited larger N1 compared with global processing, indicating more focused visual processing. Importantly, negative emotion in global processing and positive emotion in local processing elicited more negative N450 amplitudes and N600–1200 amplitudes. The findings suggest that negative emotion in global processing and positive emotion in local processing facilitated insight problem solving by promoting the breaking of mental impasses and forming novel associations. The findings contribute to a new understanding of the relationship between emotional valence and insight problem solving.