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Using a creative production task, jazz improvisation, we tested alternative hypotheses about the flow experience: (A) that it is a state of domain-specific processing optimized by experience and characterized by minimal interference from task-negative default-mode network (DMN) activity versus (B) that it recruits domain-general task-positive DMN activity supervised by the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN) to support ideation. We recorded jazz guitarists' electroencephalograms (EEGs) while they improvised to provided chord sequences. Their flow-states were measured with the Core Flow State Scale. Flow-related neural sources were reconstructed using SPM12. Over all musicians, high-flow (relative to low-flow) improvisations were associated with transient hypofrontality. High-experience musicians' high-flow improvisations showed reduced activity in posterior DMN nodes. Low-experience musicians showed no flow-related DMN or FPCN modulation. High-experience musicians also showed modality-specific left-hemisphere flow-related activity while low-experience musicians showed modality-specific right-hemisphere flow-related deactivations. These results are consistent with the idea that creative flow represents optimized domain-specific processing enabled by extensive practice paired with reduced cognitive control. • The flow state has been described as effortless attention to a task. • Few studies have examined the neural basis of flow during creative production. • We examined flow-related neural activity by recording EEGs during jazz improvisation. • High-flow versus low-flow is associated with greater left-hemisphere activity and reduced frontal and default-mode activity. • The results support the view that creative flow is a state of optimized, domain-specific processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two general strategies for solving a problem. Insight is the sudden realization of a novel idea or problem solution accompanied by an "aha" experience. Analysis occurs in a conscious, deliberate fashion without an "aha" experience. Previous research has shown that brain activity during a preparatory period immediately before a problem is presented can predict whether the subsequently presented problem will be solved by insight or by analysis. Those prior studies used a type of brief verbal problem called compound remote associates (CRA). To determine whether prestimulus activity predicts subsequent insight versus analytic solving for other types of problems, the present study used an anagram task. We examined high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) immediately preceding the presentation of anagrams and found that during the 2-s prestimulus interval there was greater beta-band activity recorded over right central-parietal cortex prior to analytic solving compared with insightful solving. EEG source reconstruction showed that this activity originated in left mid-cingulate cortex (MCC) and the right postcentral gyrus. In contrast to prior work, we found no evidence of a significant interaction between insight-related prestimulus brain activity and positive mood, although positive mood was associated with greater activity in anterior cingulate cortex and with a larger number of insight solutions. The present MCC results suggest that participants' anagram-solving strategies may be influenced by allostasis , that is, the estimation and marshalling of neurocognitive resources required to cope with an expected task. Specifically, when a participant adequately prepares for an upcoming problem, then MCC activity is high, enabling solution by resource-intensive analytic processing. Alternatively, when preparation is insufficient for analytic processing, then MCC activity is low and subsequent solving occurs by low-demand insight processing. The current findings and explanatory model differ from those of previous studies that used a CRA task, suggesting the possibility of complex interactions between task-type and procedure-type in determining the nature of prestimulus preparation. Future research examining such interactions may yield results that benefit educators who teach students problem-solving strategies. • People can solve problems using insight or analytic strategies. • Solving strategy selection is influenced by pre-problem brain activity. • Preparatory pre-problem brain activity varies with the type of task. • Analytic solving of anagrams follows mid-cingulate cortex preparatory activity. • Mid-cingulate activity is thought to reflect allostasis, the priming of needed resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]