Mental navigation and the neural mechanisms of insight

Jaan Aru; Moritz Drüke; Juhan Pikamäe; Matthew E Larkum

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2022.11.002

Mental navigation and the neural mechanisms of insight

Trends Neurosci. 2023 Feb;46(2):100-109. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.11.002. Epub 2022 Nov 30.

Authors

Jaan Aru¹, Moritz Drüke², Juhan Pikamäe³, Matthew E Larkum⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address: jaan.aru@ut.ee.
² Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
³ Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Neurocure Center for Excellence, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

PMID: 36462993
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.11.002

Abstract

How do new ideas come about? The central hypothesis presented here states that insights might happen during mental navigation and correspond to rapid plasticity at the cellular level. We highlight the differences between neocortical and hippocampal mechanisms of insight. We argue that the suddenness of insight can be related to the sudden emergence of place fields in the hippocampus. According to our hypothesis, insights are supported by a state of mind-wandering that can be tied to the process of combining knowledge pieces during sharp-wave ripples (SWRs). Our framework connects the dots between research on creativity, mental navigation, and specific synaptic plasticity mechanisms in the hippocampus.

Keywords: creativity; mind-wandering; place fields; problem-solving; sharp-wave ripples; synaptic plasticity.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Hippocampus* / physiology
Humans
Neocortex* / physiology
Neuronal Plasticity
Thinking* / physiology