Elsevier

Design Studies

Volume 30, Issue 6, November 2009, Pages 623-647
Design Studies

Exploring the neurological basis of design cognition using brain imaging: some preliminary results

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2009.05.002Get rights and content

The paper presents a pilot interdisciplinary research study carried out as a step towards understanding the neurological basis of design thinking. The study involved functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of volunteers while performing design and problem-solving tasks. The findings suggest that design and problem solving involve distinct cognitive functions associated with distinct brain networks. The paper introduces the methodology, presents the findings, and discusses the potential role of brain imaging in design research.

Section snippets

Cognitive neuroscience and design

Cognitive neuroscience uses various methods, including behavioural tests and brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural basis of cognition, and particularly to understand how cognitive functions are supported by different brain areas. Contemporary cognitive science generally considers that (at a smaller or greater extent) the brain has a modular organization, meaning that it is ‘structurally and functionally organized into discrete units of “modules” and that these components interact

Main concepts and methodological approach

So, to test the hypothesis that design activity can be distinguished from problem solving on a neurological basis, we propose an experimental setting where subjects are asked to perform two types of tasks while in the fMRI scanner: one that corresponds to problem solving and one that corresponds to design.

In the problem-solving tasks a criterion for deciding the termination of the task is given, as well as a definition of legal moves. Although a problem-solving task may require creative

Results

The data obtained from the experiment were studied using SPM8, a statistical package developed by the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in UCL for the analysis of brain imaging data sequences. The software works within Matlab (Mathworks, Inc.). SPM involves procedures so that the images obtained from the MRI scanner are realigned in order to compensate head movements, and spatially normalised into a standard space, a template brain (the Montreal Neurological Institute MNI template), in

Discussion and future work

Although this is only a preliminary and quite limited study, the results show that research in cognitive neuroscience and particularly neuro-imaging studies may offer interesting insights into the nature of design tasks and design thinking.

The findings suggest that design and problem solving involve distinct cognitive functions associated with distinct brain networks. The discovered activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for design versus problem solving is consistent with

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the staff at the Birkbeck-UCL Centre for NeuroImaging (BUCNI), and particularly Marty Sereno and Joe Devlin, for their kind help and support. The study was supported by the AHRC/EPSRC Embracing Complexity in Design research project grant SJG is supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

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