Individuals with low EBRs mostly benefitted from alpha binaural beat stimulation, while individuals with high EBRs were unaffected or even impaired by both alpha and gamma binaural beats. Results showed that binaural beats, regardless of the presented frequency, can affect divergent but not convergent thinking.
Dopamine levels in the striatum were estimated using spontaneous eye blink rates (EBRs). Participants completed a divergent and a convergent thinking task to assess two important functions of creativity, and filled out the Positive And Negative Affect Scale-mood State questionnaire (PANAS-S) and an affect grid to measure current mood.
Binaural beats were presented at alpha and gamma frequency. We aimed to investigate whether binaural beats affect creative performance at all, whether they affect divergent thinking, convergent thinking, or both, and whether possible effects may be mediated by the individual striatal dopamine level. In the current study we hypothesized that creativity can be influenced by means of binaural beats, an auditory illusion that is considered a form of cognitive entrainment that operates through stimulating neuronal phase locking. This suggests that creativity could be enhanced by interventions that either modulate the production or transmission of dopamine directly, or affect dopamine-driven processes. Human creativity relies on a multitude of cognitive processes, some of which are influenced by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Institute for Psychological Research and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
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