Problem Solving by Agricultural Extension Students with Various Levels of Creativity through a Neurocognitive Lens

Chaoyun Liang ()
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Chaoyun Liang: Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: The cultivation of agricultural extension talent is key to sustainable agricultural development because it can help create unique economic relationships, add new knowledge and skills to traditional agriculture, identify marketing advantages in emerging markets, and promote the transition to a sustainable society. This study identified the activated brain regions and thought patterns of agricultural extension students when they performed numerical, spatial, and verbal intelligence tasks. The cerebral activity of the student participants was captured through electroencephalography to analyze their activated brain regions and thought patterns during the problemidentification and resolution-reaching phases. A total of 36 participants were recruited and divided into high-creativity (HC) and low-creativity groups to analyze differences in their thought patterns. The results indicated that numeric problem solving activated the frontoparietal network and was associated with a high level of self-generated thought. The function of evaluating creativity was inhibited in the HC group, and the participants engaged in divergent semantic processing during the numeric task. Spatial problem solving activated the frontal regions and was associated with intensive visual search tasks. The HC group exhibited suppressed creativity evaluation and analogical reasoning. Verbal problem solving activated the frontoparietal regions and was associated with verbal memory, semantic-based word processing, and self-generated thought. Creative associations in the verbal task were enhanced in the HC group. This study adopted innovative approaches to address a complex topic that has not been thoroughly investigated but is essential for the theoretical development of both neurocognitive science and agricultural sustainability.

Keywords: agricultural extension students; agricultural sustainability; creativity; electroencephalography; intelligence quotient; neurocognitive approach; problem solving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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