Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

In verbal creative problems like compound remote associates (CRAs), the solution is semantically distant and there is nopredefined path to the solution. Therefore, people first search through the space of possible solutions before retrieving thecorrect semantic content by extending their search space. We assume that search and solution are both part of a semanticcontrol process which involves the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Furthermore, the degree of the IFG involvement dependson how much the search space needs to be extended, i.e. how semantically distant the solution is. To demonstrate this,we created a modified CRA paradigm which systematically modulates the semantic distance from the first target wordto the solution via priming. We show that brain areas (left inferior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus) associatedwith semantic control are already recruited during search. In addition, we found a linear correlation between the BOLDactivation of the IFG (pars orbitalis and triangularis) and the search space extension. However, this linear relationshipcould only be observed during and shortly before the correct solution but not during search. We discuss the role of the IFGin accessing semantically distant information during verbal creative problem solving.