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The Neurocognition of Three Engineering Concept Generation Techniques

Part of: Human Behaviour in Design and Design Cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Tripp Shealy  and
John Gero
Tripp Shealy*
Affiliation:
Virginia Tech;
John Gero
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
*
Contact: Shealy, Tripp, Virginia Tech, United States of America, tshealy@vt.edu

Abstract

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Techniques and processes used for concept generation rely on composing new concepts and analysis given situational context. Composition and analysis require distinct neurocognitive function. For instance, jazz composition relies heavily on the right brain, while math relies on the left. Similar to music and math, is concept generation hemisphere dominant? What differences exist when using varying techniques? Twelve graduate engineering students were given three design tasks and instructed to use brainstorming, morphological analysis and TRIZ. A device called fNIRS measured cognitive activation. The results find left hemisphere dominance. More specifically, the left dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC), which is central to spatial working memory and filtering information. Temporal differences do exist. Morphological analysis and TRIZ reinforced the use of the left dlPFC, while brainstorming increased the use of the right dlPFC and medial PFC (mPFC) late during concept generation. The right dlPFC contributes to divergent thinking and mPFC facilitates memory retrieval. One explanation is designers relaxed rule constraints and more deeply searched for associations during brainstorming.

Keywords

Design cognitionConceptual designDesign theoryMulti- / Cross- / Trans-disciplinary processes
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 1833 - 1842
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

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