Data for the neural mechanisms of the insight memory effect induced by metaphorical soluitons

The neural mechanisms underlying the successful encoding of insight events in the field of psychotherapy are largely unknown. This study investigated the insight memory effect and its related neural mechanisms in a psychotherapeutic scenario using metaphorical micro-counselling dialogues. 31 participants read a mental distress problem followed by a metaphorical or literal solution during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning in the encoding phase, a memory retrieval test was performed outside the scanner one week later. The results revealed that metaphorical solutions were associated with stronger insightfulness in encoding and better memory performance in testing than literal solutions, and this effect was associated with greater activation in the bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, caudate, left superior frontal gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus, suggesting that successfully learning from insight may rely on strong episodic memory encoding in a psychotherapeutic scenario that transmits the information of positive emotion, useful knowledge, and intrinsic reward.There were two data files named "Insight scores and brain activity for the interaction of insight and memory" and "Insight scores and brain activity for metaphorical and literal solutions regardless of memory", respectively. No missing data was included in two data files.Behavioural data, such as insight scores, accuracy, reaction time and confidence were collected for each trial via E-prime software (Version 2, Psychology Software Tools). fMRI data was acquired via a Siemens Trio 3.0 Tesla MR scanner at the Beijing MRI Center and image data analyses were conducted using the software of statistical parametric mapping (SPM8, http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/).There were 22 column variables in the Data 1, and the names of column variables and specific meanings of each variable were included in related labels when you open the "variable view". There were 31 subjects and each of them has two rows (conditions of metaphorical and literal solutions), which was suitable for hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses.(1) For each subject，36 trial scores were collected for metaphorical and literal solutions by E-Prime for the variable of "Insight", "Confidence" and "ATTW" , then the average of 36 scores of each variable was calculated for each condition, respectively. (2)Variable "Hit": means hit rate for the old/new recognition in the testing phase. Hit = Numbers of correctly recognized old solutions/36(3) Variable "FA": means false alarm rate for the old/new recognition in test testing phase. FA= 1-Numbers of correctly recognized new solutions/36(4) Variable "Pr": means Pr for the old/new recognition in the testing phase, Pr = Hit - FA(5)Variable "LMTG", "RMTG", "LSTG", "RSTG", "LSFG", "LAMYG", "RAMYG", "LHIPPO", "RHIPPO", "LTHALA", "RTHALA", "LCAUDATE", "RCAUDATE ": Brain activity values in regions identified in the contrast of insight (metaphorical) > non-insight (literal) during the presentation of solutions. These regions were defined as spheres with a radius of 0.5 mm centred on the peak coordinates defined by the paired-samples t contrast of Insight (metaphorical) > Non-insight (literal).There were 31 subjects and each of them list in one row, and there were 37 column variables in the Data 2. The names of column variables and specific meanings of each variable were included in related labels when you open the "variable view". Based on behavioural memory performance during the test phase, each metaphorical and literal solution learned in the scanner during the encoding phase was further divided into either later-remembered (REM, solutions answered correctly both in the old/new recognition test for solutions and the target theme word recognition test for problems out of four choices) or later-forgotten (FOR) items. Therefore, four conditions were created: metaphorical solutions later remembered (Insight-REM, "IR" in short), metaphorical solutions later forgotten (Insight-FOR, "IF" in short), literal solutions later remembered (Non-insight-REM, "NIR" in short), and literal solutions later forgotten (Non-insight-FOR, "NIF" in short).(1) Bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and caudate were brain regions identified in the contrast of ([Insight-REM]-[ Insight-FOR]) > ([Non-insight-REM]-[Non-insight-FOR]), and, and these regions were defined as spheres with a radius of 0.5 mm centred on the peak coordinates defined in this contrast. Then brain activity values in regions were extracted via SPM8 for each condition.(2) For each subject, learning trials of metaphorical and literal solutions were divided into either later-remembered or later-forgotten items, and then related insight scores were calculated for each condition.