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The phenomenon that new better solutions pop into ones mind after putting an unsolved problem aside for a period of time is called the incubation effect.In the present study, we tried to investigate neural correlates underlying this effect in divergent creative thinking.Subjects performed Alternative Uses Tasks (AUTs) under the control condition (continuous task performance) and the incubation condition (an incubation period, interpolated task, added) respectively while EEG signals were recorded.The results showed that after an incubation period the subjects provided more creative ideas, and the upper alpha (10-12 Hz) oscillations in the control condition increased at left frontal-central and right parietal-occipital recording sites but such increase was not observed in the incubation condition.Alpha event related synchronization (ERS) has recently been hypothesized to be a sign of active cognitive processes, reflecting a positive functional correlate of top-down control in relevant neuronal networks.Thus, the incubation effect seems to restrain the growth of top-down control and keep the brain sensitive to competing and irrelevant information, which results in more unique ideas in AUT performance.