When it was released in 2005, it took off within days. University of Vermont theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman describes that unfolding as a constant process wherein what he calls the 'adjacent possible' gets continually made available with every new piece of information we learn. The creative process that leads to these moments of insight unfolds gradually, as we turn an idea or a concept over and over in our heads, and as new knowledge about that concept or idea build upon one another until we reach a point where fresh insight is possible. By contrast, when participants blinked frequently or shifted their gaze, they were more likely to say they'd used insight to come up with their answer. In another more recent study, a larger team of scientists (which included the pair involved in the first study), looked at people's gazes while they did a similar exercise.Īs it turned out, when participants focused intently (and didn't blink or blinked rarely) on the screen where the problem was pictured, they were more likely to then say they had solved the problem analytically. On the other hand, the analytical activity suggests that before we focus our attention outwards (perhaps, in this case, to the monitor that's about to show the question) to come up with an answer methodically. The insight-related activity suggests that just before we experience a 'Eureka' moment, we direct our attention inwards to allow the brain to arrive at the solution.

'The 'Aha!' Moment', Current Directions In Psychological Science Blue regions show areas of higher neural activity for problems solved without insight (analytically). Orange regions show areas of higher activity for problems solved with insight. When people used insight to come up with their answers, their brains showed more activity around the ears and mid-brain.īy contrast, when they solved a problem analytically, their brains became more active across the visual cortex.īrain activity during the 2 seconds just before a problem was solved. One corresponds to what happens in the brain when we prepare to use insight to solve a problem (the answer comes to us suddenly, we don't have to think too hard about it) the other is related to what our brains do when they prepare to solve a problem analytically (using the process of elimination, for example). Just before seeing the problems, peoples' brains lit up with what the researchers think are two distinct types of activity. The scientists then separated the questions solved with insight (the ones where people said they didn't think about it but instead came up with the solution suddenly) from the ones solved analytically. Immediately after each answer, participants had to push a button to indicate whether they thought of it suddenly, without thinking, or if they had to think about it and take time to solve it methodically.

Aha moment psychology