Title |
Sudden insight is associated with shutting out visual inputs
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Published in |
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, August 2015
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DOI | 10.3758/s13423-015-0845-0 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Carola Salvi, Emanuela Bricolo, Steven L. Franconeri, John Kounios, Mark Beeman |
Abstract |
Creative ideas seem often to appear when we close our eyes, stare at a blank wall, or gaze out of a window-all signs of shutting out distractions and turning attention inward. Prior research has demonstrated that attention-related brain areas are differently active when people solve problems with sudden insight (the Aha! phenomenon), relative to deliberate, analytic solving. We directly investigated the relationship between attention deployment and problem solving by recording eye movements and blinks, which are overt indicators of attention, as people solved short, visually presented problems. In the preparation period, before problems eventually solved by insight, participants blinked more frequently and longer, and made fewer fixations, than before problems eventually solved by analysis. Immediately prior to solutions, participants blinked longer and looked away from the problem more often when solving by insight than when solving analytically. These phenomena extend prior research with a direct demonstration of dynamic differences in attention as people solve problems with sudden insight versus analytically. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 3 | 30% |
Japan | 1 | 10% |
Canada | 1 | 10% |
Puerto Rico | 1 | 10% |
Germany | 1 | 10% |
India | 1 | 10% |
Unknown | 2 | 20% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 6 | 60% |
Scientists | 2 | 20% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 10% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 10% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 3 | 2% |
United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
Russia | 1 | <1% |
Italy | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 120 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 29 | 23% |
Student > Bachelor | 18 | 14% |
Researcher | 17 | 13% |
Student > Master | 16 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 9 | 7% |
Other | 22 | 17% |
Unknown | 15 | 12% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 55 | 44% |
Neuroscience | 15 | 12% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 5% |
Computer Science | 5 | 4% |
Social Sciences | 4 | 3% |
Other | 17 | 13% |
Unknown | 24 | 19% |