Where Does Eureka Come From? The Effect of Unreportable Hints on the Phenomenology of Insight

Ammalainen, Artur; Moroshkina, Nadezhda

doi:10.3390/jintelligence10040110

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…experience to different extents. For example, Ammalainen and Moroshkina (2022) demonstrated that unreportable semantic hints (which presumably increased processing fluency) affected the participants' subjective suddenness of comprehending the solutions, but not their confidence ratings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A sudden increase in perceptual fluency enhances the probability of an Aha!-like comprehension in remote associate test problems

Ammalainen¹,

Moroshkina²

2023

Preprint

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People sometimes experience Aha! moments when solving problems, but the nature of these experiences and their sources have not been extensively explored. According to the processing fluency framework, an Aha! experience may be considered a result of a sudden increase in processing fluency. Based on this, we suggested that Aha judgements could be affected by the misattribution of processing fluency. In two experiments, we tested this hypothesis using remote associate problems with mirrored letters. The first experiment demonstrated that problems with mirrored letters are less likely to be judged as solvable compared to normally written problems, suggesting that mirroring letters reduces processing fluency. In the second experiment, participants judged Aha! experiences in response to solutions' presentation. Our findings indicate that participants were more likely to report an Aha!-like comprehension when the mirrored writing changed to normal at the moment of the correct solution presentation. That is, a sudden increase in perceptual fluency led to higher chances of experiencing Aha! moments. These results indicate that Aha! experiences can be affected by fluency misattribution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A sudden increase in perceptual fluency enhances the probability of an Aha!-like comprehension in remote associate test problems

Ammalainen¹,

Moroshkina²

2023

Preprint

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“…It would also be interesting to measure the effect of training by means of self-ratings of creativity (Bergum and Bergum 1979). The recent literature on insight problem solving and creativity has begun to pay more attention to the phenomenal or meta-cognitive experience of the reasoner engaged in the task (e.g., Moroshkina 2021, 2022;Danek et al 2014Danek and Wiley 2017;Kaufman et al 2016;Laukkonen and Tangen 2018;Moroshkina et al 2022;Pétervári and Danek 2019;Shen et al 2016;Spiridonov et al 2021). It would thus be worth exploring whether being prompted to think in opposites is perceived by the reasoners themselves as useful and stimulating, as well as indicating how this impacts their motivation.…”

Section: Methodological and Theoretical Questions For A Future Resear...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Thinking in Opposites in Order to Think Differently Improve Creativity?

Bianchi

Branchini

2023

J. Intell.

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In this paper, we focus on the link between thinking in opposites and creativity. Thinking in opposites requires an intuitive, productive strategy, which may enhance creativity. Given the importance of creativity for the well-being of individuals and society, finding new ways to enhance it represents a valuable goal in both professional and personal contexts. We discuss the body of evidence that exists concerning the importance of the first representation of the structure of a problem to be solved, which determines the baseline representation and sets limits on the area within which a problem solver will explore. We then review a variety of interventions described in the literature on creativity and insight problem solving that were designed to overcome fixedness and encourage people to move away from stereotypical solutions. Special attention is paid to the research carried out in the context of problem solving, which provides evidence that prompting people to “think in opposites” is beneficial. We suggest that an extended investigation of the effects of this strategy in various types of tasks related to creativity is an interesting line of research to follow. We discuss the rationale supporting this claim and identify specific questions, both theoretical and methodological, for future research to address.

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“…In other words, the lack of conscious access to the unfolding cognitive processes is the reason for subjectively sudden solutions. For example, several demonstrated that unconscious cues can trigger insightful solutions ( Bowden, 1997 ; Ammalainen and Moroshkina, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Aha! experience is associated with a drop in the perceived difficulty of the problem

Moroshkina,

Pavliuchik,

Ammalainen

et al. 2024

Front. Psychol.

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The study investigated the correlation between the intensity of the Aha! experience and participants’ subjective difficulty ratings of problems before and after finding their solutions. We assumed that the Aha! experience arises from a shift in processing fluency triggered by changing from an initially incoherent problem representation to a coherent one, which ultimately leads to the retrieval of a solution with unexpected ease and speed. First, we hypothesized that higher Aha! experience ratings would indicate more sudden solutions, manifesting in a reduced correlation between the initial difficulty ratings and solution times. Second, we hypothesized that higher Aha! experience ratings would correspond to a greater shift in the subjective difficulty ratings between the initial and retrospective assessments. To test our hypotheses, we developed a novel set of rebus puzzles. A total of 160 participants solved rebuses and provided initial (within 5 s of problem presentation) and retrospective difficulty ratings (following the generation or presentation of a correct solution). They also rated their Aha! experience (after solution generation or presentation), confidence in solutions, and the likability of each rebus. Our findings revealed that the initial ratings of the problem’s subjective difficulty were positively correlated with the solution time and that this correlation decreased in the case of a stronger Aha! experience. Aha! experience ratings were positively correlated with the differences between initial and retrospective difficulty ratings, confidence, solution accuracy, and rebus likability. We interpreted our results to be in line with the processing fluency and metacognitive prediction error accounts.

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Where Does Eureka Come From? The Effect of Unreportable Hints on the Phenomenology of Insight

Cited by 6 publications

References 46 publications

A sudden increase in perceptual fluency enhances the probability of an Aha!-like comprehension in remote associate test problems

A sudden increase in perceptual fluency enhances the probability of an Aha!-like comprehension in remote associate test problems

Does Thinking in Opposites in Order to Think Differently Improve Creativity?

The Aha! experience is associated with a drop in the perceived difficulty of the problem

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