Journal article
The Aha! Moment: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight
Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society, v 18(4), pp 210-216
Aug 2009
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
A sudden comprehension that solves a problem, reinterprets a situation, explains a joke, or resolves an ambiguous percept is called an insight (i.e., the “Aha! moment”). Psychologists have studied insight using behavioral methods for nearly a century. Recently, the tools of cognitive neuroscience have been applied to this phenomenon. A series of studies have used electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural correlates of the “Aha! moment” and its antecedents. Although the experience of insight is sudden and can seem disconnected from the immediately preceding thought, these studies show that insight is the culmination of a series of brain states and processes operating at different time scales. Elucidation of these precursors suggests interventional opportunities for the facilitation of insight.
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Details
- Title
- The Aha! Moment
- Creators
- John KouniosMark Beeman
- Publication Details
- Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society, v 18(4), pp 210-216
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications; Los Angeles, CA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000269538700005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-69949124234
- Other Identifier
- 991014878408204721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Psychology, Multidisciplinary