Scientists Find 'Aha!' Favors a Prepared Mind

Source: Drexel University

Why do "Aha!" moments sometimes come easily and sometimes not at all? A new study reveals that patterns of brain activity before people even see a problem predict whether they will solve it with or without a sudden insight.

If you’ve experienced the highs and lows of creative thinking, you know that sometimes the creative well is dry, while at other times creativity is free flowing. It is during the latter times that problem solvers often experience so-called “Aha!” moments – those moments of clarity when the solution to a vexing problem falls into place with a sudden insight and one sees connections that previously eluded you.

But why do “Aha!” moments sometimes come easily and sometimes not at all? A new study reveals that patterns of brain activity before people even see a problem predict whether they will solve it with or without a sudden insight, and these brain activity patterns are likely linked to distinct types of mental preparation.

John Kounios, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, Mark Jung-Beeman of Northwestern University, and their research team report their findings in a new paper published in the journal Psychological Science.

“Our previous work showed that the ‘Aha! Moment’ is associated with a specific and unique brain mechanism,” said Kounios. “The new study shows that this ‘Aha! Moment’ is the culmination of a process that begins even before one starts working on a specific problem. People can prepare to solve an upcoming problem with a flash of insight by adopting a particular frame of mind for doing so.”

The research suggests subjects can mentally prepare to have an “Aha!” solution even before a problem is presented. Specifically, as they prepare for problems that they solve with insight, their pattern of brain activity suggests that they are focusing attention inwardly, are ready to switch to new trains of thought, and perhaps are actively silencing irrelevant thoughts. This shows its possible to prepare mentally to solve problems with different thinking styles and that these different forms of preparation can be identified with specific patterns of brain activity. This study may eventually lead to an understanding of how to attain the optimal “frame of mind” to deal with particular types of problems.

This research team’s previous study revealed that just prior to an “Aha!” solution, after there has been work on solving a problem, the brain momentarily reduces visual inputs, with an effect similar to shutting of the eyes or looking away to facilitate the emergence into consciousness of the solution. The new study extends these findings by suggesting that mental preparation involving inward focus of attention promotes insight even prior to the presentation of a problem.

Participants in the new study were presented with a series of word puzzles. Each problem consisted of three words (for example, tank, hill, secret), and participants had to think of a single word that could form a compound or common phrase with each of the three words. Sometimes the problem was solved with a sudden flash of insight – the solution suddenly pops into consciousness and seems obviously correct. At other times, solving such problems is more methodically, and involves “trying out” possible solutions until on the correct one is found (in this case, top: tank top, hilltop, top secret).

In two parallel experiments, participants solved these problems while brain activity was monitored either with electroencephalograms (EEG), which provide precise timing information and approximate anatomical information, or with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which gives a more precise location of active brain areas, but with less precise timing. The researchers focused on neural activity that occurred during the period just before each problem was displayed.

The two brain imaging techniques yielded highly similar results and showed a different pattern of brain activity prior to problems that were subsequently solved with an “Aha!,” compared to the pattern of brain activity prior to problems solved more methodically.

Mental preparation that led to insight solutions was generally characterized by increased brain activity in temporal lobe areas associated with conceptual processing, and with frontal lobe areas associated with cognitive control or “top-down” processing. Jung-Beeman noted that “Problem solvers could use cognitive control to switch their train of thought when stuck on a problem, or possibly to suppress irrelevant thoughts, such as those related to the previous problem.” In contrast, preparation that led to more methodical solutions involved increased neural activity in the visual cortex at the back of the brain — suggesting that preparation for deliberate problem solving simply involved external focus of attention on the video monitor on which the problem would be displayed.

More than a century ago, Louis Pasteur said “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” By this, he meant that sudden flashes of insight don’t just happen, but are the product of preparation. According to Kounios, “We have begun to understand how the brain prepares for creative insight. This will hopefully lead to techniques for facilitating it.”

I'm suprised no one has commented on this thread yet. What a gem J-K.

Thank you Tom Gadbois for beating the AHA into me.

When I was 20 (about 10 years ago), I packed all my belongings into a van and headed east to Nampa idaho to live with a Guitar master who would change my life forever.

Not only was I there to learn classical guitar (which never happened), but I was there to study martial arts, how to breath, meditation, and just about any damn thing Tom felt like teaching us.

He was Mr. Miagi, and I was Daniel Son.

After driving all day across the blistering Oregon desert, I arrived in Nampa Idaho and made my way to my new masters house. He had just moved from New Mexico with 2 current students and his wife. Adding me to the group made 5 of us together.

Tom had convinced a wealthy doctor to take all 5 of us into his lovely hilltop mansion that overlooked the Snake River. It was baffling the doc would let
all 5 of us live with him, free of charge. He was so amazed at Tom's insight that he would of done anything for us.

Anyways...

I pulled up to the doctors beautiful house in my 85 Chevy Van and parked in the driveway. Instead of getting a warm welcome from Tom, all I gott was a pissed off voice asking me...

"Does your van leak oil?"

I don't know I said.

Wrong answer.

Tom started grilling me and basically told me I should just turn around and drive back home. He had no patience for people that weren't using their brain and weren't "In The Flow", as he called it.

The doctors driveway was immaculant, beautiful, and lacked any sign of oil spills. However when I peaked under my van, sure enough, I had dripped a bit of oil onto his driveway. How the hell did Tom know? I thought.

As I backed my van off the driveway I instantly knew I had to be on my toes in this place.

Apparantly, the day before, Alex had gotten sent home becuase she had left a light on, and that pissed Tom off too. Wow, so the group was down to 4 of us.


I couldn't believe he was being such an *******, but soon I began to view it much differently.

The oil thing really made sense. I simply wasn't thinking about it. Not many people would think about something like that. The fiasco with Alex leaving the lights on made a bit of sense too. Here's this doctor who let's 5 people live in his house, the least we could do would be to not mess it up or use anything in excess.

These simple examples prepared me for a journey of using my mind like never before. Sure it would of been easy for me to say F.U. Tom and bail, but putting myself through his torture cemented a way of thinking into me that will keep me forever grateful.

I had daily meditations that I was required to do, chores, mind excercises. It was grueling to spend hours at a time just watching your thoughts, or counting your breaths.

Training for Aidido and Judo prepared us for our surroundings. Anything moved, we assessed it. Anything potential danger, we assessed it. However it was more of a feeling thing then an analytical assessment.

We were studying how to avoid attackers, not just defend against them. We were studying how to avoid problems, not solve them. However, once the problem arrived, we were to be "In The Flow" and ready to absorb any type of friction.

This wasn't just for martial arts either. Being in the flow, ready, and alert is a mind state. It's being aware of your surroundings, feelings, and most importantly your "Outs".

It's kinda like poker. You gotta know your outs before your embark on some dead end journey. Learning to see the bigger picture and seeing it from a different angle is tough for some.

Tom taught me a lot of stuff about life.

Most importantly, he taught me how to "Witness my thoughts".

It may seem strange to understand witnessing your thoughts, but it's an amazing excercise for opening the AHA part of your brain.

So give it a try, for 30 minutes a day, just try to lay in a meditative
state and when thoughts come to your mind, go there. Dig deep into the origin of that thought. Explore it. Why did you think that? Why does it make you feel that way?

This is tough because many of our thoughts are dark, but they need to be explored. Digging deep into your thoughts, and allowing yourself to freely release what's inside can really open up more paths to aha moments

People are just not that optimistic. Their own pessimism will obstruct many chances at AHA moments before they begin to arise.

I'm very thankful that I've spent near a decade preparing for the AHA moments. My brain never stops looking for a fix, even if the problem doesn't yet exist.

And the bottom line is, AHA's are damn fun.

The ideas, the journeys, the discoveries, may they never stop.

Never stop witnessing, and you will be bombarded with AHA's.

However, becoming a true watcher is much tougher then it seems.

And remember that band "A-Ha" from the 80's. Remember their video? I like what "The Family Guy" did with that video and Chris.

And...speaking of the Family Guy, everytime I hear that "What can Brown do for you" commercial, I hear Chris in the back of my mind, "Brown is the color of poo!" I hope I'm sort-of normal.

Ok, just an a-ha moment for me, not trying to derail the subject.

Great post, by the way.

John

I feel the same way about that commercial -- what were they thinking?


This is a great thread -- I'm still digesting it (guess I better set aside 30 mins).