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Becker M, Yu Y, Cabeza R. The influence of insight on risky decision making and nucleus accumbens activation. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17159. [PMID: 37821507 PMCID: PMC10567742 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44293-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
During insightful problem solving, the solution appears unexpectedly and is accompanied by the feeling of an AHA!. Research suggests that this affective component of insight can have consequences beyond the solution itself by motivating future behavior, such as risky (high reward and high uncertainty) decision making. Here, we investigate the behavioral and neural support for the motivational role of AHA in decision making involving monetary choices. The positive affect of the AHA! experience has been linked to internal reward. Reward in turn has been linked to dopaminergic signal transmission in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc) and risky decision making. Therefore, we hypothesized that insight activates reward-related brain areas, modulating risky decision making. We tested this hypothesis in two studies. First, in a pre-registered online study (Study 1), we demonstrated the behavioral effect of insight-related increase in risky decision making using a visual Mooney identification paradigm. Participants were more likely to choose the riskier monetary payout when they had previously solved the Mooney image with high compared to low accompanied AHA!. Second, in an fMRI study (Study 2), we measured the effects of insight on NAcc activity using a similar Mooney identification paradigm to the one of Study 1. Greater NAcc activity was found when participants solved the Mooney image with high vs low AHA!. Taken together, our results link insight to enhanced NAcc activity and a preference for high but uncertain rewards, suggesting that insight enhances reward-related brain areas possibly via dopaminergic signal transmission, promoting risky decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxi Becker
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Yuhua Yu
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
| | - Roberto Cabeza
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, 10099, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
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Laukkonen RE, Webb M, Salvi C, Tangen JM, Slagter HA, Schooler JW. Insight and the selection of ideas. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105363. [PMID: 37598874 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Perhaps it is no accident that insight moments accompany some of humanity's most important discoveries in science, medicine, and art. Here we propose that feelings of insight play a central role in (heuristically) selecting an idea from the stream of consciousness by capturing attention and eliciting a sense of intuitive confidence permitting fast action under uncertainty. The mechanisms underlying this Eureka heuristic are explained within an active inference framework. First, implicit restructuring via Bayesian reduction leads to a higher-order prediction error (i.e., the content of insight). Second, dopaminergic precision-weighting of the prediction error accounts for the intuitive confidence, pleasure, and attentional capture (i.e., the feeling of insight). This insight as precision account is consistent with the phenomenology, accuracy, and neural unfolding of insight, as well as its effects on belief and decision-making. We conclude by reflecting on dangers of the Eureka Heuristic, including the arising and entrenchment of false beliefs and the vulnerability of insights under psychoactive substances and misinformation.
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Chesebrough C, Chrysikou EG, Holyoak KJ, Zhang F, Kounios J. Conceptual Change Induced by Analogical Reasoning Sparks Aha Moments. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2023.2188361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
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Skaar ØO, Reber R. Alone or together: The role of gender and social context prior to Aha‐experiences. Scand J Psychol 2022; 64:302-313. [PMID: 36326784 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Prior research indicates that boys show more interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) than girls do. Given that Aha-experiences yield positive affect and increase interest, the question arises whether there are gender differences in Aha-experiences that could help explain the gender differences in interest. Derived from social role theory, we hypothesized that men report having Aha-experiences alone, whereas women report having Aha-experiences together with others. In a retrospective survey study comprising three independent samples (N = 899), we conducted chi-square analyses to explore the relationship of gender, social context (alone; not alone), domain, and situational interest. Across all participants, we found that men were more probably alone and women more probably together with others when they had an Aha-experience. More fine-grained analyses revealed that the effect was especially pronounced when the Aha-experience increased situational interest within STEM or the personal domain. The study suggests that social context played a different role in the occurrence of Aha-experiences in men and women. We discuss the implications of our findings for STEM instruction at school.
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Affiliation(s)
- Øystein O. Skaar
- Faculty of Education Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences Hamar Norway
| | - Rolf Reber
- Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway
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Moroshkina NV, Savina AI, Ammalainen AV, Gershkovich VA, Zverev IV, Lvova OV. How Difficult Was It? Metacognitive Judgments About Problems and Their Solutions After the Aha Moment. Front Psychol 2022; 13:911904. [PMID: 35814152 PMCID: PMC9258945 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The insight phenomenon is thought to comprise two components: cognitive and affective (the Aha! experience). The exact nature of the Aha! experience remains unclear; however, several explanations have been put forward. Based on the processing fluency account, the source of the Aha! experience is a sudden increase in processing fluency, associated with emerging of a solution. We hypothesized that in a situation which the Aha! experience accompanies the solution in, the problem would be judged as less difficult, regardless of the objective difficulty. We also planned to confirm previously discovered associations between the Aha! experience and accuracy, confidence, and pleasure. To test the proposed hypothesis, during the preliminary stage of the study, we developed a set of 100 remote associate problems in Russian (RAT-RUS) and asked 125 participants to solve problems and indicate the Aha! moment (after solution generation or solution presentation), confidence, difficulty, and likability of each problem. As expected, the Aha! experience often accompanied correct solutions and correlated with confidence judgments. We also found a positive correlation between the Aha! experience and problem likability. As for the main hypothesis, we confirmed that the Aha! experience after the presentation of the solution was associated with a decrease in subjective difficulty. When participants could not solve a problem but experienced the Aha! moment after the solution was presented to them, the problem was perceived as easier than one without the Aha! experience. We didn’t find the same effect for the Aha! after solution generation. Thus, our study partially supports the processing fluency account and demonstrates the association between the Aha! experience and metacognitive judgments about the accuracy and difficulty of problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadezhda V. Moroshkina
- The Department of Psychology, St Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- *Correspondence: Nadezhda V. Moroshkina,
| | - Alina I. Savina
- The Department of Psychology, St Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Alina I. Savina,
| | - Artur V. Ammalainen
- The Department of Psychology, St Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Ilia V. Zverev
- HSE Lyceum, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Olga V. Lvova
- The Department of Psychology, St Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Bianchi I, Branchini E, Canestrari C, Burro R. On pleasures of the mind related to humour and insight problem solving: an investigation of people’s awareness of what they like and why. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2022.2047058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Bianchi
- Department of Humanities - Languages, Mediation, History, Arts, Philosophy, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
| | - Erika Branchini
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Carla Canestrari
- Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy
| | - Roberto Burro
- Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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Danek AH, Kizilirmak JM. The whole is more than the sum of its parts – addressing insight problem solving concurrently from a cognitive and an affective perspective. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1967962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amory H. Danek
- Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jasmin M. Kizilirmak
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Göttingen, Germany
- Institute for Psychology, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany
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