TY - JOUR
T1 - The cognitive neuroscience of insight
AU - Kounios, John
AU - Beeman, Mark
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Insight occurs when a person suddenly reinterprets a stimulus, situation, or event to produce a nonobvious, nondominant interpretation. This can take the form of a solution to a problem (an "aha moment"), comprehension of a joke or metaphor, or recognition of an ambiguous percept. Insight research began a century ago, but neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques have been applied to its study only during the past decade. Recent work has revealed insight-related coarse semantic coding in the right hemisphere and internally focused attention preceding and during problem solving. Individual differences in the tendency to solve problems insightfully rather than in a deliberate, analytic fashion are associated with different patterns of resting-state brain activity. Recent studies have begun to apply direct brain stimulation to facilitate insight. In sum, the cognitive neuroscience of insight is an exciting new area of research with connections to fundamental neurocognitive processes. ©
AB - Insight occurs when a person suddenly reinterprets a stimulus, situation, or event to produce a nonobvious, nondominant interpretation. This can take the form of a solution to a problem (an "aha moment"), comprehension of a joke or metaphor, or recognition of an ambiguous percept. Insight research began a century ago, but neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques have been applied to its study only during the past decade. Recent work has revealed insight-related coarse semantic coding in the right hemisphere and internally focused attention preceding and during problem solving. Individual differences in the tendency to solve problems insightfully rather than in a deliberate, analytic fashion are associated with different patterns of resting-state brain activity. Recent studies have begun to apply direct brain stimulation to facilitate insight. In sum, the cognitive neuroscience of insight is an exciting new area of research with connections to fundamental neurocognitive processes. ©
KW - Attention
KW - Cognitive enhancement
KW - Creativity
KW - Hemispheric asymmetry
KW - Problem solving
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115154
DO - 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115154
M3 - Review article
C2 - 24405359
AN - SCOPUS:84892157649
SN - 0066-4308
VL - 65
SP - 71
EP - 93
JO - Annual review of psychology
JF - Annual review of psychology
ER -