For several reasons, insight is an important phenomenon. First, it is a form of cognition that occurs in a number of domains. For example, aside from yielding the solution to a problem, insight can also yield the understanding of a joke or metaphor, the identification of an object in an ambiguous or blurry picture, or a realization about oneself.

– The Aha! Moment

Consider again how the sudden “Aha!” is experienced during creative insight. Among other aspects, this moment is usually accompanied by a positive affective feeling of something “coming together,” “making sense,” or somehow “falling into place”

– On the temporality of creative insight: a psychological and phenomenological perspective

What is creativity? Usually creative writing classes are really (only) a source of abundant scaffolding be it in terms of vocabulary, phraseology or template introductions. Creative writing is in this sense just reproduction and not creation. True creativity entails solving, “problems by generating novel and useful products or ideas” (Ogawa et al., 2018). The keyword is novel.

There are different types of creativity. Researchers have settled on three broad classifications: domain general creativity, domain specific creativity and creative insight (Ogawa et al. 2018).

Domain general creativity comprises recognising potentiality of alternative and non-conventional use of whatever is within reach. For example, let us say, once upon a time A and B were linked in some way. Things went south. After a couple of months, A arranges to meet B. A is afraid meeting B would trigger feelings of loss since A can no longer avail itself of B’s resources. To prepare for such an outcome, A also arranges to meet C after the meeting with B. C knows nothing of the meeting between A and B and its arrangement with A is entirely transactional. A with the knowledge that C and others on a long list could be used to buttress the impact of the meeting with B, is now able to deal with B as though B is the one who lost something. Thereafter, A tells C in a cryptic way, Sometimes all that is left is a memory referring of course to its erstwhile access to B’s resources.

This is an example of domain general creativity for two reasons. First, C was never meant to be used this way. Second, C is of course entirely clueless. A was very creative in its use of new acquaintances on its somewhat long list created with this covert purpose in mind.

Domain specific creativity relates to unique performances in an artistic domain. For example, let us say, there is a screen role of a villain. Every actor who played this role did so like a typical villain would, that is, in an aggressive manner which would give rise to feelings of aversion in viewers. A creative rendition of this role would be when instead of being aggressive and curt, the villain acts in a warm and friendly way on the screen. Viewers would now be confused as to the exact status of this villain. They might even become fans until they watch the part where the true nature shows.

Creative insight refers to a sudden breakthrough in understanding after a period. As an example, let us consider the saying, yăn ĕr dào líng which roughly translates to stealing a bell while covering one’s own ear. This saying refers to a situation where someone refuses to consider that one’s less than honest intentions and actions would be quite obvious to others. If such a person suddenly realises that it does not take a particularly bright person to figure out what had happened, this person can be considered to have experienced creative insight.

Of the three types of creativity, the last is quite mysterious because we appear to have no control over it. This process is what the Buddha experienced under the Bodhi tree and what Newton experienced under the apple tree.

The answer has to do with trees. Specifically, it has to do with when someone would normally sit under a tree. Research shows, creative insight has to do with resting brain states, and what the eye is focused on. In short, when a problem is just under the surface, the eye is not focused on anything in particular, the brain is not engaged in processing and the mood is generally good, creative insights burst forth.

There is a neuroscientific basis for this.

For instance, Otawa et al., (2018) found that Grey Matter Volume (GMV) from the Middle Cingular Cortex (MCC) to the right precuneus was positively correlated with creative insight. The MCC is engaged when the attention is not externally directed and has to do with emotion processing. The precuneus is a region which has to do with “recollection and memory, integration of information (gestalt) relating to perception of the environment, cue reactivity, mental imagery strategies, episodic memory retrieval” (Borsook et al., 2015). They also found that GMV in parts of the brain which have to do with reward processing (dopaminergic system) is positively correlated with divergent thinking. One other finding was that Middle Temporal Gyrus (MTG) was activated during creative insight. The MTG is where reading comprehension or in their words, “language and associative semantic processes” occurs.

In other words, it may be the case that someone who thinks it will be immensely rewarding to achieve some insight on a long-standing problem, has the language ability to articulate relevant connections and is not particularly focused on this problem, is a likely candidate for insight. Such a person would pursue the reward by processing it for as long as necessary. Such processing would not be laborious and more importantly cannot be achieved through effortful processing because it engages regions of the brain which do not have to do step-wise deduction or analysis. So long as the person thinks it is rewarding and leaves it alone for a while, the solution is more than likely to present itself.

Kounius and Beeman (2009) wanted to identify which parts of the brain were activated just before an insight is achieved. Their research did not pertain to conundrums but to simple English word problems. In addition to fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), they also used electroencephalography (EEG).

They gave subjects sets of three words and asked them to create compounds with these words where the added half of each compound was the same. For example, subjects could be given the following three words; crab, pine and sauce. A possible solution would be crabapple, pineapple and applesauce. All three words take the word apple.

They distinguished between participants who derived answers in an analytical way and an insightful way. They did this by asking participants if they engaged in any systematic process before attempting an answer or if the answers just occurred to them.

EEG and fMRI showed that participants who relied on insight had “a burst of high frequency (i.e., 40-Hertz gamma-band)” brainwave activity at the right anterior temporal lobe which “is above the right ear”. This is the region which is active when we are trying to recall what we know about words and people, among other things. They also found that “immediately prior” to the gamma band activity, there was increased frequency of “alpha-band (approximately 10 Hertz), activity measured over right occipital cortex (i.e., the right side of the back of the head)”. Alpha waves of course are what the brain produces during restful states, for instance, “while resting with the eyes closed. They disappear during sleep and vanish when there is concentration on a specific task” (Moini & Piran, 2020). Finally, they detected increased activity in the anterior cingulate which is “in control of cognitive processes like detection of inconsistent or competing activity, attention switching, and so on” (Botvinick, Cohen & Carter, 2004 as cited in Kounius & Beeman, 2009).

When participants came up with answers analytically, there was increased activity in the posterior visual cortex which is the region responsible for processing visual stimuli.

The aforementioned findings led Kounius and Beeman (2009) to conclude that when attention is not directed at a problem in a targeted way but instead allowed to wander in a “diffuse” way in a relaxed state, insights become possible. It is very important to reduce the visual stimuli such that there is nothing to actively process.

Creative insight is necessary for situations where there are no apparent “close or tight associations” but where the associations are “remote” (Kounius & Beeman, 2009) and this is the province of the right hemisphere. The left reigns when it comes to logical and sequential processing.

Such situations could range from answers to a comprehension cloze passage or ideas for a composition to cryptic utterances from mysterious acquaintances. Creative insight is also necessary when engaging creative individuals who aim to derive multiple benefits in any one transaction.

It will be difficult to rely on the usual course of analysis especially if there are distractions and red herrings. After spending so much time training to reason and being selective about which stimulus to focus on, it may be disappointing to know that in the things and times which matter the most, the logical brain could let us down.

However, the times when the problems are too hard for us to solve consciously, are also the times the brain works best.

We take home a problem. We fiddle with it and sleep with it. Time passes. The initial drive to find a solution must surely be stale by now. The time to play an active role has now passed. Now all that is left to do is to close the eyes and let the problem sink to the depths of our mind.

A fresh idea would emerge in time.

The Brain Dojo