It may not appear in the shape of a light bulb above your head, but researchers say “Aha!” moments are marked by a surge of electrical activity in the brain. A new study shows that solving a problem that requires creative insight prompts distinct changes in brain activity that don’t occur under normal problem-solving conditions. “For thousands of years people have said that insight feels different from more straightforward problem solving,” says researcher Mark Jung-Beeman, an associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill. in a news release. “We believe this is the first research showing that distinct computational and neural mechanisms lead to these breakthrough moments.”
