ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2016, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (9): 1329-1338.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2016.01329

• Conceptual Framework •     Next Articles

The psychological and neural mechanisms of insight experience

YUAN Yuan1,2; SHEN Wangbing3; SHI Chunhua3; LIU Chang3; LIU Quzhi4; LIU Chang1   

  1. (1 School of Psychology and Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China) (2 School of Rehabilitation Science, Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, Nanjing 210038, China) (3 School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China) (4 The Research Center of College Students’ Development, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China)
  • Received:2015-11-03 Online:2016-09-15 Published:2016-09-15
  • Contact: SHEN Wangbing, E-mail: wbshenhhu@126.com; LIU Chang, E-mail: liuchang@njnu.edu.cn

Abstract:

Insight experience is an important approach to uncover the nature of insight. Previously, numerous studies focused on the processes of “how to abandon the old and ineffective thinking on problem-solving” as well as “how to form the new and effective thinking on problem-solving” from the perspective of cognition. However, insight experience itself was less discussed. Investigating insight experience has significant contribution to clarify the relationship among critical processes of creative insight and understand the nature of insight. Based on the dynamic perspective on “the transition from the old to the new” of creative insight, the present project explored the psychological characteristics and neural mechanisms of impasse-related and solution-related experience occurred on the problem-solving stage and the flash of problem solution stage, combining verbal and figure creative insight task. The present project could not only enrich and optimize the methodological system of insight problem solving, but also deepen the understanding on neural mechanism of creative insight from the transitional level of cognition to emotion.

Key words: insight experience, multi-dimensional scaling method, insight problem solving, aha experience, emotion regulation