Insight solutions are correct more often than analytic solutions.
How accurate are insights compared to analytical solutions? In four experiments, we investigated how participants' solving strategies influenced their solution accuracies across different types of problems, including one that was linguistic, one that was visual and two that were mixed visual-linguistic. In each experiment, participants' self-judged insight solutions were, on average, more accurate than their analytic ones. We hypothesised that insight solutions have superior accuracy because they emerge into consciousness in an all-or-nothing fashion when the unconscious solving process is complete, whereas analytic solutions can be guesses based on conscious, prematurely terminated, processing. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that participants' analytic solutions included relatively more incorrect responses (i.e., errors of commission) than timeouts (i.e., errors of omission) compared to their insight responses.
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Brain Mapping Group, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Chicago, IL, USA.
Carola
C
Salvi
Department of Psychology, Milano-Bicocca University, Milano, Italy.
Emanuela
E
Bricolo
Department of Psychology, Stratton Hall, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
John
J
Kounios
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, WI, USA.
Edward
E
Bowden
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Brain Mapping Group, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Mark
M
Beeman
Creativity; insight; problem solving
J Cogn Neurosci. 2009 Mar;21(3):415-32
18578603
Curr Biol. 1997 Jul 1;7(7):461-7
9210373
PLoS Biol. 2004 Apr;2(4):E97
15094802
J Exp Psychol Gen. 1987 Mar;116(1):3-25
2951481
Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput. 2003 Nov;35(4):634-9
14748508
Neuron. 2011 Mar 10;69(5):1002-14
21382558
Methods. 2007 May;42(1):87-99
17434419
J Exp Psychol Hum Learn. 1980 Mar;6(2):174-215
7373248
Psychol Rev. 1962 May;69:220-32
14472013
Neuropsychologia. 2008 Jan 15;46(1):281-91
17765273
Mem Cognit. 1987 May;15(3):238-46
3600264
Percept Mot Skills. 1988 Aug;67(1):3-36
3211683
Psychol Sci. 2006 Oct;17(10):882-90
17100789
Behav Res Methods. 2016 Jun;48(2):664-85
26148823
Psychol Rev. 1988 Apr;95(2):183-237
3375399
Behav Res Methods. 2006 May;38(2):196-201
16956094
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1996 Nov;22(6):1443-62
8921602
Psychol Sci. 2004 Nov;15(11):720-8
15482443
Psychon Bull Rev. 2015 Dec;22(6):1814-9
26268431
Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Jul;9(7):322-8
15953756
Psychon Bull Rev. 2003 Sep;10(3):730-7
14620371
Behav Res Methods. 2008 Feb;40(1):263-8
18411549
Annu Rev Psychol. 2014;65:71-93
24405359