Insight

Insight occurs when people abruptly achieve a new solution, understanding, or perspective and usually involves a meaningful change from the way they had previously thought about the situation. Often referred to as aha moments, sudden insights have been reported by scientists, artists, business owners, and everyday people who describe having flashes of understanding. Here, the focus is specifically on solving problems with sudden insight, which is generally considered an instance of creative thinking: After being stuck on a problem, a sudden insight reveals both a solution and new relations between the elements of a problem, such that the solution can seem obvious in hindsight. This entry discusses how insight differs in younger and older people in part due to changes in component processes such as ...