ArticleNeuroImage2020
Oculometric signature of switch into awareness? Pupil size predicts sudden insight whereas microsaccades predict problem-solving via analysis.
Article in NeuroImage, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Eyes as a Mirror of the Unconscious: What Pupil Dilation Reveals About Unconscious Analytic Thought in Insight Problem Solving.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Comparing Aha! Moments in Problem Solving and Generative Ideation.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Pupil constrictions to subjective brightness as a gateway to probe consciousness in non communicating patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments.Nature · 2025Article
- Scaling a common assessment of associative ability: Development and validation of a multiple-choice compound remote associates task.Behavior research methods · 2024Article
- Exploring How Generating Metaphor Via Insight Versus Analysis Affects Metaphor Quality and Learning Outcomes.Cognitive science · 2024Article
- Aha! and D'oh! experiences enhance learning for incidental information-new evidence supports the insight memory advantage.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Electroencephalography Spectral-power Volatility Predicts Problem-solving Outcomes.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- Solving problems with an Aha! increases risk preference.Thinking & reasoning · 2024Article
- A closer look at the time course of bodily responses to awe experiences.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Gestalt's Perspective on Insight: A Recap Based on Recent Behavioral and Neuroscientific Evidence.Journal of Intelligence · 2023Review
- Pupil dilation response elicited by violations of auditory regularities is a promising but challenging approach to probe consciousness at the bedside.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Does social rigidity predict cognitive rigidity? Profiles of socio-cognitive polarization.Psychological research · 2023Article
- Executive functioning and divergent thinking predict creative problem-solving in young adults and elderlies.Psychological research · 2023Article
- The nonlinearity of pupil diameter fluctuations in an insight task as criteria for detecting children who solve the problem from those who do not.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Studying perceptual bias in favor of the from-above Necker cube perspective in a goal-directed behavior.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Insight Problem Solving Ability Predicts Reduced Susceptibility to Fake News, Bullshit, and Overclaiming.Thinking & reasoning · 2023Article
- Quantifying the roles of conscious and unconscious processing in insight-related memory effectiveness within standard and creative advertising.Psychological research · 2022Article
- Eliciting false insights with semantic priming.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2022Article
- Long-Latency Event-Related Potentials (300-1000 ms) of the Visual Insight.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
According to the Gestalt theorists, restructuring is an essential component of insight problem-solving, contributes to the "Aha!" experience, and is similar to the perceptual switch experienced when reinterpreting ambiguous figures. Previous research has demonstrated that pupil diameter increases during the perceptual switch of ambiguous figures, and indexes norepeinephrine functioning mediated by the locus coeruleus. In this study, we investigated if pupil diameter similarly predicts the switch into awareness people experience when solving a problem via insight. Additionally, we explored eye movement dynamics during the same task to investigate if the problem-solving strategies used are linked to specific oculomotor behaviors. In 38 participants, pupil diameter increased about 500 msec prior to solution only in trials for which subjects report having an insight. In contrast, participants increased their microsaccade rate only prior to non-insight solutions. Pupil dilation and microsaccades were not reliably related, but both appear to be robust markers of how people solve problems (with or without insight). The pupil size change seen when people have an "Aha!" moment represents an indicator of the switch into awareness of unconscious processes humans depend upon for insight, and suggests important involvement of norepinephrine, via the locus coeruleus, in sudden insight.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.