Comparing Aha! Moments in Problem Solving and Generative Ideation

Responses that come to mind as aha! moments occur suddenly, rapidly, and without deliberate intention. Aha! moments are typically associated with insight, the sudden realization of a problem’s solution, and have recently been reported in generative tasks, including divergent thinking and category generation. The present experiment compared the frequency and strength of aha! moments for responses in verbal problem solving (Compound Remote Associates and Polysemous Associates Test problems) with responses in ad hoc and taxonomic category generation. Comparisons were made using a two-step procedure in which each response was first reported as an aha! or non-aha! response, and, for aha! responses, rated in subjective strength. No difference in aha! strength was found between problem solutions and category responses, regardless of which task was given first, nor did aha! strength differ between ad hoc and taxonomic category members. In generative tasks, aha! strength, pre-response pause time, and response novelty increased over time during generation. Although fewer responses occurred over time, later responses were increasingly likely to be aha! responses. These results support the use of aha! reports during idea generation and link such reports to retrieval dynamics seen in many generative tasks, including divergent thinking.