Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Science

Those Eureka Moments 209

Posted by CmdrTaco from the lookit-all-them-perty-equations-in-there dept.
Phoe6 writes "If you're one of those insufferable people who can finish the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle, you probably have a gift for insight. The puzzles always have an underlying hint to solving them, but on Saturdays that clue is insanely obtuse. If you had all day, you could try a zillion different combinations and eventually figure it out. But with insight, you'd experience the usual clueless confusion, until--voilà--the fog clears and you get the clue, which suddenly seems obvious. The sudden flash of insight that precedes such "Aha!" moments is characteristic of many types of cognitive processes besides problem-solving, including memory retrieval, language comprehension, and various forms of creativity. Although different problem-solving strategies share many common attributes, insight-derived solutions appear to be unique in several ways. PLoS Biology explains the Neural Basis of Solving Problems with Insight. The Complete Research Article is here."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Those Eureka Moments More

Those Eureka Moments

Comments Filter:

  • JUMBLE (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I used to have trouble with the JUMBLE puzzles, but then I went to jumble.org and I got major EUREKA moments...

  • Eureka is overrated (Score:5, Informative)

    by Plutor ( 2994 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:53AM (#8846778) Homepage
    "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but 'That's funny...'"
    -Isaac Asimov.

    • Re:Eureka is overrated (Score:5, Interesting)

      by arvindn ( 542080 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:15AM (#8846957) Homepage Journal
      I think you're confusing science and problem solving. I experienced this confusion first hand. In high school, I was really good at problem solving, particlarly math. I was addicted to the "Aha!" feeling. I even went to the IMO, and thought I had it made for a career in math.

      In college, I discovered that math was in reality very different from what I'd expected. The Aha! was simply not there. It was a different beast altogether. Everything went in several incremental steps rather than one flash of insight. It required vertical rather than lateral thinking. Fortunately math wasn't my major, and I eventually dropped out.

      Back to what you said, its perfectly true of science, but this article is about problem solving. Eureka doesn't herald new discoveries, but it sure makes the world go round, helping people find non-obvious solutions to tricky little everyday problems.

      • Plenty of Aha! in math (Score:5, Insightful)

        by wurp ( 51446 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @11:45AM (#8848777) Homepage
        I know I'm just echoing the AC, but I'm going to bull through anyway :) I have a math degree, and I had a lot of eureka classes. You were taking the wrong ones. In fact, it seems to me you would have to go out of your way to take math classes that were grind instead of eureka.

        Differentiation (basic calculus) is a grind. You learn a few simple rules and apply them. Integration, beyond the most basic, is all eureka. You learn a few rules, but they all require insight into how to rearrange the thing you're integrating so it fits a pattern.

        My favorite classes were about proofs. A proof is all eureka. A proof is a series of simple, basic steps that takes you from the given to the thing you're trying to prove. However, finding which basic steps go together to get what you want is all eureka. Many times in graduate level math courses I would work on a problem until midnight, go to sleep, wake up at 3am with the solution to the problem, write it down, & finish the problem in the morning. The interesting thing to me about proofs is that virtually always the way to prove the answer you want is to prove something much, much more powerful, of which the answer you want is a minor subset. It's as if your engineering teacher tells you to design a power source that can provide 1.5 volts for a day, and the easiest way you can find to do it is to build a Mr. Fusion. For example, to prove that all groups with 113 members are really the same group with different names for the elements, the easiest way is to prove that all groups with a prime number of elements hold that quality.
        • Dude, thanks for the insight. One of the problems on our last abstract algebra homework is to prove any ideal in Z is a principal idea. EUREKA!
      • "I was addicted to the "Aha!" feeling."

        From the original article: "Illustrating the strong emotional response elicited by such a sudden insight, Archimedes is said to have run home from the baths in euphoric glee..."

        I think this is one of the places our education system is missing a bet. I have never met a person who does not get that rush of joy from solving a problem. If our education process stressed problem solving instead of rote memorization, we would have a population addicted to learning.

      • IMO: good on you, I went too :) (Mumbai, 1996)

        With college math, I had the same disenchantment as you. There are some courses that are more insight-y (eg. analysis) and less so (eg. partial differential equations). But this is not a reason to lose heart. You cannot apply insight if you have not first fully grokked the available tools. Part of training for IMO geometry problems is learning dozens of theorems and tidbits of information (eg. incircle, circumcircle, triangle equalities, sin & cos formulae,
    • I believe I get "No Shit" moments instead of that's funny.

    • Re:Eureka is overrated (Score:5, Funny)

      by indigeek ( 755687 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:25AM (#8847055)
      But would you run naked around the town shouting "Thats funny" ?

    • The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but 'That's funny...'

      True story:

      A professor narrates the Archimedes-bathtub incident to a class of freshman engineers. Concludes with "Eureka! Eureka!" and after a pause, asks his class if anyone knows what it means.

      Guy in the back row yells out "I'm naked! I'm naked!".

    • 'Eureka!' (I've found it!)

      Actually, Eureka means "OMG!!! That bathwater is HOT!!!"


    • "Just as the eye percieves colours and the ear sounds,
      so thinking percieves ideas; it is an organ of perception. "

      (Goethean Science [elib.com])

      | THE SUDDEN FLASH OF INSIGHT OCCURS WHEN solvers engage distinct
      | neural and cognitive processes that allow them to see connections
      | that previously eluded them.

      maybe its the other way around -- perhaps the distinct neural
      processes occur when one has the flash of insight.

      (but anyone who starts with the kantian presuppositions
      must reject that idea).

      regards,
      john [earthlink.net]
      • | THE SUDDEN FLASH OF INSIGHT OCCURS WHEN solvers engage distinct
        | neural and cognitive processes that allow them to see connections
        | that previously eluded them.

        maybe its the other way around -- perhaps the distinct neural
        processes occur when one has the flash of insight.

        That's my take, too. My impression is that the processing takes place for some time (and the mechanism is not wired for introspection of its operation, so you're largely unaware of it), producing one type of activity. Then, if a solut

  • like Star Trek. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Hangin10 ( 704729 )
    This seems to be very much what Q was talking
    about in the very last episode "All Good Things...". When we learn something, we open ourselves up for more.

    Someday hopefully we will learn everything. :)

  • Taking a break (Score:5, Insightful)

    by justinmc ( 710870 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:54AM (#8846785)
    I find the best thing to do is walk away from the problem for a while - could be for a cup of coffee or you could sleep on it etc. Either you look at the problem again and you just see the answer, or you are brushing your teeth and you suddenly have the answer in your head! Don't ask me why.. IANABS (I Am Not A Brain Scientist!!)

    • Re:Taking a break (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:57AM (#8846810)
      I find the best thing to do is spend a few minutes on Slashdot whenever I'm stuck with something. It reminds me that there are people out there even stupider than myself, and that gives me hope to press on.

    • Re:Taking a break (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tooky ( 15656 ) <steve.tooke@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:08AM (#8846899) Homepage
      With code I always find that if I try to show a colleague a problem, I almost always solve it, often while I'm showing them and before they've even had chance to think about it. I guess this works in the same way as taking a break, because it allows you to think about it in a different way. When you demonstrate the bug to someone else, your concious mind isn't focusing on the problem and that moment of insight seems to happen.
      • My problem is that I usually try to show a colleague what I thought was a finished solution, only to discover a fundimental problem. Think Sisyphis.

      • Re:Taking a break (Score:4, Funny)

        by broller ( 74249 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:34AM (#8847162)
        Have you ever tried to do this step without the help of another person? I often wonder if the walking through the explaination is what helps, and if just pretending someone is there would work just as well.

        If it doesn't work, then the people who come over to see why you are talking to yourself may be able to help. :)

        • My theory is similar. I think that taking the time to reframe the basics of the problem (which you need to do to explain it to someone else) is what does it. All of a sudden, you are reexamining the beginning, when previously you had been concentrating on the end of your thinking.

          There is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) issue that is similar. There are some kinds of algorithms that search for the correct answer by picking a point, checking it, and then jumping to a different point. They can get stuck a

        • Re: Taking a break (Score:4, Interesting)

          by gidds ( 56397 ) <[ku.em.sddig] [ta] [todhsals]> on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @10:00AM (#8847464) Homepage
          I find I can do it my email. Lots of times, I'll be half-way through writing an email explaining some problem, and then find I have to rewrite parts as I come to understand them better. Often I don't need to send the email at all, as by the time I've finished it, I've solved the problem!

          Of course, it does help to have someone to send email to. Right now I'm working on a piece of software with one other author; we tend to code separately, but do most of our design by email -- this not only forces us to get things clear in our heads, but the input from someone else can remind you of factors you'd forgotten, or lead you to simpler and/or more elegant solutions.

      • I remember reading somewhere about some guy that kept a rubber duck in his desk drawer. When he would get stuck on a problem, he would pull out the duck and try to explain the problem he was having. Usually going through it helped solve the problem.

        I've thought about it, but my co-workers already think I'm borderline insane.
      • That's how I tend to debug code too.
        I think it happens if you have a problem halfway through a piece of code, but you only 'back-think' a few steps. When you start to explain it to a colleague, your brain is forced to go back to step one. There's been a number of times I've gone over to a colleague and just said, "Hi, uh, oh, never mind, thanks", and then walked away again.
      • Teaching a subject not only forces you to know your stuff and revisit the fundmentals, but you are asked fundmental questions you wouldn't normally think of.

        I think explaining your work is similar: to explain it, you have to start with the fundamentals which you normally wouldn't revisit when trying to solve a higher problem.

    • While you are taking a break from conscious awareness of the problem, processing continues in localized regions of neurons. This is possible when you have already parsed the problem into distinct components, for example, when the crossword clue is:

      Long serving English Monarch, 19th century

      _ _ C _ _ R _ A

      you mentally establish two threads. The first thread searches your database of English monarchs, isolating values that conform with "long serving 19th Century". Each one of these results (a noun)

  • For nerds, this is not news. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:54AM (#8846788)
    When coding and gaming frenzy kicks in, we all know that personal hygeine suffers. The "You Reek!" moments happen at times like these.

  • strong emotional response (Score:5, Funny)

    by sczimme ( 603413 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:57AM (#8846807)

    Illustrating the strong emotional response elicited by such a sudden insight, Archimedes is said to have run home from the baths in euphoric glee--without his clothes.

    But really, haven't we all done this at one time or another?

  • Saturday puzzle (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MeanMF ( 631837 ) * on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @08:59AM (#8846819) Homepage
    The puzzles always have an underlying hint to solving them, but on Saturdays that clue is insanely obtuse.

    Saturday NYT puzzles frequently don't have themes.. That usually makes them harder.

    • Re:Saturday puzzle, or "Shortz is shit" (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      What you say is true. It is also true that the current editor of the NYTimes puzzle, Will Shortz, has made the Times puzzle a Eureka-free zone: his puzzles are rote, grinding, stultefying bores.

      His predecessors at the Times wrote charming, witty and fun puzzles, filled with exactly what this article is about: eureka moments, moments of insight because of the double entendres or humorous literary references, etc.

      And, Will Shortz is equally horrible on NPR. He just doesn't understand "fun": anagrams are not

      • I'll admit, I've only regularly done the NYTimes crossword for a little over a year (I decided it would be a good exercise), so I may not have the best historical framework here. However, I think there are often excellent 'eureeka' moments, particularly on Thursday (where there is a trick to how certain boxes can be filled in, for example a single box meaning 'ying' horizontally and 'yang' vertically, as opposed to normal days were the clue is just a hint). I'll grant you, Saturdays are a bitch, but I sti
        • However, I think there are often excellent 'eureeka' moments, particularly on Thursday

          I have to agree with you on this one. Did you do the April 1 puzzle this year?

          Certainly not every puzzle is going to be a work of art, but as far as crosswords in the US go I'd have to rank the NYT at or near the top of the list.
        • I've done some old puzzles edited by Will Weng, and I've done a *ton* edited by Will Shortz. To me, there is no comparison. Will has really encouraged his constructors to have fun with their themes, and to creatively "break the rules" when it serves to create an "aha!" or "that's neat!" moment.

          where there is a trick to how certain boxes can be filled in, for example a single box meaning 'ying' horizontally and 'yang' vertically

          Awesome that you should mention this. The two authors of this puzzle are/w
      • For all of the puzzle fanatics out there, let me recommend the geek-fest that is the American Crossword Puzzle tournament, held annually in Stamford, Connecticut (pretty close to NYC). The focus of the event is a series of timed puzzles judged on accuracy and speed. There are also a number of side events and other activities for word puzzle fans. I finished in the top third this year.. Woo hoo!
  • From the article: In the first experiment, thirteen people were given three words (pine, crab, sauce) and asked to think of one word that would form a compound word or phrase for each of the words (can you figure it out?). Fish? Pine-fish, Crabfish, fish sauce?

    • apple, the answer is apple. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mattyp ( 720004 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:26AM (#8847066)
      pineapple, crabapple applesauce
      • I wonder if the "Eureka" moment I had when I read your answer is the same as if I'd figured it out myself?
      • I think I'm going to stick with my initial thought, that the answer is "y", the spanish word meaning "and".

        Think about it -- piney, crabby, saucy!
        Oooh - saucy...

        And RMS *of course* is 100% sure the answer is "GNU/" but I still like mine better.
      • Now for the real question:
        how did you work it out?

        It only took me about 2 seconds to get the answer, but I would be at a loss to try and say how I did it, or how to explain to someone else how they could work it out in a similar timeframe.

        If I were writing a computer program, I would take a dictionary, look for words matching "pine(.*)", then see if "sauce\1" or "\1sauce" and "crab\1" or "\1crab" were also in the dictionary.
        However it just doesn't seem that this is the way that my brain worked it out.
      • Ah, thank you!

        I was thinking about the fact that I couldn't come up with the answer to this particular riddle, and I guess that is because english is only my second language (I am quite good at solving swedish crosswords, for example). What I wonder is. would the anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) be involved in the same way, even for me - solving a problem in a non-native language?
    • I had the opposite of a Eureka moment when I saw that three word puzzle; I groaned when I found yet another author who thinks it is cute to pose a supposedly simple question and not give the answer.

      Thank goodness Slashdot is here to give me the answers. Although, I'll have to check back later since I am not convinced that either "fish" or "white" is the correct answer. I don't think many people have heard of Pine-fish or white crabs.
    • It's a trap! Trapper Pine, Crab Trap, Sauce Trap (the thing you use to pour the grease off the top.)

      Oh wait, this is slashdot, not Fark...

  • EEG? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I find it interesting that researchers are using the EEG to measure emotional response at an unconcious level. This is flawed in my opinion since an EEG can only measure electrical activity in the outside of the cerebral cortex (new cortex) while most emotional activity, and in particular memory management has been linked to the old cortex (and the hippocampus directly for memory storage). For those who don't know, the old cortex is covered by the cerebral cortex like a shell. The old cortex is basically

    • Re:EEG? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      By combining the EEG technique with functional MRI they can image the entire brain. Functional MRI (fMRI) will allow you to see the entire brain at once, but at a much lower spatial-temporal resolution compared to EEG. Using both techniques is a decent solution to the problem, but since neither technique is completely understood (including some of the issues you pointed out) it still leaves us with only a partial understanding...
      • Mod parent up. She knows of which she speaks.

  • Excellent book with examples (Score:5, Informative)

    by Don'tTreadOnMe ( 686201 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:05AM (#8846878)
    "Aha! Insight" [amazon.com]

    Sorry for the Amazon link, but it was easy to find there. Strangely, going through this book, especially if you don't resort to the hintws and answers in the back, helps develop just the sort of insight mentioned.

    As always, your mileage may vary.

    • This is such a kickass book. I can't endorse it highly enough. I believe there are actually 2 of them (a blue one and a green one, or something).
    • Actually, that is not the same. The insight he mentions is more that how an amazingly simple thing can explain something aparently complex (hence the contradiction of simple/complex, and therefore humor).

      Anyway, even though Martin Gardber is a pompous fool, that book is very good when we get past his condescendence.

  • Difficult study (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Illserve ( 56215 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:06AM (#8846880)
    This is an interesting idea, and I'd been keen to believe it. But there are some severe methodological issues, first that subjects are pressing a button to indicate that they've solved the problem based on their phenomological experience. As far as I can tell from reading this bit, they could be picking up any of a variety of mental processes that have nothing to do with the insight experience. Most obviously, it could merely be the intent to push the button.

    Hopefully the real experiment is more bulletproof than this fluff piece suggests.

    • One of the authors is something like my academic half-brother. He's no slouch, and brain imaging is so common nowadays that I doubt they would fail to control for button presses. But don't be fooled into thinking they found out anything novel. Problem solving and insight research has been going on seriously for at least 50 years--one famous insight problem from the 50s (I think, it may have been earlier) is the Luchin's water jugs problem, which you may remember from the Die Hard movie with Samuel L. Jack

    • Re:Difficult study (Score:3, Informative)

      by Alsee ( 515537 )
      Hopefully the real experiment is more bulletproof than this fluff piece suggests.

      Perhaps the news reporting in the first link qualifies as a "fluff peice", however you could have simply followed the second link - the Complete Research Article. [plosbiology.org] - to see that it was quality science and that your critisism were misplaced.

      severe methodological issues... they could be picking up any of a variety of mental processes that have nothing to do with the insight experience. Most obviously, it could merely be the in
      • Thank you for this informative reply. It's very concise and useful. The study seems very well controlled.

        Sorry I didn't read the article, but I've got alot to do in a given day :)

  • An interesting point (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    would be whether the cognitive and neural events that lead to insight are as sudden as the subjective experience.

  • Author Site (Score:3, Informative)

    by bcolflesh ( 710514 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:11AM (#8846928) Homepage
    More interesting info on Mark Jung-Beeman's [nwu.edu] website.
  • I wonder how this combines with the idea of a "Quantum Consciousness", as posted on /. a few years back. Hameroff's work is pretty interesting , and I've got to say pretty enticing. You can check it out HERE [arizona.edu].

    -JT
    • I would argue that Quantumn Mechanics better reflects the mind than the other way around. The only reason Quantumn is so disturbing is that it forces us to consider two possibilities at the same time. Our entire lives are lived making choice, that we think are logical, but once you get past the excuses and a rationalization, they turn out to be arbitrary. Or worse, someone else's arbitrary choice.

      Our brain is perfectly equipped for dealing with more than one possibility at a time. It's a massive parallel

      • However, the concious mind can only deal with one possibilty at a time.

        Not so.

        The concious mind is well-equipped to deal with multiple outcomes from unmeasured states. Ever watch someone make fun of an "uneducated" person not wanting to jinx a piece of mail?

        And generally the most literate people are the ones least likely to engage in parallel thinking. (Grumbles the frustrated science fiction writer wannabee who has a story stuck in his head, but he can't tell it all at once.)

        Make some arbitrary cho
      • I really wanted to mod you up, but I just had to reply instead.

        However, the concious mind can only deal with one possibilty at a time.

        I would say that one of the concious mind's essential functions is to narrow things down to one possibility at a time. It is the decision maker that collapses the possibilities thrown up by the rest of the brain into one fixed state. There's no reason to believe it, but the parallel to the original posters mention of quantum conciousness is a nice one.

        Our entire liv

  • What is a non-insightful answer? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by imkonen ( 580619 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:21AM (#8847008)
    Well, besides the obvious jokes about Modding...

    Subjects pressed a button to indicate whether they had solved the problem using insight, which they had been told leads to an Aha! experience characterized by suddenness and obviousness.

    So really, how would one solve a word problem without insight? Did any of the participants solve it by writing a dictionary searching algorithm into their PDA? Did they open a dictionary and start checking answers systematically? ("Bart, Cart, Dart, Eart... Nope, can't see any problem with that!")

    In my own experience it just seems like it's the obscurity of the answer that makes it seem insightful or not. If I had read the three words and instantly known the answer I don't think I would have felt the Aha! moment that I felt after staring at it for a minute. So am I less insightful if I solve it faster?

  • 1 Across : sudden, intuitive realization (8) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DrSkwid ( 118965 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:34AM (#8847158) Journal

    Epiphany

    One would have thought one with a decent vocabulary would have known the word for it rather than 'a eureka moment'.

    • Funny, I always associated an epiphany with suddenly realizing something "important", not like word puzzles. Epiphanies are reserved for moments like the time you realized your parents must have had sex at least once. And let me tell you, I did not shout "eurika!" then. ;) I guess because I always use this example I feel like epiphanies are bad things.
  • So, they did a study...just to tell me that insightful people are going to finish a crossword puzzle faster?? who diddn't know this already?

  • Akerue Moments (Score:5, Funny)

    by DeadVulcan ( 182139 ) <dead.vulcan@nOspam.pobox.com> on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:49AM (#8847315)

    I often have Akerue! moments.

    Those are when you knew something, but suddenly, it's gone, and you can't for the life of you remember. I hate those.

  • Incubation and the 3 Bs (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SolemnDragon ( 593956 ) * <solemndragon AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @09:58AM (#8847444) Homepage Journal
    Eureka moments require a few different things to happen in order to bring them about. First, it requires an attempt to solve the puzzle in linear fashion, setting up the problem in mind and at least someplace to start in approaching it.

    Next, an incubation period, where you go and do something else, or stare into space and 'woolgather,' that fuzzy day-dream-like state in which you actually start organising thoughts, although it may not feel like it. The three Bs come into play here- bed, bath, and bus- the three likeliest placest to have a eureka moment, because those are incubatory periods, in which your brain starts approaching the puzzle from different angles.

    There are other good places- i find washing dishes helps, it's an activity that lets my mind wander and it's always been a quiet spot in the day after dinner. I know someone who goes for long walks.

    Sleeping on a problem really does help, partly because the brain trains during sleep, and you'll wake up better at the problem-solving activities because your brain has run through them in sleep. It may not solve abstract problems, but it at least helps with concrete skills, so who's to say it doesn't help with abstract thinking abilities as well?

    Beyond that, all i can think is... what kind of eureka moment results in... an article about eureka moments??
  • That is where I do my crosswords.

    In fact, I am thinking of moving my office.

  • What is the common word between pine, crab, and sauce? (RTFA if you don't know what I mean)
    • pine nut
      nut crab
      nut sauce

      I'm sure this isn't the "correct" answer, since nut crabs arn't extraordinarily well known. But it is the first answer I thought of. There's another answer that also grows on trees. How many answers can we come up with?

  • In the shower (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kcdoodle ( 754976 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @11:06AM (#8848232)
    In the shower, on the toilet, walking up the stairs, driving to work, almost anyplace but at my keyboard.

    This is where I solve the really tough problems.

    The simple stuff is what I do every day. The tougher problems like the large scale designs and unique solutions for unique problems rarely get solved while I am at work.

    I think about the big problems for hours or days and the solution finally comes to me.

    The only downside of solving problems in the shower, is that I am doing it on my time and the boss doesn't pay me for that.
    That is why I NEVER feel guilty about slahdotting at work.


    I live the greatest adventure anyone could wish for. -Tosk the Hunted
  • pfft. I have this sort of experience every morning; in fact, I _have_to have one just to get out of bed. *AHA! I am awake! (Damn!)*

    cragen

  • Different View of Insight (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anna Merikin ( 529843 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @01:19PM (#8850052) Journal

    We are given three discrete states of cognition by nature:

    Sleeping so deeply there are no dreams (delta or deeper)

    Sleeping with dreams (alpha, beta state)

    Eyes-open sleep (ordinary waking)

    But we can have several others:

    Observation and info-gathering (adult ego-state)

    Understanding and compassion (unnamed by science)

    Insight (unnamed by science)

    Oneness with God

    The fourth and later stages of consciousness usually are unpredictable and come and go by mood.

    The first three stages are culturally-defined and mandated, and the later stages are spoken of in metaphor by mystics, as language is incompetent to describe them.

    Eastern religious practices (yoga, zen, t'ai chi) are curricula for attaining these states.

    In Christianity, Insight is called "The Holy Spirit (or Ghost)." Anyone who has had an insight can remember wanting to sing, dance, shout, tell the world -- this is a religious experience that even scientists can share.

    In fact, science has another vector of similarity with religions: The scientific method (do it and see what happens) is exactly as useful as faith (I'll do it because I know God wants it done.)

    --

    We are not humans in search of the spiritual, we are spirits out to experience the truly human.

  • The word is... (Score:3, Informative)

    by dcw3 ( 649211 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @02:04PM (#8850617) Journal
    epiphany
    n. pl. epiphanies

    A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: "I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself" (Frank Maier).

  • Where's Waldo (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gunark ( 227527 ) on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @05:59PM (#8853617)
    One thing this article doesn't mention is that it turns out that your aptitude for "insight" is directly correlated with your ability on pereception-related problems.

    For example, people who do well on Where's Waldo-type problems will tend to do well on seemingly unrelated insight problems (like NYTimes crossword puzzles :)

    This is also true for people who are really good at flipping the Necker cube [wikipedia.org].

    If anyone is interested, this is from two studies done by Schooler in the 1990's. The article here actually references those two:

    Schooler JW, Melcher J (1997) The ineffability of insight. In: Smith SM, Ward TB, Finke RA, editors. The creative cognition approach. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press. 97-133.

    Schooler JW, Ohlsson S, Brooks K (1993) Thoughts beyond words: When language overshadows insight. J Exp Psychol Gen 122: 166-183. Find this article online

  • maybe I'm nuts but... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Dan9999 ( 679463 )
    I think that everyone has that insight, it's just that it's not always easy to stop the concious analisys of something, anything, whatever happens to be going on at that moment.

    Also, tv doesn't help, neither do all those bad things that all the religions talk about, they seem to diminish the trust that the insightful part of you has in your concious.

  • Moo (Score:2)

    by Chacham ( 981 ) *
    Although interesting, i find this ridiculous. The crossword puzzle is solved either through association (introverts are very good at memory retrieval via association) or intuition, the "N" in the MBTI. The Aha! moment that comes from this is a feeling of superiority. At first the problem was unsolvable, and now it is solvable. Given this pleasure increases when oithers are said to have not gotten it (such as saying it is a "hard" question), the pleasure comes from superiority over others, and not from the a

Slashdot Top Deals

BLISS is ignorance.

Close