Neuroscientists in the United States (IDENTIFY) the brain region involved in that glorious "Eureka" moment, when a solution to a puzzle suddenly appears from nowhere.
Mark Jung-Beeman and Edward Bowden of Northwestern University, and John Kounios of Drexel University, report in the Public Library of Science journal "Biology today" that the so-called 'Aha' moment (ACCOMPANY) by a burst of telltale neural activity in the right hemisphere of the brain.
'For thousands of years people have said that insight feels different from more straightforward problem solving,' Dr Jung-Beeman said. 'We believe that this is the (ONE) research showing that distinct computational and neural mechanisms lead to these breakthrough moments.'
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to watch what happened in the brain as volunteers tackled word puzzles such as, 'What word links the following three: fence, card and master? Answer: Post.' Each volunteer (ASK) to record whether the answer was arrived at gradually or in a flash that felt like insight.
Most of the laborious thinking activity seemed to be in the (BRAIN) left hemisphere.
The research (CAN) throw light on the famous gravitational insight of Isaak Newton as he watched an apple fall, or the elation of Archimedes, who famously leaped naked from his bath crying 'Eureka: I have found it'.
Dr Jung-Beeman said, 'Archimedes' sudden observation that water displacement could be used to calculate density resulted from his (CONNECT) known concepts in new ways.'