Verbal Insight Problems and Aha! Moments
Steven M. Smith, Matthew A. Kidd, Visheeta J. Chandolia, Jillian M. Hermoso · Creativity Research Journal · 2025
To examine insight and verbal restructuring, we created 60 2-word problems, the Polysemous Associates Test (PAT), whose solutions are homographs with different meanings associated with the two problem words, such as JEWELRY BELL, solution RING (see Table 1). Experiment 1 showed that solving PAT problems often evoked the experience of insight, or aha! moments. Experiment 2 compared solving PAT problems with Compound Remote Associates (CRA) problems of moderate difficulty; metacognitive reports of insight or non-insight were elicited after each solution was given. Solving PAT problems was found to be associated with insight more often than solving CRA problems, which are commonly used to study aha! moments or insight experiences. Experiment 3 compared CRA problems with polysemous solutions with CRA problems that have monosemous solutions, finding no difference in aha! rates. Experiment 3 supported the remote association hypothesis, that problems whose test words are more weakly associated with solutions were more likely to elicit aha! responses when they were solved. This new collection of verbal insight problems provides a useful research tool for studying insight in problem solving.Table 1. Polysemous associates test problems. Mean percentages of participants who solved PAT problems (solution rates) at 7-sec, 15-sec, and 30-sec time limits, and the average across all three time allotments in Experiment 1. The problems are rank-ordered according to the mean percentage of 105 participants solving that problem, averaged across all three allotted times.Download CSVDisplay Table