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Insight and the Selection of Ideas
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Insight and the Selection of Ideas

Ruben E Laukkonen, Margaret Webb, Carola Salvi, Jason M Tangen, Heleen A Slagter and Jonathan W Schooler
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, Vol.153, p.105363
10/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105363
PMID: 37598874
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Abstract

Insight prediction active inference ideas heuristics Aha problem solving Computational neuroscience (incl. mathematical neuroscience and theoretical neuroscience) Cognitive neuroscience Cognition Treatment of human diseases and conditions Expanding knowledge in psychology
Perhaps it is no accident that insight moments accompany some of humanity’s most important discoveries in science, medicine, and art. Here we propose that feelings of insight play a central role in (heuristically) selecting an idea from the stream of consciousness by capturing attention and eliciting a sense of intuitive confidence permitting fast action under uncertainty. The mechanisms underlying this Eureka heuristic are explained within an active inference framework. First, implicit restructuring via Bayesian reduction leads to a higher-order prediction error (i.e., the content of insight). Second, dopaminergic precision-weighting of the prediction error accounts for the intuitive confidence, pleasure, and attentional capture (i.e., the feeling of insight). This insight as precision account is consistent with the phenomenology, accuracy, and neural unfolding of insight, as well as its effects on belief and decision-making. We conclude by reflecting on dangers of the Eureka Heuristic, including the arising and entrenchment of false beliefs and the vulnerability of insights under psychoactive substances and misinformation.

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