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Aha! experiences leave a mark: facilitated recall of insight solutions

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Abstract

The present study investigates a possible memory advantage for solutions that were reached through insightful problem solving. We hypothesized that insight solutions (with Aha! experience) would be remembered better than noninsight solutions (without Aha! experience). 34 video clips of magic tricks were presented to 50 participants as a novel problem-solving task, asking them to find out how the trick was achieved. Upon discovering the solution, participants had to indicate whether they had experienced insight during the solving process. After a delay of 14 days, a recall of solutions was conducted. Overall, 55 % of previously solved tricks were recalled correctly. Comparing insight and noninsight solutions, 64.4 % of all insight solutions were recalled correctly, whereas only 52.4 % of all noninsight solutions were recalled correctly. We interpret this finding as a facilitating effect of previous insight experiences on the recall of solutions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Matus Simkovic for help with programming the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Großhaderner Str. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Amory H. Danek

  2. Trick 17 Magic Concepts, Neureutherstr. 17, 80799, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Fraps

  3. Parmenides Foundation, Kirchplatz 1, 82049, Munich, Germany

    Albrecht von Müller & Michael Öllinger

  4. Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Großhaderner Str. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Benedikt Grothe

  5. Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Großhaderner Str. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Michael Öllinger

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  1. Amory H. Danek
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Correspondence to Amory H. Danek.

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Danek, A.H., Fraps, T., von Müller, A. et al. Aha! experiences leave a mark: facilitated recall of insight solutions. Psychological Research 77, 659–669 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0454-8

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