Feature

Road to Eureka!

Insight may lie at the end of a chain of neural reactions

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Sudden bursts of insight that, with no warning, provide unexpected, novel solutions to thorny problems are the stuff of legend. Consider Archimedes, the great ancient Greek mathematician and scientist.

SEEING THE LIGHT. New research offers a glimpse of brain activity during problem solving. iStockphoto

THINKING CAP. Researchers fit a volunteer with an electrode-studded cap to measure her neural reactions during a verbal task intended to spark insight.