Insight enhances learning for incidental information. New evidence supports the insight memory advantage

Research on creative problem-solving finds that solutions achieved via spontaneous insight (i.e., Aha! moment) are better remembered than solutions reached without this sense of epiphany, referred to as an ‘insight memory advantage.’ We hypothesized that the insight memory advantage can spread to incidental information encoded in the moments surrounding spontaneous insight as well. Participants (N= 291) were presented with incidental, and unrelated to problems, scholastic facts immediately after indicating they reached a solution to a word problem (i.e., Rebus Puzzles) but prior to entering the answer. Participants indicated whether they reached the solution via either insight or a step-by-step analysis. Memory results showed better performance for incidental scholastic facts presented when problem solving was accompanied by a spontaneous (Aha! Experience) and induced (D’oh! Experience) insight, compared to solutions reached with analysis. This finding suggests that the memory advantage for problems solved via insight spreads to other unrelated information encoded in close temporal proximity and has implications for novel techniques to enhance learning in educational settings.