Insight with stumpers: Normative solution data for 25 stumpers and a fresh perspective on the accuracy effect

Abstract

When people solve a problem, they can do in one of two ways - analytically or through insight. There is robust evidence showing that a problem solved insightfully is more likely to be correct than one solved through analysis, the so-called accuracy or correctness effect in insight research. However, the nature of the insight problems in the laboratory means that it is often not easy to disentangle whether a participant feels correct or whether she actually is correct. We report data from two studies using stumpers as stimuli. Stumpers are a form of riddle in which it is possible to generate a plausible but incorrect answer. Alongside normative data for 25 stumpers, we also demonstrate that insight is linked to certainty in the answer rather than whether the answer is correct or not and that certainty (subjective correctness) is a stronger predictor of the feeling of insight than objective correctness. The findings support work into false insight and further add to the understanding of the phenomenology of ‘aha’ moments.