Insight and Learning: moving toward an associative theory

Insight is a term whose history goes more than a century back in time. It was originally used to describe a certain type of sudden change in problem-solving performance, but it was rapidly reformulated to fulfill the function of an explanatory process of how to observe intelligent behavior in both humans and non-human animals. However, this explanatory role was early criticized by its lack of evidence and vague assumptions on what would separate smooth and progressive changes in behavior from more sudden ones. In this essay, I revisit the evidence of insight learning and the evolution of the theoretical conceptualization derived from that evidence. Some comments on the evolution of this conceptualization are made pointing to the discontinuation of said conceptualization in more recent investigations despite the recent bloom of research on creativity and insight. I conclude by pointing toward the possibility and necessity of an associative learning theory of insight highlighting the impact of Clark Hull, Kenneth Spence, and Donald Hebb on the general comprehension of the insight phenomenon.