INSIGHT

What happens when we encounter a problem that defies solution? This research investigates insight moments—those sudden shifts when seemingly intractable challenges become solvable. Rather than treating insight as a private cognitive event, we examine how breakthroughs are scaffolded by our material surroundings. Using qualitative and experimental approaches, we study the role of objects, tools, and physical environments in generating new perspectives, alongside the emotional experiences—from frustration and impasse to surprise and illumination—that mark the journey toward insight. Our work demonstrates that the path from stuck to solved often runs through the things we manipulate, arrange, and transform in the world beyond our heads.