Although insights may appear to be sudden, they are actually the result of prior thought and effort.
[1] When people solve, or attempt to solve an insight puzzle, they experience a common phenomenology, that is, a set of behavioural properties that accompany problem-solving activity (for a useful edited review of insight problems and their phenomenology, see Sternberg & Davidson, 1995).
Other kinds of puzzle, such as the Tower of Hanoi, an example of a transformation problem, tend not to yield these phenomena.
The phenomena may include: Max van Mannen proposed the so-called insight cultivators to obtain thematic insights when studying a phenomenon or phenomenological topic or event.
The idea is that the works of artists, scholars, and philosophers help us gain understanding about our own lived experiences.