Illumination and the Emergence of Creative Ideas: A Dual-Route Model

Illumination has occupied a central position in theories of creativity since Wallas identified itas one of the four phases of the creative process. Although subsequent models have continuedto recognize illumination as the moment at which new ideas emerge into awareness, relativelylittle attention has been devoted to the cognitive processes underlying this transition. At thesame time, a parallel literature on insight problem solving has generated extensive evidencedescribing the processes that precede and accompany the sudden emergence of new ideas, yetthese findings have rarely been integrated into broader theories of creativity. This chapter bringstogether these traditions to reconsider illumination within the broader process of creative ideageneration. Building on classical and contemporary theories of creativity, a Dual-Route Modelof Creative Idea Generation is proposed. In the continuous route, intermediate states remainaccessible to conscious awareness as an idea develops. By contrast, in the discontinuous route,an idea becomes abruptly available to conscious awareness, following processing that is not fullyaccessible to introspection. Behavioral, metacognitive, and neurocognitive evidence relevant tothese different modes of idea emergence is reviewed, alongside their potential relationships withthe quality and subsequent memory of the ideas generated. Finally, the broader implicationsof the framework are considered by examining insight as a possible form of model updating,outlining the main empirical predictions of the Dual-Route Model, and discussing its relevanceto creative problem solving in engineering and design.