No one has figured out yet exactly how the brain handles these feats. At UCLA, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be giving at least some clues into the nature of sudden insights. Subjects are asked to solve simple anagrams. The answers may come in a flash (“Aha!”) or slowly, by methodical examination of the different possibilities. The Aha! Answers are associated with bursts of activity in the brain’s right temporal lobe. “This region seems to connect information of various kinds,” says neurologist Marco Iacoboni, one of the scientists conducting the study. And making fresh connections is an essential part of creativity.

　　But fireworks aren’t everything. Sometimes inspiration comes slowly and quietly. Depending on the idea, Cohen says, different parts of the brain may dominate. The right hemisphere is typically more involved in visual tasks, and the left brain does more verbal work. Many creative concepts need both halves, as well as the hippocampus, a part of the brain that specializes in information processing and recall. Cohen suspects that these various parts of the brain are at high alert during periods of creative inspiration.

　　Advancing years can actually help that process along. The kids leave home, and a pension can make it easier to quit your day job. “There’s a freedom in being older,” says veteran radio producer Connie Goldman, 73, author of “Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer” and “The Ageless Spirit.” “Teenagers like to all be alike and all dress alike. As we get older, we’re more individuals. We’re ready to be who we are.” Salerno agrees. “In a sense there’s less to lose by trying things in late life,” she says. “You don’t have to be bothered with what other people think.” Growing up can be a relief. Gail Carson Levine was closing in on 50 when she published her first book, “Ella Enchanted,” earning one of the most prestigious prizes in children’s literature, a Newbery Honor. Now 57, she doubts she could have written such a life-affirming book in her younger years. “Adolescents can be very dark,” she says. “That wears off only slowly.”