"Clearly, an idea that advances the state of the art is unlikely to occur except when attention level peaks."
I'm not at all sure this is true. Tales of apple tress, baths and monkeys (or was it snakes?) chasing tails come to mind. In my own personal experience I've had some of my best ideas in the shower or on the bus going home.
I could be wrong, but I think you might be confusing attentiveness with focus. I don't believe the author is saying that the best ideas are guaranteed to occur when you are at a peak focus on the problem, but rather when your mind is most attentive, in general.
Indeed, this is not true. Sustained attention is necessary in certain types of problems, but those you would call "state of the art" encompasses something much broader.
The immediate example in my mind is the benzene ring story, conceived in a dream.
I'm not at all sure this is true. Tales of apple tress, baths and monkeys (or was it snakes?) chasing tails come to mind. In my own personal experience I've had some of my best ideas in the shower or on the bus going home.