Four experiments examined whether verbalization can interfere with insight problem solving. In Experiment 1, Ss were interrupted during problem solving and asked either to verbalize their strategies (retrospective verbalization) or engage in an unrelated activity (control). Ss in the retrospective verbalization condition were significantly less successful than control subjects at solving the problems. Experiment 2 replicated the finding of Experiment 1 and demonstrated that the control Ss' advantage was not due to any beneficial effect of the interruption. In Experiment 3, concurrent, nondirective verbalization impaired the solving of insight problems but had no effect on noninsight problems. In Experiment 4, the effect of concurrent verbalization on insight was maintained even when Ss were encouraged to consider alternative approaches. Together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that verbalization can result in the disruption of nonreportable processes that are critical to achieving insight solutions.

http://www.learnlab.org/research/wiki/images/9/90/Schooleretal.pdf

Thoughts beyond words : When language overshadows insight

Preface. Acknowledgments. Credits. CHAPTER 1: Two Case Studies in Creativity. Beliefs about Creativity. Two Case Studies in Creativity. Creativity in Science: Discovery of the Double Helix. Conclusions: Watson and Crick's Discovery of the Double Helix. Artistic Creativity: Development of Picasso's Guernica. Structure in Creative Thinking: Conclusions from the Case Studies. Revisiting the Question of Artistic Creativity versus Scientifi c Discovery. Beyond Case Studies: Outline of the Book. CHAPTER 2: The Study of Creativity. Outline of the Chapter. Creative Product, Creative Process, and Creative Person: Questions of Defi nition. Method versus Theory in the Study of Creativity. Methods of Studying Creativity. An Introduction to Theories of Creativity. CHAPTER 3: The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part I: Ordinary Thinking, Creative Thinking, and Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. Basic Cognitive Components of Ordinary Thinking. General Characteristics of Ordinary Thinking. Creative Thinking and Ordinary Thinking: Conclusions. The Cognitive Analysis of Problem Solving. An Example of Problem Solving. Solving a Problem: Questions of Defi nition. A Brief History of the Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving. Problem Solving: Processes of Understanding and Search. Strategies for Searching Problem Spaces. Weak Heuristic Methods of Problem Solving and Creative Thinking: Conclusions. CHAPTER 4: The Cognitive Perspective on Creativity, Part II: Knowledge and Expertise in Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. Use of Knowledge in Problem Solving: Studies of Analogical Transfer. Strong Methods in Problem Solving: Studies of Expertise. Outline of a Cognitive- Analytic Model of Problem Solving: Strong and Weak Methods in Problem Solving. The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions and Implications. The Creative Cognition Approach: A Bottom- Up Analysis of Creative Thinking. Skepticism about Expertise and Creativity. Practice or Talent? Expertise and Achievement: Reproductive or Productive? Expertise, Knowledge, and Experience versus Creativity: The Tension View. The Cognitive Perspective on Problem Solving and Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 5: Case Studies of Creativity: Ordinary Thinking in the Arts, Science, and Invention. Outline of the Chapter. Basic Components of Ordinary Thinking. The 10- Year Rule in Creative Development. Case Studies of Creativity in the Visual Arts. Case Studies of Creativity in Science. Scientifi c Creativity: Scientifi c Discovery as Problem Solving. The Wright Brothers' Invention of the Airplane. Thomas Edison as a Creative Thinker: Themes and Variations Based on Analogy. James Watt's Invention of the Steam Engine. Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin. Ordinary Thinking in Invention: Summary. Case Studies of Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 6: The Question of Insight in Problem Solving. Outline of the Chapter. The Gestalt Analysis of Insight: Problem Solving and Perception. Evidence to Support the Gestalt View. The Neo- Gestalt View: Heuristic- Based Restructuring in Response to Impasse. Challenges to the Gestalt View. An Elaboration of the Cognitive- Analytic Model to Deal with Restructuring and Insight. A Critical Reexamination of Evidence in Support of the Gestalt View. Insight in Problem Solving: Conclusions and Implications. CHAPTER 7: Out of One's Mind, Part I: Muses, Primary Process, and Madness. Outline of the Chapter. Messengers of the Gods. Primary Process and Creativity. Genius and Madness: Bipolarity and Creativity. Mood Disorders and Creativity: The Question of Causality. The Role of Affect in Creativity. Genius and Madness: Schizophrenia and Creativity. Social Factors and Genius and Madness. A Reconsideration of Some Basic Data. Genius and Madness: Conclusions. CHAPTER 8: Out of One's Mind, Part II: Unconscious Processing, Incubation, and Illumination. Outline of the Chapter. Unconscious Associations and Unconscious Processing. Poincare's Theory of Unconscious Creative Processes. Wallas's Stages of the Creative Process. Hadamard's Studies of Unconscious Thinking in Incubation. Koestler's Bisociation Theory. Campbell's Evolutionary Theory of Creativity: Blind Variation and Selective Retention. Simonton's Chance Confi guration Theory. Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of the Unconscious in Creative Thinking. Unconscious Thinking in Creativity: Conclusions. Laboratory Investigations of Incubation and Illumination. Evidence for Incubation and Illumination: A Critique. Illumination without Unconscious Processing? Incubation, Illumination, and the Unconscious: Conclusions. CHAPTER 9: The Psychometric Perspective, Part I: Measuring the Capacity to Think Creatively. Outline of the Chapter. Guilford and the Modern Psychometric Perspective on Creativity. Methods of Measuring Creativity. Cognitive Components of the Creative Process: Testing for Creative- Thinking Ability. Testing the Tests: The Reliability and Validity of Tests of Creative-Thinking Capacity. The Generality versus Domain Specifi city of Creative- Thinking Skills. Testing Creativity: Conclusions. CHAPTER 10: The Psychometric Perspective, Part II: The Search for the Creative Personality. Creative versus Comparison or Control Groups. Questions about Method in Studies of the Creative Personality. A Model of the Role of Creative Personality in Creative Achievement in Science. Is It Futile to Search for The Creative Personality in the Arts and the Sciences? Creativity and the Need to Be Original: A Reexamination of Divergent Thinking and Creativity. Personality, Cognition, and Creativity Reconsidered: The Question of Openness to Experience and Creativity. Divergent Thinking and the Creative Personality: Conclusions. CHAPTER 11: Confl uence Models of Creativity. Outline of the Chapter. The Social Psychology of Creativity: Amabile's Componential Model. Economic Theory of Creativity: Buy Low, Sell High. The Darwinian Theory of Creativity. Confl uence Models of Creativity: Summary. CHAPTER 12: Understanding Creativity: Where Are We? Where Are We Going? Outline of the Chapter. Ordinary versus Extraordinary Processes in Creativity. Ordinary Thinking in Creativity. Extraordinary Processes in Creativity? On Using Case Studies to Study Creativity. Is It Possible to Test the Hypothesis That "Ordinary Thinking" Is the Basis for Creativity? On Creative Ideas and Creative People. References. Index.

Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the Arts

The hypothesized role of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is rich in dreams, in the formation of new associations, has remained anecdotal. We examined the role of REM on creative problem solving, with the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Using a nap paradigm, we manipulated various conditions of prior exposure to elements of a creative problem. Compared with quiet rest and non-REM sleep, REM enhanced the formation of associative networks and the integration of unassociated information. Furthermore, these REM sleep benefits were not the result of an improved memory for the primed items. This study shows that compared with quiet rest and non-REM sleep, REM enhances the integration of unassociated information for creative problem solving, a process, we hypothesize, that is facilitated by cholinergic and noradrenergic neuromodulation during REM sleep.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/106/25/10130.full.pdf

REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks

Extra work on unsolved problems may lead to more improvement if the new work is delayed rather than undertaken immediately after initial solution attempts. Such a result constitutes incubation in problem solving. "Unconscious work" on a problem, commonly assumed to be responsible for incubation effects, may not be necessary to observe the phenomenon. We hypothesize that fixation, a block to successful problem solving, may develop during initial solution attempts and persist, interfering with immediate extra work more than with delayed extra work. Five experiments are reported in which fixation was induced to prevent optimal performance on the initial test of Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems (e.g., Mednick, 1962). After the fixation manipulation in three of the experiments, the effects of incubation intervals were examined by retesting the fixated problems. Both fixation (poorer initial problem-solving performance) and incubation (more improvement after a delayed retest than an immediate retest) were found in all the experiments which tested for the effects. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, misleading distractors were presented alongside the RAT problems during the initial test of the problems to cause fixation. In Experiment 4, a block of paired associates--pairing the RAT words with the misleading distractors prior to problem solving--successfully induced fixation, indicating that the distractors affected memory retrieval. In Experiment 5, a trial-by-trial technique allowed fixation and incubation to be induced and tested separately for each item. All of our findings of incubation effects appear to have depended upon the initial induction of fixation. Although the experiments may not be representative of all naturally occurring cases of incubation, they provide a methodology for the study of fixation and incubation effects in problem solving in the laboratory.

Incubation and the persistence of fixation in problem solving.

A meta-analytic review of empirical studies that have investigated incubation effects on problem solving is reported. Although some researchers have reported increased solution rates after an incubation period (i.e., a period of time in which a problem is set aside prior to further attempts to solve), others have failed to find effects. The analysis examined the contributions of moderators such as problem type, presence of solution-relevant or misleading cues, and lengths of preparation and incubation periods to incubation effect sizes. The authors identified a positive incubation effect, with divergent thinking tasks benefiting more than linguistic and visual insight tasks from incubation. Longer preparation periods gave a greater incubation effect, whereas filling an incubation period with high cognitive demand tasks gave a smaller incubation effect. Surprisingly, low cognitive demand tasks yielded a stronger incubation effect than did rest during an incubation period when solving linguistic insight problems. The existence of multiple types of incubation effect provides evidence for differential invocation of knowledge-based vs. strategic solution processes across different classes of problem, and it suggests that the conditions under which incubation can be used as a practical technique for enhancing problem solving must be designed with care.

Does Incubation Enhance Problem Solving? A Meta-Analytic Review

Subjects worked on a problem, engaged in an intervening activity, and then resumed work on the problem. Different intervening activities represented various mechanisms that might produce incubation (e.g., set breaking, facilitation by analogy, review of the problem's elements). These various treatment groups were compared to a control group that worked on the problem continuously. None of them showed evidence of incubation, despite previously reported incubation with the same problem. Since these systematically negative findings are consistent with those of several recent studies, the status of incubation as an objectively demonstrated phenomenon is questioned and directions for further research are suggested.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1421461.pdf

David M. Johnson

Papers

Mechanisms of Incubation in Creative Problem Solving.