Escaping mental fixation: Incubation and inhibition in creative problem solving

Abstract

The inhibition underlying retrieval-induced forgetting has been argued to play a crucial role in the ability to overcome interference in memory and cognition. Supporting this conjecture, recent research has found that participants who exhibit greater levels of retrieval-induced forgetting are better at overcoming fixation on the Remote Associates Test (RAT) than are participants who exhibit reduced levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. If the ability to inhibit inappropriate responses improves the ability to solve fixated RAT problems, then reducing the fixation caused by inappropriate responses should reduce the correlation between retrieval-induced forgetting and problem solving. We tested this hypothesis by inserting an incubation period between two 30-second problem-solving attempts: half of the participants were given an incubation period (distributed condition), half were not (continuous condition). In the continuous condition retrieval-induced forgetting correlated positively with problem-solving performance during both the initial and final 30 seconds of problem solving. In the distributed condition retrieval-induced forgetting only correlated with problem-solving performance during the first 30 seconds of problem solving. This finding suggests that incubation reduces the need for inhibition by reducing the extent to which problem solvers suffer fixation.

Forgetting as a consequence and enabler of creative thinking.

“…When problems were not fixated, participants exhibiting low levels of retrievalinduced forgetting performed just as well as participants exhibiting high levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. Koppel and Storm (2014) observed a similar pattern of results, showing once again that retrieval-induced forgetting correlates with problem-solving success for fixated RAT problems, but that the correlation is eliminated when participants are given an incubation period after an initial problem-solving attempt, thus allowing fixation to dis sipate on its own and presumably obviating the need for inhibition during the subsequent problem-solving attempt.…”

Overcoming fixation with repeated memory suppression

“…They reasoned that individuals showing higher 382 ANGELLO, STORM, SMITH levels of RIF should be better at solving RAT problems negatively primed with incorrect associates. Consistent with this conjecture, a positive correlation between RIF and RAT problem solving was observed, indicating that proficiency in memory inhibition during a memory retrieval task is associated with the ability to overcome fixation during creative problem solving (see also , Koppel & Storm, 2013;Storm, 2011). Subsequent research has found that participants who forget incorrect associates following problem solving are also better at overcoming fixation and correctly solving negatively primed RAT problems (Storm, Angello, & Bjork, 2011).…”

Alternating Incubation Effects in the Generation of Category Exemplars

“…Smith and Blankenship () found correlational evidence consistent with the forgetting fixation hypothesis; longer delays improved re‐test performance on initially unsolved insight problems, and delays also decreased recall of words (blockers) used initially to block problem‐solving. Furthermore, experimentally reducing the accessibility of blockers via directed forgetting (Koppel & Storm, ) or via repeated suppression (Angello et al., ) improved performance on verbal insight problems; forgetting blockers benefited resolution of unsolved insight problems. These studies provide experimental evidence of the forgetting fixation hypothesis.…”