The incubation effect of creative thinking

Abstract

Incubation effect refers to the phenomenon that when people are confronted with an unsolvable problem, they temporarily put it aside and switch to complete other irrelevant tasks instead, which is beneficial to the ultimate solution of the original problem. In recent years, researchers have conducted extensive studies on incubation effect of creative thinking and its influences, and put forward many theories to explain incubation effect. The representative theories include "selective forgetting theory", "spreading activation and cue assimilation theory" and "unconscious work theory". They explain the mechanism of incubation effect from different perspectives and predict different influences and phenomena respectively. Related research of mind wandering and sleep further shed light on the mechanism behind incubation effect.Cognitive neuroscience research has shown that representation change and spreading activation, as two core cognitive processes during incubation period, involve cooperation of multiple brain regions, including prefrontal cortex, striatum, hippocampus, etc. Future research should deepen theoretical construction, reveal the internal mechanism of incubation effect with cognitive neuroscience method and intelligent monitoring devices, so as to understand the nature of incubation effect of creative thinking in a more comprehensive and profound way.