Think! Evidence

Clue Insensitivity in Remote Associates Test Problem Solving

Show simple item record

dc.creator Smith, Steven M.
dc.creator Sifonis, Cynthia M.
dc.creator Angello, Genna
dc.date 2012-05-12T03:23:03Z
dc.date.accessioned 2015-07-24T14:18:18Z
dc.date.available 2015-07-24T14:18:18Z
dc.identifier http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jps/vol4/iss2/3
dc.identifier http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=jps
dc.identifier.uri http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=jps
dc.identifier.uri http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/25649
dc.description Does spreading activation from incidentally encountered hints cause incubation effects? We used Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems to examine effects of incidental clues on impasse resolution. When solution words were seen incidentally 3-sec before initially unsolved problems were retested, more problems were resolved (Experiment 1). When strong semantic associates of solutions were used as incidental clues, however, it did not improve resolution (Experiments 2 and 4). The semantic associates we used as incidental clues primed our RAT solution words in a lexical decision task, but they did not facilitate impasse resolution unless participants were explicitly instructed to use the associates as hints to the retested problems (Experiment 4). The results do not support the theory that spreading activation is a sufficient cause of incubation effects, and suggest that serendipitously encountered clues (i.e., words that are semantically related to RAT solutions) have no automatic benefit on impasse resolution in RAT problem solving.
dc.format application/pdf
dc.publisher Purdue University
dc.source The Journal of Problem Solving
dc.subject remote
dc.subject associates
dc.subject incubation
dc.subject hint
dc.title Clue Insensitivity in Remote Associates Test Problem Solving
dc.type Article


Files in this item

Files Size Format View

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search Think! Evidence


Browse

My Account