671
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Different incubation tasks in insight problem solving: evidence for unconscious analytic thought

&
Pages 559-593 | Received 03 Jun 2020, Accepted 27 Jun 2022, Published online: 11 Jul 2022

References

  • Ash, I. K., & Wiley, J. (2006). The nature of restructuring in insight: An individual-differences approach. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(1), 66–73.
  • Bagassi, M., & Macchi, L. (2006). Pragmatic approach to decision making under uncertainty: The case of the disjunction effect. Thinking & Reasoning, 12(3), 329–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546780500375663
  • Bagassi, M., & Macchi, L. (2016). The interpretative function and the emergence of unconscious analytic thought. In L. Macchi, M. Bagassi, & R. Viale (Eds.), Cognitive unconscious and human rationality (pp. 43–76). MIT Press.
  • Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1117–1122.
  • Ball, L. J., Marsh, J. E., Litchfield, D., Cook, R. L., & Booth, N. (2015). When distraction helps: Evidence that concurrent articulation and irrelevant speech can facilitate insight problem solving. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 76–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2014.934399
  • Ball, L., Threadgold, E., Solowiej, A., & Marsh, J. E. (2018). Can intrinsic and extrinsic metacognitive cues shield against distraction in problem solving? Journal of cognition, 1(1), 15–12.
  • Bar-Hillel, M., Noah, T., & Frederick, S. (2018). Learning psychology from riddles: The case of stumpers. Judgment & Decision Making, 13(1), 112–122.
  • Bos, M. W., Dijksterhuis, A., & Van Baaren, R. B. (2008). On the goal-dependency of unconscious thought. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 1114–1120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.01.001
  • Bowden, E. M., Jung-Beeman, M., Fleck, J., & Kounios, J. (2005). New approaches to demystifying insight. Trends in cognitive sciences, 9(7), 322–328.
  • Browne, B. A., & Cruse, D. F. (1988). The incubation effect: Illusion or illumination. Human Performance, 1(3), 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327043hup0103_3
  • Chronicle, E. P., MacGregor, J. N., & Ormerod, T. C. (2004). What makes an insight problem? The roles of heuristics, goal conception, and solution recoding in knowledge-lean problems. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 30(1), 14–27.
  • Chuderski, A., & Jastrzębski, J. (2017). Working memory facilitates insight instead of hindering it: Comment on DeCaro, Van Stockum, and Wieth (2016). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(12), 1993–2004.
  • Dijksterhuis, A., & Meurs, T. (2006). Where creativity resides: The generative power of unconscious thought. Consciousness and cognition, 15(1), 135–146.
  • Dijksterhuis, A., & Strick, M. (2016). A case for thinking without consciousness. Perspectives on psychological science : A journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 11(1), 117–132.
  • Dunker, K. (1935). Zur Psychologie des Produktiven. Denkens.
  • Ellwood, S., Pallier, G., Snyder, A., & Gallate, J. (2009). The incubation effect: Hatching a solution? Creativity Research Journal, 21(1), 6–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400410802633368
  • Evans, J. (2009). How many dual-process theories do we need? One, two, or many? In J. S. B. T. Evans & K. Frankish (Eds.), In two minds: Dual processes and beyond (pp. 33–54). Oxford University Press.
  • Evans, J. S. B., & Over, D. E. (2013). Rationality and reasoning. Psychology Press.
  • Fleck, J. I., & Weisberg, R. W. (2004). The use of verbal protocols as data: An analysis of insight in the candle problem. Memory & Cognition, 32(6), 990–1006. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196876
  • Fleck, J. I., & Weisberg, R. W. (2013). Insight versus analysis: Evidence for diverse methods in problem solving. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(4), 436–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.779248
  • Gilhooly, K. J., Ball, L. J., & Macchi, L. (Eds.). (2019). Insight and creativity in problem solving. Routledge.
  • Gilhooly, K. J. (2016a). Incubation and intuition in creative problem solving. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1076. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01076
  • Gilhooly, K. J. (2016b). Incubation in creative thinking. In L. Macchi, M. Bagassi, & R. Viale (Eds.), Cognitive unconscious and human rationality (pp. 301–314).MIT Press.
  • Gilhooly, K. J. (2019). Incubation in problem solving and creativity: Unconscious processes. Routledge.
  • Gilhooly, K. J., Ball, L. J., & Macchi, L. (2015). Insight and creative thinking processes: Routine and special. Special Issue: Creativity and Insight Problem Solving. Thinking and Reasoning, 21(1), 1–4.
  • Gilhooly, K. J., Georgiou, G. J., & Devery, U. (2013). Incubation and creativity: Do something different. Thinking & Reasoning, 19(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2012.749812
  • Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole, & J. L. Morgan. (Eds.), Speech acts (pp. 41–58). Brill.
  • Hammond, K. R. (1996). Human judgment and social policy: Irreducible uncertainty, inevitable error, unavoidable injustice. Oxford University Press on Demand.
  • Hélie, S., & Sun, R. (2010). Incubation, insight, and creative problem solving: A unified theory and a connectionist model. Psychological Review, 117(3), 994–1024. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019532
  • Kanizsa, G. (1973). Il problem-solving nella psicologia della Gestalt. In G. Mosconi & V. D’Urso (Eds.), La soluzione dei problemi: Problem-solving (pp. 35–87). Giunti-Barbera.
  • Kaplan, C., & Simon, H. A. (1990). In search of insight. Cognitive Psychology, 22(3), 374–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(90)90008-R
  • Kaplan, C. (1990). Hatching a theory of incubation: Does putting a problem aside really help? If so, why? [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Carnegie Mellon University.
  • Köhler, W. (1920). Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen. Springer.
  • Lee, M. D., & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2013). Bayesian cognitive modeling: A practical course. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Levinson, S. C. (1995). Interactional biases in human thinking. In E. N. Goody (Ed.), Social intelligence and interaction (pp 221–261). Cambridge University Press.
  • Macchi, L., & Bagassi, M. (2012). Intuitive and analytical processes in insight problem solving: A psycho-rhetorical approach to the study of reasoning. Mind & Society, 11(1), 53–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-012-0103-3
  • Macchi, L., & Bagassi, M. (2015). When analytic thought is challenged by a Misunderstanding. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2014.964315
  • Macchi, L., & Bagassi, M. (2018). A new test for rationality: Contributions and outstanding issues. The American Journal of Psychology, 131(2), 237–240. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.131.2.0237
  • Macchi, L., Caravona, L., Poli, F., Bagassi, M., & Franchella, M. A. (2020). Speak your mind and I will make it right: The case of “selection task”. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 32(1), 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2019.1707207
  • Macchi, L., Poli, F., Caravona, L., Vezzoli, M., Franchella, M. A. G., & Bagassi, M. (2019). How to get rid of the belief bias: Boosting analytical thinking via pragmatics. Europe's Journal of psychology, 15(3), 595–613.
  • Macchi, L., & Bagassi, M. (2006). Biased communication and misleading intuition of probability. In Meeting on Intuition and Affect in Risk Perception and Decision Making.
  • MacGregor, J. N., Ormerod, T. C., & Chronicle, E. P. (2001). Information- processing and insight: A process model of performance on the nine-dot and related problems. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 27(1), 176–201.
  • Metcalfe, J. (1986a). Feeling of knowing in memory and problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 12(2), 288–294. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.12.2.288
  • Metcalfe, J. (1986b). Premonitions of insight predict impending error. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 12(4), 623–634. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.12.4.623
  • Metcalfe, J., & Wiebe, D. (1987). Intuition in insight and non-insight problem solving. Memory & Cognition, 15(3), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197722
  • Mosconi, G. (1990). Discorso e pensiero. Il mulino.
  • Mosconi, G. (2016). A psycho-rhetorical perspective on thought and human rationality. In L. Macchi, M. Bagassi, & R. Viale (Eds.), Cognitive unconscious and human rationality (pp. 347-364). MIT Press.
  • Moss, J., Kotovsky, K., & Cagan, J. (2007). The influence of open goals on the acquisition of problem-relevant information. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 33(5), 876–891.
  • Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Prentice-Hall.
  • Ohlsson, S. (1984a). Restructuring revisited: Summary and critique of the Gestalt theory of problem solving. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 25(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.1984.tb01001.x
  • Ohlsson, S. (1984b). Restructuring revisited: An information processing theory of restructuring and insight. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 25(2), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.1984.tb01005.x
  • Ohlsson, S. (2012). The problems with problem solving: Reflections on the rise, current status, and possible future of a cognitive research paradigm. The Journal of Problem Solving, 5(1), 101–128. https://doi.org/10.7771/1932-6246.1144
  • Öllinger, M., Jones, G., & Knoblich, G. (2008). Investigating the effect of mental set on insight problem solving. Experimental Psychology, 55(4), 269–282.
  • Olton, R. M., & Johnson, D. M. (1976). Mechanism of incubation in creative problem solving. The American Journal of Psychology, 89(4), 617–630. https://doi.org/10.2307/1421461
  • Ormerod, T. C., MacGregor, J. N., Chronicle, E. P., Dewald, A. D., & Chu, Y. (2013). Act first, think later: The presence and absence of inferential planning in problem solving. Memory & Cognition, 41(7), 1096–1108. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0318-5
  • Patrick, A. S. (1986). The role of ability in creative “incubation”. Personality and Individual Differences, 7(2), 169–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(86)90052-8
  • Perkins, D. N. (1981). The mind’s best work. Harvard University Press.
  • Perkins, D. N. (1995). Insight in minds and genes. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 495–533). MIT Press.
  • Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(2), 676–682. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.98.2.676
  • Rummel, J., Iwan, F., Steindorf, L., & Danek, A. H. (2021). The role of attention for insight problem solving: Effects of mindless and mindful incubation periods. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 33(6-7), 757–769.
  • Schooler, J. W., Ohlsson, S., & Brooks, K. (1993). Thoughts beyond words: When language overshadows insight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122(2), 166–183. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.122.2.166
  • Schooler, J. W., Smallwood, J., Christoff, K., Handy, T. C., Reichle, E. D., & Sayette, M. A. (2011). Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind. Trends in cognitive sciences, 15(7), 319–326.
  • Segal, E. (2004). Incubation in insight problem solving. Creativity Research Journal, 16(1), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1601_13
  • Seifert, M. C., Meyer, D. E., Davidson, N., Patalano, A. L., & Yaniv, I. (1995). Demystification of cognitive insight: Opportunistic assimilation and the prepared-mind perspective. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 65–124). MIT Press.
  • Simon, H. A. (1966). Scientific discovery and the psychology of problem solving. In R. Colodny (Ed.), Mind and cosmos (pp. 22–40). University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Simon, H. A. (1979). Models of thought. Yale University Press.
  • Simon, H. A., & Newell, A. (1971). Human problem solving: The state of the theory in 1970. American Psychologist, 26(2), 145–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030806
  • Sio, U. N., & Ormerod, T. C. (2009). Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135(1), 94–120.
  • Sloman, S. A. (1996). The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 3–30. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.1.3
  • Smallwood, J., McSpadden, M., Luus, B., & Schooler, J. (2008). Segmenting the stream of consciousness: The psychological correlates of temporal structures in the time series data of a continuous performance task. Brain and cognition, 66(1), 50–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2007.05.004
  • Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2006). The restless mind. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 946–958.
  • Smith, S. M., & Blankenship, S. E. (1989). Incubation effects. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27(4), 311–314. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334612
  • Smith, S. M., & Blankenship, S. E. (1991). Incubation and the Persistence of Fixation in Problem Solving. The American Journal of psychology, 104(1), 61–87.
  • Sowden, P. T., Pringle, A., & Gabora, L. (2015). The shifting sands of creative thinking: Connections to dual-process theory. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 40–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2014.885464
  • Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate? The Behavioral and brain sciences, 23(5), 645–665.
  • Weisberg, R. W. (2006). Creativity: Understanding innovation in problem solving, science, invention, and the arts. J. Wiley & Sons.
  • Weisberg, R. W. (2015). Toward an integrated theory of insight in problem solving. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 5–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2014.886625
  • Weisberg, R. W., & Alba, J. W. (1981). An examination of the alleged role of “fixation” in the solution of several “insight” problems. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110(2), 169–192. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.110.2.169
  • Wertheimer, M. (1945). Productive thinking. Harper.
  • Wertheimer, M. (1985). A gestalt perspective on computer simulations of cognitive processes. Computers in Human Behavior, 1(1), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/0747-5632(85)90004-4
  • Woodworth, R. S. (1938). Experimental psychology. Holt.
  • Zeigarnik, B. (1938). On finished and unfinished tasks. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of gestalt psychology (pp. 300–314). Harcourt-Brace. (Original work published 1927).

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.