Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:33:27.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Overcoming Internal and External Fixation in Problem Solving

from II - Fixation and Insight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2024

By
Rebecca Koppel ,
Tim George  and
Jennifer Wiley
Edited by
Carola Salvi ,
Jennifer Wiley  and
Steven M. Smith
Carola Salvi
Affiliation:
John Cabot University, Rome
Jennifer Wiley
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Steven M. Smith
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Get access

Summary

Problems can be difficult to solve when individuals become fixated by misleading information. A popular method for studying fixation in problem solving externally induces it by priming misleading solutions. However, fixation can also arise internally from incorrect solutions that are strongly activated by prior knowledge. The work summarized in this chapter considers both sources of fixation. It also considers the effects of warnings, and the countervailing influences that individual differences in working-memory capacity (WMC) may have. Higher WMC or attentional control may sometimes help individuals to retrieve solutions, maintain task-relevant goals, and use hints or warnings, but at other times may make individuals more prone to fixation. This chapter describes studies that explored both sources of fixation, how warning participants about possible sources of fixation might affect problem solving success, and whether benefits from warnings of what to avoid relate to individual differences in WMC. Both internal fixation from prior knowledge and external fixation from exposure to misleading primes led to poorer performance on a word-fragment completion task. Providing participants with a warning about the misleading solutions sometimes led to poorer performance (rather than better). Within the conditions where individuals received warnings, the likelihood of reaching correct solutions depended on WMC. Several results highlight potential differences between internal fixation from prior knowledge and external fixation from recent exposure. An important direction for future research is to continue to explore the differences that might be seen in insightful solution processes and experiences depending on the source of the initial fixation, and the extent to which fixation from prior knowledge and from recent exposure may need to be overcome differently.

Keywords

insightaha!problem-solvingcreativity
Type
Chapter
Information
The Emergence of Insight , pp. 60 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamson, R. E. (1952). Functional fixedness as related to problem solving: A repetition of three experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 44(4), 288–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ash, I. K., & Wiley, J. (2006). The nature of restructuring in insight: An individual-differences approach. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 66–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aslan, A. , & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2011). Individual differences in working memory capacity predict retrieval-induced forgetting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(1), 264–269.Google ScholarPubMed
Beilock, S. L., & DeCaro, M. S. (2007). From poor performance to success under stress: Working memory, strategy selection, and mathematical problem solving under pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(6), 983–998.Google ScholarPubMed
Benedek, M., Panzierer, L., Jauk, E., & Neubauer, A. C. (2017). Creativity on tap? Effects of alcohol intoxication on creative cognition. Consciousness and Cognition, 56, 128–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bilalić, M., McLeod, P., & Gobet, F. (2010). The mechanism of the Einstellung (set) effect: A pervasive source of cognitive bias. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(2), 111–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowden, E. M., & Beeman, M. J. (1998). Getting the right idea: Semantic activation in the right hemisphere may help solve insight problems. Psychological Science, 9(6), 435–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewin, C. R., & Beaton, A. (2002). Thought suppression, intelligence, and working memory capacity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 923–930.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broadway, J. M., & Engle, R. W. (2010). Validating running memory span: Measurement of working memory capacity and links with fluid intelligence. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 563–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chein, J. M., Weisberg, R. W., Streeter, N. L., & Kwok, S. (2010). Working memory and insight in the nine-dot problem. Memory & Cognition, 38(7), 883–892CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chrysikou, E. G., & Weisberg, R. W. (2005). Following the wrong footsteps: Fixation effects of pictorial examples in a design problem-solving task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 1134–1148.Google Scholar
Colflesh, G. J., & Conway, A. R. (2007). Individual differences in working memory capacity and divided attention in dichotic listening. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(4), 699–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conway, A. R., Kane, M. J., Bunting, M. F., et al. (2005). Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(5), 769–786.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeCaro, M. S., Van Stockum Jr., C. A., & Wieth, M. B. (2016). When higher working memory capacity hinders insight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(1), 39–49.Google ScholarPubMed
Delaney, P. F., & Sahakyan, L. (2007). Unexpected costs of high working memory capacity following directed forgetting and contextual change manipulations. Memory & Cognition, 35, 1074–1082.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeYoung, C. G., Flanders, J. L., & Peterson, J. B. (2008). Cognitive abilities involved in insight problem solving: An individual differences model. Creativity Research Journal, 20, 278–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncker, K. (1945). On problem-solving (L. S. Lees, Trans.). Psychological Monographs, 58(5), i–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dygert, S. K. C., & Jarosz, A. F. (2020). Individual differences in creative cognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(7), 1249–1274. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, D. M., & Brewer, G. A. (2018). Aiding the search: Examining individual differences in multiply-constrained problem solving. Consciousness and Cognition, 62, 21–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, T., & Wiley, J. (2020). Need something different? Here’s what’s been done: Effects of examples and task instructions on creative idea generation. Memory & Cognition, 48(2), 226–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, W. A., & Goldinger, S. D. (2009). Taboo: Working memory and mental control in an interactive task. The American Journal of Psychology, 122(3), 283–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasher, L., Lustig, C., & Zacks, R. (2007). Inhibitory mechanisms and the control of attention. In Conway, A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M., Miyake, A., & Towse, J. (Eds.), Variation in working memory (pp. 653–675). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jansson, D. G., & Smith, S. M. (1991). Design fixation. Design Studies, 12(1), 3–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarosz, A. F., Colflesh, G. J., & Wiley, J. (2012). Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 487–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2012.01.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2003). Working-memory capacity and the control of attention: The contributions of goal neglect, response competition, and task set to Stroop interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 47–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, S., Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (2007). Aging and a benefit of distractibility. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(2), 301–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, N. W., & Smith, S. M. (2009). Partly versus completely out of your mind: Effects of incubation and distraction on resolving fixation. Journal of Creative Behavior, 43(2), 102–118. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.2009.tb01309.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, N. W., & Smith, S. M. (2011). Collaborative fixation: Effects of others’ ideas on brainstorming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 359–371. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koppel, R. H., & Storm, B. C. (2012). Unblocking memory through directed forgetting. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 24, 901–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koppel, R. H., & Storm, B. C. (2014). Escaping mental fixation: Incubation and inhibition in creative problem solving. Memory, 22, 340–348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landau, J. D., & Leynes, P. A. (2006). Do explicit memory manipulations affect the memory blocking effect? American Journal of Psychology, 119, 463–479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Logan, J. M., & Balota, D. A. (2003). Conscious and unconscious lexical retrieval blocking in younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 18, 537–550.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luchins, A. S., & Luchins, E. H. (1959). Rigidity of behaviour: A variational approach to the effect of Einstellung. University of Oregon Books.Google Scholar
Lv, K. (2015). The involvement of working memory and inhibition functions in different phases of insight problem solving. Memory & Cognition, 1, 1–14.Google Scholar
Maier, N. R. F. (1931). Reasoning in humans: II. The solution of a problem and its appearance in consciousness. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 12, 181–194. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mall, J. T., & Morey, C. C. (2013). High working memory capacity predicts less retrieval induced forgetting. PLoS One, 8, e52806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, R. L., Ward, T. B., & Landau, J. D. (1999). The inadvertent use of prior knowledge in a generative cognitive task. Memory & Cognition, 27, 94–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, C. P. (1999). Synchrony effects in cognition: The costs and a benefit. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6(1), 142–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mednick, S. (1962). The associative basis of the creative problem solving process. Psychological Review, 69(3), 200–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mielicki, M. K., Koppel, R. H., Valencia, G., & Wiley, J. (2018). Measuring working memory capacity with the letter–number sequencing task: Advantages of visual administration. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32(6), 805–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (2012). The nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions four general conclusions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 8–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purcell, A. T., & Gero, J. S. (1996). Design and other types of fixation or is fixation always incompatible with innovation? Design Studies, 17, 363–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, H. J., & Israel, H. E. (1935). An investigation of the establishment and operation of mental sets. Psychological Monographs, 46(6), 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reverberi, C., Toraldo, A., D’Agostini, S., & Skrap, M. (2005). Better without (lateral) frontal cortex? Insight problems solved by frontal patients. Brain, 128(12), 2882–2890.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ricks, T. R., Turley-Ames, K. J., & Wiley, J. (2007). Effects of working memory capacity on mental set due to domain knowledge. Memory & Cognition, 35, 1456–1462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosen, V. M., & Engle, R. W. (1997). The role of working memory capacity in retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 126, 211–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seifert, C. M., Meyer, D. E., Davidson, N., Patalano, A. L., & Yaniv, I. (1995). Demystification of cognitive insight: Opportunistic assimilation and the prepared-mind perspective. In Sternberg, R. J. & Davidson, J. E. (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 65–124). MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sheridan, H., & Reingold, E. M. (2013). The mechanisms and boundary conditions of the Einstellung effect in chess: Evidence from eye movements. PloS one, 8(10), e75796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sio, U. N., & Ormerod, T. C. (2015). Incubation and cueing effects in problem-solving: Set aside the difficult problems but focus on the easy ones. Thinking & Reasoning, 21(1), 113–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, S. M. (1995). Getting into and out of mental ruts: A theory of fixation, incubation, and insight. In Sternberg, R. & Davidson, J. (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 121–149), MIT Press.Google Scholar
Smith, S. M., & Beda, Z. (2020). Old problems in new contexts: The context-dependent fixation hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(1), 192–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, S. M., Beda, Z., & Hernandez, A. (2020). Entrenchment: Effects of multiple red herrings on memory blocks in word fragment completion. Memory, 28(6), 830–836.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, S. M., & Blankenship, S. E. (1989). Incubation effects. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27(4), 311–314. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03334612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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. https://doi.org/10.2307/1422851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, S. M., & Tindell, D. R. (1997). Memory blocks in word fragment completion caused by involuntary retrieval of orthographically related primes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 355–370.Google Scholar
Smith, S. M., Ward, T. B., & Schumacher, J. S. (1993). Constraining effects of examples in a creative generation task. Memory & Cognition, 21(6), 837–845. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03202751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storm, B. C., & Angello, G. (2010). Overcoming fixation: Creative problem solving and retrieval-induced forgetting. Psychological Science, 21, 1263–1265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Storm, B. C., & Koppel, R. H. (2012). Testing the cue dependence of problem-solving-induced forgetting. The Journal of Problem Solving, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/1932-6246.1125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tempel, T., & Frings, C. (2019). Directed forgetting in problem solving. Acta Psychologica, 201, 102955.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toma, M., Halpern, D. F., & Berger, D. E. (2014). Cognitive abilities of elite nationally ranked SCRABBLE and crossword experts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28, 727–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unsworth, N., Brewer, G. A., & Spillers, G. J. (2013). Working memory capacity and retrieval from long-term memory: The role of controlled search. Memory & Cognition, 41(2), 242–254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2007). On the division of short-term and working memory: An examination of simple and complex span and their relation to higher order abilities. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1038–1066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Unsworth, N., Redick, T. S., Spillers, G. J., & Brewer, G. A. (2012). Variation in working memory capacity and cognitive control: Goal maintenance and microadjustments of control. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(2), 326–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Stockum Jr., C. A., & DeCaro, M. S. (2020). When working memory mechanisms compete: Predicting cognitive flexibility versus mental set. Cognition, 201, 104313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vul, E., & Pashler, H. (2007). Incubation benefits only after people have been misdirected. Memory & Cognition, 35(4), 701–710. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ward, T. B. (1994). Structured imagination: The role of category structure in exemplar generation. Cognitive Psychology, 27, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, J. M., Bunting, M. F., Poole, B. J., & Conway, A. R. A. (2005). Individual differences in susceptibility to false memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31(1), 76–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Wieth, M. B., & Zacks, R. T. (2011). Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non-optimal is optimal. Thinking & Reasoning, 17(4), 387–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiley, J. (1998). Expertise as a mental set: The effects of domain knowledge in creative problem solving. Memory & Cognition, 26(4), 716–730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiley, J., & Jarosz, A. F. (2012). Working memory capacity, attentional focus, and problem solving. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 258–262. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412447622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodworth, S., & Schlosberg, H. (1954). Experimental psychology (rev. ed.). Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×