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Sio, Ut Na and Ormerod, Thomas C (2009) Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135 (1). 94 - 120. ISSN 0033-2909
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
A meta-analytic review of empirical studies that have investigated incubation effects on problem solving is reported. Although some researchers have reported increased solution rates after an incubation period (i.e., a period of time in which a problem is set aside prior to further attempts to solve), others have failed to find effects. The analysis examined the contributions of moderators such as problem type, presence of solution-relevant or misleading cues, and lengths of preparation and incubation periods to incubation effect sizes. The authors identified a positive incubation effect, with divergent thinking tasks benefiting more than linguistic and visual insight tasks from incubation. Longer preparation periods gave a greater incubation effect, whereas filling an incubation period with high cognitive demand tasks gave a smaller incubation effect. Surprisingly, low cognitive demand tasks yielded a stronger incubation effect than did rest during an incubation period when solving linguistic insight problems. The existence of multiple types of incubation effect provides evidence for differential invocation of knowledge-based vs. strategic solution processes across different classes of problem, and it suggests that the conditions under which incubation can be used as a practical technique for enhancing problem solving must be designed with care.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. |
| Keywords: | Attention, Awareness, Creativity, Cues, Humans, Imagination, Linguistics, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Problem Solving |
| Schools and Departments: | School of Life Sciences > Evolution, Behaviour and Environment |
| Depositing User: | Catrina Hey |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Nov 2014 12:57 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Nov 2014 12:57 |
| URI: | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/51104 |