1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012 www.PosterPresentations.com (—THIS SIDEBAR DOES NOT PRINT—) DESIGN GUIDE This PowerPoint 2007 template produces a 36”x48” presentation poster. You can use it to create your research poster and save valuable time placing titles, subtitles, text, and graphics. We provide a series of online tutorials that will guide you through the poster design process and answer your poster production questions. To view our template tutorials, go online to PosterPresentations.com and click on HELP DESK. When you are ready to print your poster, go online to PosterPresentations.com Need assistance? Call us at 1.510.649.3001 QUICK START Zoom in and out As you work on your poster zoom in and out to the level that is more comfortable to you. Go to VIEW > ZOOM. Title, Authors, and Affiliations Start designing your poster by adding the title, the names of the authors, and the affiliated institutions. You can type or paste text into the provided boxes. 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Go to PosterPresentations.com for more information. Student discounts are available on our Facebook page. Go to PosterPresentations.com and click on the FB icon. © 2013 PosterPresentations.com 2117 Fourth Street, Unit C Berkeley CA 94710 posterpresenter@gmail.com The Effect of Incubation and Mind Wandering on Creative Problem Solving Joshua Back Eastern Kentucky University Incubation in Problem Solving An incubation effect refers to improvements in problem solving after an individual takes time away from working on a problem. Scientific insights by geniuses such as Einstein, Newton, and Poincaré have been reported to arise during this time away (incubation period) (Sio & Ormerod, 2007). Explanations for Incubation Effects Forgetting fixation hypothesis: time away allows subjects to overcome fixation on narrow approaches to a problem (Smith & Blankenship, 1989; Kohn & Smith, 2009). Mind wandering hypothesis: mind wandering during the time away allows mental activity to spread to potentially relevant concepts (Sio & Rudowicz, 2007; Baird, Smallwood, Mrazek, Franklin, & Schooler, 2012). Demanding and Undemanding Tasks During Incubation During the time away is it best to be engaged in tasks that are cognitively demanding or undemanding? Demanding tasks may be best because they can lead to reduced fixation (Kohn & Smith, 2009). Undemanding tasks may be best because they allow more mind wandering (Baird et al., 2012). The Present Study In the present study, all subjects had two attempts to solve Unusual Uses Tasks (UUTs) (e.g. find “unusual uses for a brick”, Guilford, 1967). These measure divergent thinking, a key component of generating creative ideas or solutions. We examined success on the second attempt among subjects who had either: No incubation period between attempts. Incubation period filled by a Demanding Task. Incubation period filled by an Undemanding Task. Following Baird et al (2012), we predicted that subjects given the undemanding task would show the greatest success on their second attempt at the UUTs. IntroductionMethod Scoring. UUTs were scored for “uniqueness”. Subjects received a point for any sensible response given by no more than 5% of other subjects. No points were given for responses repeated at the second attempt. Group Differences in Mind Wandering. The Undemanding task group showed higher scores on the Mind Wandering and Explicit Thoughts Questionnaire. Effects of Incubation Tasks on UUTs. As shown in Table 1, Mean UUT Uniqueness scores on first and second attempts at the tasks did not differ between condition. Results No incubation effects were displayed in either the demanding or undemanding task conditions. Although the undemanding group did not show incubation effects, they showed more mind wandering, and second attempt UUT scores were positively related to mind wandering. The difference between groups in mind wandering may need to be stronger to lead to significant group differences. First attempt UUT scores also correlated with second attempt UUT scores, indicating that some participants were better overall at coming up with unusual uses. Limitations Participants may have not understood that they needed to generate different uses on their second attempt at the UUTs. Many participants repeated their responses. They may have devoted resources to remembering their previous answers. UUT Uniqueness scores did not take into consideration fluency (total number of uses generated) or elaboration (amount of detail). Future Research Measure creativity in participants by using a standardized measure such as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Apply scoring methods to UUTs that measure fluency and elaboration. Materials UUTs. Two UUT problems required participants to list all of the unusual uses for a pencil and a brick. Incubation Period Tasks. All incubation subjects judged whether numbers presented on a power point slide were odd or even. Undemanding Version - numbers to be judged were available during the judgment. Demanding Version - numbers had to be held in working memory for a later judgment. More cognitive resources were devoted to the task. Mind wandering and Explicit Thoughts scale. Subjects reported their thoughts during the incubation period tasks. Mind Wandering questions concerned thoughts unrelated to the experiment, and Explicit Thoughts questions concerned thoughts about the prior UUTs. Daydreaming Scale. Twelve items assessed how how much a participant’s mind typically wanders. Procedure Students from EKU psychology classes (n= 89) completed the following: 1.First Attempt at the two UUTs: Two minutes for each. 2.Incubation groups spent 12 minutes on their undemanding or demanding tasks. The no- incubation group skipped to step 4. 3.The mind wandering and explicit thoughts scale. 4.Second Attempt at the two UUTs. 5.Daydreaming Scale. Table 1 Mean Number of Unique Uses Generated Across Two Problems in Each Condition First Second attempt attempt M SD M SD Demanding 1.9 1.4 1.8 2.0 Undemanding 2.0 1.8 1.9 2.1 No Incubation 2.0 1.7 1.9 1.9 Conclusions Table 2 Correlations Between Mind Wandering, Propensity to Mind Wander, and UUT Uniqueness Scores First Second Mind wandering.087.313* Daydreaming.054.049 Explicit thoughts.263*.164 Note: *p <.05, two-tailed. Correlations. Mind wandering was positively correlated with second attempt UUT scores (r =.313, p <.05). Explicit thoughts were positively correlated with first attempt UUT scores (r =.263, p <.05). References 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. Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Kohn, N., Smith, S. M. (2009). Partly versus completely out of your mind: Effects of incubation and distraction on resolving fixation. Journal of Creative Behavior, 43, 102-118. Sio, U. N., Rudowicz, E. (2007). The role of incubation period in creative problem solving. Creativity Journal Research, 19(2-3), 307-31 Sio, U. N., Ormerod, T. C. (2009). Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135(1), 94-120. 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.