Thinking can become """"""""stuck"""""""" on inappropriate ideas or information such that even a well-learned target or a simple solution to a problem may become temporarily irretrievable. Whereas memory is generally considered to be a positive or adaptive ability, in cases of """"""""stuck thinking"""""""" memory of inappropriate information impedes successful cognitive processing. A variety of cognitive phenomena, including fixation in problem solving, output interference in free recall, the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon, and blocks to creative design may occur in cases when initial information processing causes fixation. Fixation is herein defined as inaccessibility of appropriate information and/or strategies caused by heightened accessibility of inappropriate information. Appropriate information becomes relatively more accessible as the fixation dissipates, a heretofore elusive laboratory effect called incubation. Based upon positive results from preliminary studies, it is proposed that an effective method for studying incubation is to first induce fixation, and then examine methods of subsequently reducing it. Induction of fixation will be accomplished via a set of priming techniques designed to elicit inappropriate responses to test stimuli. Methods to be tested for reducing fixation focus upon techniques which cause forgetting, ideally, forgetting of fixated information, which should make appropriate target information relatively more accessible. Forgetting techniques include decay (i.e., time passage), displacement, interference, habituation/saturation, and context shifts. Other potentially useful techniques for reducing induced fixation may include awareness of one's fixated state, and relaxation techniques intended to broaden the focus of attention. Experiments are proposed to study methods for inducing and reducing fixation across a broad spectrum of cognitive domains. Latency measures will be used to supplement the traditional accuracy measures used for problem solving and memory studies. Development of theoretical accounts of the general phenomena of fixation and incubation are also proposed. The range of potential applications of this knowledge is great, including treatment of maladaptive perseverative behaviors, enhancing recall performance by increasing reminiscence, and training of creative thinking.
| Smith, S M; Balfour, S P; Brown, J M (1994) Effects of practice on tip-of-the-tongue states. Memory 2:31-49 |
| Smith, S M; Ward, T B; Schumacher, J S (1993) Constraining effects of examples in a creative generation task. Mem Cognit 21:837-45 |
| Smith, S M; Vela, E (1991) Incubated reminiscence effects. Mem Cognit 19:168-76 |
| Smith, S M; Blankenship, S E (1991) Incubation and the persistence of fixation in problem solving. Am J Psychol 104:61-87 |
