Chasing red herrings: Memory of distractors causes fixation in creative problem solving

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Memory and Creative Problem Solving

Background:

• Fixation, a common obstacle in creative problem solving, occurs when individuals become stuck on an initial idea.
• The red herring retrieval hypothesis proposes that strengthened memory for incorrect solutions (red herrings) exacerbates fixation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically test the red herring retrieval hypothesis in the context of creative problem solving.
• To investigate how memory encoding and retrieval mechanisms influence fixation during problem-solving tasks.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Manipulated the strength of associations between Remote Associates Test (RAT) problem words and red herring words through repetition (encoding).
• Experiment 2: Examined the effect of reinstating problem contexts associated with red herrings during problem-solving trials.

Main Results:

• Experiment 1 showed that strengthening associations via repetition increased fixation.
• Experiment 2 demonstrated that reinstating problem contexts linked to red herrings also worsened fixation effects.

Conclusions:

• Memory for red herrings plays a significant role in fixation during creative problem solving.
• Findings suggest that managing memory associations and context reinstatement can help mitigate fixation and improve creative thinking.