Semantic Accessibility Is Associated with Reduced Experience-Induced Heuristic Fixation in Creative Problem Solving

Creative problem solving often fails because people rely on heuristic responses reinforced by prior experience. According to the default-interventionist account, analytic intervention can override these heuristic defaults only when the semantic system provides access to competing representations. We tested this prediction using a modified Chinese Remote Associates Task in which two factors were independently manipulated: semantic accessibility (high vs. low) and situational induction (strong vs. weak). A significant interaction emerged: strong induction impaired performance only under low semantic accessibility, whereas high semantic accessibility was associated with attenuated induction costs. This pattern is consistent with semantic accessibility serving as a cognitive buffer that may support analytic override of induced heuristic defaults. A separate comparison between induction and non-induction trials confirmed that induction reliably produced a mental set. These findings resolve conflicting claims about the role of semantic knowledge in creativity by showing that knowledge both constrains and enables insight depending on its interaction with experience-driven heuristics.