Achieving insight through inhibition: How need for closure shapes cognitive control to overcome mental fixation

The resolution of insight problems often requires overcoming mental fixation, yet the role of cognitive inhibition in this process remains debated. Does it serve to suppress interference or does it inappropriately inhibit the very insight needed? To clarify this issue, the present study combined the retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) paradigm with an insight problem solving task, introducing the need for closure (NFC) as a key individual-differences variable. We found that inhibition of solution to the problem directly impaired insight problem solving performance. Crucially, NFC significantly moderated this inhibitory effect: high NFC participants not only exhibited a more pronounced RIF effect but also demonstrated superior insight problem solving abilities. This suggests that high NFC participants can deploy cognitive inhibition more efficiently, proactively attenuating the activation of dominant yet irrelevant representations to facilitate the restructuring of the problem representation. Our research thus reveals the "double-edged sword" effect of cognitive inhibition in insight and elucidates how motivational factors shape cognitive control in the service of creative thinking.