Abstract
Controversy exists regarding the processes involved in creative thinking with the Remote Associates Test (RAT) and its more recent variant, the Compound Remote Associates Test (CRAT). We report three experiments that aimed to shed light on the component processes underpinning CRAT performance by using the mere presence of task-irrelevant sound as a key theoretical tool. Experiment 1 revealed that CRAT performance was impaired relative to a quiet condition by the presence of sequences of changing sounds (spoken letters). Experiment 2 generalised this disruption effect to alternating tones of different pitch relative to quiet. In both experiments a nonchanging sound (a repeated letter in Experiment 1; a repeated tone in Experiment 2) produced no disruption relative to quiet. Experiment 3 established that additional disruption was engendered by having to ignore meaningful speech as compared to meaningless speech. These experiments demonstrate that both semantic activation and subvocalisation are important determinants of successful creative thinking with CRAT problems. We suggest that semantic activation underpins solution-generation processes whereas subvocalisation underpins solution-evaluation processes
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Cognitive Psychology |
Early online date | 19 Mar 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 19 Mar 2021 |
Keywords
- Compound remote associates test
- insight
- auditory distraction
- component processes