Introduction to Creative Fixation

1. The
Crea(ve
Brain
-­‐
Morten
de
Fine
Friis-­‐Olivarius
-­‐

2. The
concept
of
crea(vity
• Defini4ons
– Something
‘original’
and
‘useful’
– “the
forming
of
associa4ve
elements
into
new
combina4ons
which
either
meets
specific
requirements
or
are
in
some
way
useful.
The
more
mutually
remote
the
elements
of
the
new
combina4on,
the
more
crea4ve
the
process
or
solu4on”
Mednick
(1962)

3. Einstein’s
Theory
of
Rela4vity
E
=
mc2
• Einstein
did
not
invent
the
concepts
of
energy,
mass,
or
speed
of
light.
Rather,
he
combined
these
old
ideas
in
an
original
and
useful
way

4. The
‘process
vs.
product
criterion
issue’
• Trait
Crea4vity
– The
crea4ve
ability
or
poten4al
ability
of
the
individual
– A
latent
trait
underlying
crea4ve
behavior
and
believed
to
be
normally
distributed
in
the
popula4on.
A
necessary
but
not
sufficient
condi4on
for
crea4ve
produc4vity
• Achievement
Crea4vity
– The
social
success
of
the
product
of
this
ability
– Dependent
on
interac4ons
between
the
crea4ve
ability
and
internal
as
well
as
external
factors.
Distributed
in
the
popula4on
roughly
following
price’s
law
(√A)

5. Associa4ve
Gradient
Theory
(Mednick,
1962;
Baer,
1993;
Mar4ndale,
1995;
Eysneck,
1997)
• Less
crea4ve
individuals
– A
s4mulus
ac4vates
many
closely
associated
or
‘sterotypical’
representa4ons
and
only
few
remotely
associated
representa4ons
• Highly
crea4ve
individuals
– Comparable
access
to
both
closely
and
remotely
associated
concepts.
Conven4onal
responses
are
not
overly
dominant

6. Mednick
–
the
associa4ve
model
• Mednick
(1962):
– It
is
in
these
remote
associa4ons
that
crea4ve
solu4ons
occur
– The
greater
the
number
of
associa4on
an
individual
has
to
the
requisite
elements
of
a
given
problem,
the
greater
the
probability
of
reaching
a
crea4ve
solu4on

7. Lateral
inhibi4on
• ???

8. Cogni4ve
Inhibi4on
and
memory
retrieval
mechanisms
• Searching
the
associa4ve
network
causes
inhibi4on
of
‘irrelevant’
or
‘inappropriate’
associa4ons
• Although
brilliant
-­‐
not
a
perfect
system
– Fixa4on
effects
• Tip-­‐of-­‐The-­‐Tongue
phenomenon
– a
kind
of
“flashlight
effect”
that
can
be
ar4ficially
induced
• Blocking
in
memory
retrieval
-­‐
Response
compe44on
– The
unwanted
response
blocks
the
tarket
respons
• Also
known
as:
– retrieval-­‐induced
forgebng
– mental
fixa4on
/
design
fixa4on

9. Implicit
Memory
Blocking
Dominant
Response
(Blocker:
ANALOGY)
A
_
L
_
_
G
Y
Non-­‐dominant
Response
(Target:
???????)

10. Implicit
Memory
Blocking
Blocker! Fragment Target
ANALOGY! !A _ L _ _ G Y ALLERGY !
BRIGADE !! B_G_A_E BAGGAGE
COTTAGE !! C _TA_ _ G CATALOG
CHARTER ! CHAR_T_ CHARITY
CLUSTER !! C_U_TR_ COUNTRY
CRUMPET ! CU_P__T CULPRIT !
DENSITY ! ! D__NITY DIGNITY !
FIXTURE ! ! F_I_URE FAILURE !
HOLSTER !! H_ST_R_ HISTORY !
TONIGHT ! ! T_NG__T TANGENT !
TRILOGY ! ! TR_G__Y TRAGEDY
VOYAGER ! VO__AGE VOLTAGE
From Smith & Tindell (1997)

11. Implicit
Memory
Blocks
• Blocks
can
be
caused
by
implicit
memory
of
inappropriate
responses
• Problem
solving
studies
using
implicit
memory
blocks
show
an
involuntary
retrieval
of
incorrect
blockers,
and
an
inability
to
escape
or
avoid
the
blocking
effect
e.g.
Smith
&
Blankenship
(1991);
Smith
&
Tindell
(1997)

12. Eight-­‐Coin
Problem
• Eight-­‐Coin
Problem
(Chronicle,
MacGregor,
&
Ormerod,
2004)
• Moving
only
two
coins
make
an
arrangement
which
ensures
that
every
coin
touches
exactly
three
other
coins

13. Nine-­‐Dot
Problem
• Using
just
four
straight
lines
connect
all
of
the
dots
without
taking
your
pen
off
the
page
Robert Weisberg
Temple University