The process of creative problem-solving (CPS) commonly demands that individuals consciously or unconsciously integrate creative ideas from a vast array of diverse information. Using a masked priming paradigm and the Chinese remote associates test (RAT), this study provides innovative behavioral evidence for the integration of multiple unconscious…

Past research shows that time and money, although both scarce resources indispensable in modern societies, tend to exert distinct impacts on interpersonal behaviors. Yet, little is known about the effects of these two resources on intrapersonal cognitive processes, including creative thinking. In the present research, we explored whether and how…

Priming effect is, in a great part, an implicit learning mechanism; it may influence insight problem solving both consciously and unconsciously. The present study investigates interactions between personality traits and priming effects in insight problem solving involving novel object associations in complex situations over time. Based on the…

Zhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the "neither A nor B" form, which represents the "mean" ([Chinese character omitted])…

While past research has demonstrated a link between the subjective "Aha" experience of insight and verbal insight problem solution activation in the right hemisphere (RH), no one has yet linked insight to long term semantic priming. We propose that through a shared process of semantic integration both of these concepts are linked and…

The effect of napping versus wakefulness was studied on primed and repeated Remote Associate Tests (RATs) and on divergent creativity tests. The participants were 42 students from the USA, studying international courses at a Swedish university. The hypotheses for the RATs were (1), when the correct answers were primed before the nap, the RAT…

Instruction geared toward priming the underlying problem structures was suggested as an evidence-based practice for students with a learning disability. Schema-based instruction is one intervention aligned with this principle. We extended prior work by: (1) using a teacher as the implementer; (2) providing teacher flexibility in intervention…

According to Geary's evolutionary approach, humans are able to easily acquire primary knowledge and, with more efforts, secondary knowledge. The present study investigates how primary knowledge contents can facilitate the learning of formal logical rules, i.e., secondary knowledge. Framing formal logical problems in evolutionary salient contexts…

Why might it be (at least sometimes) beneficial for adults to process fractions componentially? Recent research has shown that college-educated adults can capitalize on the bipartite structure of the fraction notation, performing more successfully with fractions than with decimals in relational tasks, notably analogical reasoning. This study…

This study examined mathematics strategy instruction that primes the common underlying structures of word problems using explicit instruction in a rural elementary classroom with fourth- and fifth-grade students with and without disabilities (n = 27). Although intervention students did not outperform control condition students on a word problem…