To investigate the cognitive processes underlying creative inspiration, we tested the extent to which viewing or copying prior examples impacted creative output in art. In Experiment 1, undergraduates made drawings under three conditions: (a) copying an artist's drawing, then producing an original drawing; (b) producing an original drawing without…

Philosophers use hypothetical duplication scenarios to explore intuitions about personal identity. Here we examined 5- to 6-year-olds' intuitions about the physical properties and memories of a live hamster that is apparently duplicated by a machine. In Study 1, children thought that more of the original's physical properties than episodic…

This paper explores the application of distributed cognition theory to educational contexts by examining a common learning interaction, the "Copy and Paste" function. After a discussion of distributed cognition and the role of mediating artefacts in real world cognitions, the "Copy and Paste" function is redesigned to embed an effective…