Spontaneous Access and Analogical Incubation Effects

Christensen, Bo T.; Schunn, Christian D.

doi:10.1207/s15326934crj1702&3_7

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…It may be that large jumps into these isolated regions of promise might be facilitated by highly functionally distant analogies, perhaps sparked by external stimulations. This notion is consistent with the literature on incubation and "prepared mind" effects, where creative problem solvers overcome impasses in their problem solving by unexpectedly encountering potentially relevant ideas in their environment after having set their problem aside (Christensen & Schunn, 2005;Seifert et al, 1995;Tseng et al, 2008). These ideas suggest that impasses may be a prerequisite for observing jumps supported by analogy.…”

Section: Future Directionssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…In decades of cognitive-based research on the topic of innovation, researchers and theorists have uncovered the importance of collaboration and serendipity (Sawyer, 2007), incubation (Christensen & Schunn, 2005;Seifert, Meyer, Davidson, Patalano, & Yaniv, 1995;Tseng, Moss, Cagan, & Kotovsky, 2008), external representations (Goel, 1995), and mental simulation (Ball & Christensen, 2009;Christensen & Schunn, 2009b), among others. Fundamental to innovation, however, is concept generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From anIn VivoStudy in Engineering Design

Chan

Schunn

2014

Cognitive Science

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Research on innovation often highlights analogies from sources outside the current problem domain as a major source of novel concepts; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not well understood. We analyzed the temporal interplay between far analogy use and creative concept generation in a professional design team's brainstorming conversations, investigating the hypothesis that far analogies lead directly to very novel concepts via large steps in conceptual spaces (jumps). Surprisingly, we found that concepts were more similar to their preceding concepts after far analogy use compared to baseline situations (i.e., without far analogy use). Yet far analogies increased the team's concept generation rate compared to baseline conditions. Overall, these results challenge the view that far analogies primarily lead to novel concepts via jumps in conceptual spaces and suggest alternative pathways from far analogies to novel concepts (e.g., iterative, deep exploration within a functional space).

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Section: Future Directionssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From anIn VivoStudy in Engineering Design

Chan

Schunn

2014

Cognitive Science

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“…Instead, they had to switch tasks at predefined moments (Dodds et al, in press). Exceptions are some early studies on incubation (e.g., Olton, 1979;Patrick, 1938) and a recent study by Christensen and Schunn (2005), in which participants were free to move back and forth between tasks. Other exceptions are experiments in which participants were allowed to switch tasks after they had reached an impasse (e.g., Butler & Thomas, 1999;Segal, 2004;Seifert, Meyer, Davidson, Patalano, & Yaniv, 1995).…”

Section: Insight Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Effect of Interruptions and Breaks on Insight and Impasses: Do You Need a Break Right Now?

Beeftink

Eerde

Rutte

2008

Creativity Research Journal

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“…Table 5 summarizes the major findings on analogical reasoning processes in design cognition and design-by-analogy. Gentner & Smith, 2012 [57] Three main kinds of factors influence success of analogical reasoning: the characteristics specific to the mapping itself, the characteristics of the human, and the characteristics of the task Gentner & Markman 1997, [58] Mapping has three psychological constraints: the alignment has to be structurally consistent, the source and target need to have shared relations, and the more interconnected the underlying set of high order relations are, the better the match will be evaluated Christensen & Schunn, 2005 [59].…”

Section: Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Casakin & Goldschmidt, 1999 [54] Far-field analogies can be hard to notice as relevant to the target domain. Christensen & Schunn, 2005 [59]…”

Section: Analogical Distancementioning

confidence: 99%

Bio-Inspired Design: An Overview Investigating Open Questions From the Broader Field of Design-by-Analogy

Moreno

Yang

et al. 2014

Journal of Mechanical Design

122

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Bio-inspired design and the broader field of design-by-analogy have been the basis of numerous innovative designs throughout history; yet there remains much to be understood about these practices of design, their underlying cognitive mechanisms, and preferred ways in which to teach and support them. In this paper, we work to unify the broader design-by-analogy research literature with that of the bio-inspired design field, reviewing the current knowledge of designer cognition, the seminal supporting tools and methods for bio-inspired design, and postulating the future of bio-inspired design research from the larger design-by-analogy perspective. We examine seminal methods for supporting bio-inspired design, highlighting the areas well aligned with current findings in design-by-analogy cognition work and noting important areas for future research identified by the investigators responsible for these seminal tools and methods.Supplemental to the visions of these experts in bio-inspired design, we suggest additional projections for the future of the field, posing intriguing research questions to further unify the field of bio-inspired design with its broader resident field of design-by-analogy. INTRODUCTIONBio-inspired design is a cutting edge field of inquiry and practice, founded by thinkers such as Steele (bionics, 1950s), Schmitt (biomimetics, 1950s) RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Comparative Qualitative Research MethodFigure 1 depicts the comparative qualitative research methodology employed for analysis in this paper, defined by five steps: (1) examining the larger body of analogy literature and choosing a subset to identify cognitive mechanisms for design-by-analogy; (2) categorizing key findings from the analogy literature; (3) studying an existing set of seminal tools and methods for bioinspired design, and the principles and considerations that underlie them, (4) reviewing the literature that addresses the cognitive psychology of bio-inspired design, and (5) analyzing gaps in the literature, questions yet to be addressed, and the future of the field of bio-inspired design.Katherine Fu MD-14-1381 3 Examining and Reducing Analogy LiteratureWe began by considering the research findings of those who study analogy. Identifying and investigating hundreds of contributions, the literature included in the analysis of this paper was chosen based on whether the publication advanced empirical understanding of how humans, often designers, work with analogy. Papers not included were those presenting tools or methods for design-by-analogy, unless in testing them, they uncovered and reported underlying cognitive mechanisms of design-by-analogy. The goal of this step was to characterize the current state of scientific knowledge around analogy, both generally and with respect to engineering design, in order to create a context within which bio-inspired design and its future as a field of inquiry is and should be considered. Categorizing and Synthesizing Key Findings from Analogy LiteratureThe subset of the larger body of an...

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Spontaneous Access and Analogical Incubation Effects

Abstract: Incubation often plays a role in creative problem solving. Theories of analogical problem solving and Opportunistic Assimilation (OA) theory (Seifert, Meyer, Davidson, Patalano, & Yaniv, 1995)

Cited by 27 publications

References 41 publications

The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From anIn VivoStudy in Engineering Design

The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From anIn VivoStudy in Engineering Design

The Effect of Interruptions and Breaks on Insight and Impasses: Do You Need a Break Right Now?

Bio-Inspired Design: An Overview Investigating Open Questions From the Broader Field of Design-by-Analogy

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