Forgetting in Creative Problem Solving for College Students

Abstract

As more and more benefits of forgetting have been found in recent studies, whether forgetting could promote individual's ability of creative problem solving remains a controversial debate. Once the associations between forgetting and creative problem solving are proved, we could promote one's ability of creative problem solving by inducing specific forgetting. This paper discusses the effect of two types of forgetting: a) the retrieval-induced forgetting and b) the forgetting during incubation, in benefiting creative problem solving by introducing and analysing the relevant experiments. The results reveal that retrieval-induced forgetting only works when previous mental fixations occurs and the promotion varies when solving different types of problems. The level of RIF is irrelevant to the performance in solving closed-ended creative problems and high level of RIF even impairs the creativity when solving open-ended problems. Forgetting during incubation cannot explain the incubation effect. The spreading activation of relevant information or the unconscious work are more likely to be the possible reasons. In conclusion, this paper brings about the discussions about the work conditions and effects of forgetting in creative problem solving.