After an initial period of unsuccessful work at solving a problem, a subject might either continue to work uninterruptedly or put the problem temporarily aside, returning to it later. The elusive laboratory phenomenon called incubation refers to superior performance for those subjects who return to the problem after a delay rather than working continuously on the problem. The forgetting-fixation hypothesis states that correct solutions are made inaccessible during initial problem solving when incorrect solutions are mistakenly retrieved. Forgetting (or decreased accessability) of fixated material should make correct solutions relatively more accessible, thus leading to incubation. Four experiments in the present study found incubation effects using a set of picture-word problems called rebuses. Misleading clues were initially presented with some of the problems, to induce fixation artificially. Greater forgetting occurred at retest for groups showing the greatest incubation effects, consistent with the forgetting-fixation hypothesis. 1989, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.
