Classical approaches to studying insight problem-solving typically use
specialized problems (e.g., nine-dot problem, compound-remote
associates task) as stimuli together with verbal reports from
subjects during problem-solving to reveal their thought processes,
possibly adding other task-related metrics such as completion rate and
physiological measures like eye fixation and neural activity. This
approach has led to the claims that insight and creative thought
require impasse and mental restructuring. What is missing from this
literature is a cognitive process model of insight, and one
reason for the lack of such a model is the lack of a unified,
scalable, and tunable experimental framework with which to study human
creative problem-solving with higher fidelity. In this paper, we
introduce ESCAPE, an experimental paradigm using puzzle video games as
stimuli which allow for the collection of process data that can serve
as a basis for computational models. We have specifically developed a
set of puzzle games based on this paradigm and conducted experiments
that demonstrate the utility of the approach by revealing a set of
computational principles that need to be accounted for by a theory of
creative problems and the computational models based on it.