Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Experts generally solve problems in their fields more effectively than novices because their well-structured, easily-activated knowledge allows for efficient search of a solution space. But what happens when a problem requires a broad search for solution? One concern is that subjects with a large amount of domain knowledge may actually be at a disadvantage because their knowledge may confine them to an area of the search space where the solution does not reside. In other words, domain knowledge may act as a mental set, promoting fixation in creative problem solving attempts. Two experiments using an adapted version of Mednick's (1962) Remote Associates Task demonstrates conditions under which domain knowledge may inhibit creative problem solving.