Effects of Task Characteristics and Task-Switching on Remote Associates Test Problem Solving

Abstract

Creative problem solving is often viewed as a search process. However, little is known about the factors that impact this process. To address this question, we conducted two studies to examine whether task characteristics and task-switching influence performance on Remote Associates Test (RAT) problems — problems commonly used to measure creativity and study the creative search process. Consistent with prior research, we found that RAT problem-solving performance was positively associated with the relatedness between the answer and the problem. The association was strongest when the amount of competition within the initial search space was low. Moreover, this interaction was observed irrespective of the methods used to measure the task characteristics. By contrast, we did not replicate the positive effect of task-switching on RAT problem-solving accuracy found in previous studies. However, our findings suggest that task-switching may improve problem-solving speed and facilitate a broader search. Implications for future research are discussed.