The Keys For GNAT2

Study 2 Most previous studies have only measured rather than instructed NVP-BGJ398 cell line problem-solving styles in CRA problems. However, in one previous study, participants were presented with both solvable CRA problems and incoherent word triads and were either instructed to search for a solution word, or to simply read or read and memorize the word triads (Topolinski and Strack, 2008). Search instructions eliminated spontaneous semantic spreading (as evidenced by reduced priming of solution words). This can be taken to suggest that instructions to search for the solution reduces the likelihood of spontaneous insights. In other studies, more specific explicit instructions have been used to induce different performance strategies on tasks that did not��as with CRA problems��involve the internal search for a solution in memory, but the search of an external stimulus among other stimuli. Smilek et al. (2006b), for example, (see also Snodgrass et al., 1995; Smilek et al., 2006a) aimed to manipulate participants�� cognitive strategies when searching for a visual target among distractors. Participants were either instructed to remain passive and simply let the target item ��pop into their mind����a process strongly reminiscent of an insight experience��or to ��direct their attention�� in a more controlled way and ��search�� actively for the target��a process resembling the analytic approach to creative problem-solving. The researchers found that participants performed better when they used the passive, or insight, approach then when actively searching for the target. We do not imply the same cognitive processes involved in the internal search for a solution in memory are involved in searching for stimuli in the external environment. However, these studies compellingly demonstrate that explicit instructions can influence how people approach search tasks. We used instructions similar to those by Smilek et al. (2006b) to induce an insightful versus analytic approach to solving CRA problems. As in Study 1, we predicted that individuals with a greater tendency toward mindfulness would perform better when approaching problems with analytic strategy, but worse when approaching problems through insight. To test whether one or both types of instructions led to changes in task performance, we also included a control condition in which participants received no instructions regarding their problem-solving approach. Method Participants Participants were again recruited using Amazon��s Mechanical Turk. Hundred-twenty participants completed the study. As in Study 1, participants were excluded from analyses if they failed to solve a single remote associates problem. Twenty-one participants were removed for that reason, leaving 99 participants in the analyses (42 male, 57 female, average age = 38 years, SD = 12). All participants resided in the USA.