An examination of the mechanisms of incubation

Abstract

Several hypotheses have been offered to explain the mechanisms involved in incubation, the phenomenon in which resolution of a problem benefits more from interruption than continuous solution attempts. The predictions of three hypotheses were tested by varying the level of attention demanded by an incubation task. It was found that a task that requires a moderate amount of attention leads to the greatest resolution of the problem during distraction and incubation intervals. This result supports the Withdrawal of Attention hypothesis of incubation and is inconsistent with the predictions of the Incremental Work and Forgetting Fixation hypotheses.