Does Mind Wandering During The Incubation Period Can Facilitate Problem Solving

Mind wandering is the conscious state that the mental contents are occupied with internal information,independent from the events here and now.In some studies of mind wandering promoting problem solving announced that individual working memory capacity and type of problem all affect the process.We mainly focus on the two types of problem,one is the creativity problem,there is incubation effect occurred in the process of solving.Another is complex problem,there is also have the deliberation-without-attention effect occurred in the process of solving.There is a unconscious process of solving appear in the both of those two kinds of problem.Based on the previous studies of mind wandering,we believe that the so-called incubation effect and the deliberation-without-attention effect have been contributed by mind wandering.The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between incubation effect and mind wandering in incubation period,and the relationship between the deliberation-without-attention effect and mind wandering in incubation period,and to examine the effect of working memory capacity and problem type on this relationship.Studyl explored the relationship between working memory capacity,mind wandering and problem type(creativity problem,complex problem)by setting the working memory capacity and the problem type as variables in the experiment.Study 2 through a comparative study to explore the association between incubation effect and mind wandering in incubation period.In this study,main conclusions as follows:(1)During the creativity problem solving,the low working memory capacity group can be benefit from the low cognitive demanding task.Improved performance of low working memory capacity group after the low demanding incubation period is better than high working memory capacity group.After conscious thinking or the high demanding task,low working memory capacity group and high working memory capacity group had no significant difference in performance in the creativity problem solving.(2)There is no evidence that mind wandering during the distraction task has an impact on complex problem solving,nor is there sufficient evidence to suggest that the deliberation-without-attention effect is affected by working memory capacity and cognitive demanding task.(3)For individuals with low working memory capacity,mind wandering during the distraction task can bring the larger incubation effect.