| Creative problem solving is usually accompanied by intuition and insight,but when the problem is finally solved and then to find out the whole process of problem solving,it is often difficult to figure out.Perhaps the role of unconscious processing in this process deserves our attention.In recent years,some studies have found that distraction task,can induce individual unconscious processing and studies have shown that creative problem in the unconscious level processing,may be more conducive to the correct solution,and other studies have shown that the advantage of the unconscious processing effect in more difficult creative problems.It is also found that there is an inverted u-shaped curve between the time of unconscious processing and the creativity score.According to the heuristic prototype theory,prototype enlightenment is one of the main ways of insight.According to prototype heuristic theory,the processing mechanism of prototype heuristic includes two cognitive elements.The first is prototype activation,that is,the activation in the brain of a semantic representation of a certain archetype that is illuminating the immediate insight problem.The second is the application of its information implied by the prototype,which is to apply some heuristic information implied in the prototype(such as principles,rules,methods,etc.)to the heuristic search of the immediate problem,so as to solve the creative problem successfully.It is found that the activation of prototype is an automatic unconscious process,and the activation of prototype is the premise for the correct use of prototype heuristic information.Therefore,according to the existing research and related theories,we hypothesized that the unconscious processing is more conducive to the acquisition of prototype heuristic,so as to correctly solve creative problems.Problem based on the ecological validity of higher scientific discoveries as experiment material,unconscious processing induced with distraction task,to explore the scientific invention in the process of problem solving,unconscious processing solution to a difficult problem to see if there is,and whether distraction task load different influence unconscious processing,thus affect the scientific invention on the solution of the problem.On this basis,the inner mechanism of prototype heuristic in the process of solving difficult scientific invention problem is further discussed.Experiment 1 recruited 78 subjects from southwest university,divided into consciousness group(38)and unconscious group(40),to explore that when solving the scientific invention problems,whether the heuristic prototype effect is different under different processing levels.Results showed that in solving the problem of difficult scientific inventions,the main effects of problem difficulty and consciousness processing level were significant.The prototype activation rate and correct resolution rate of the difficult problem were significantly lower than that of the low difficulty problem.And the correct resolution rate of the prototype activation rate of the unconscious processing group was significantly higher than that of the conscious processing group.Besides,the interaction between difficulty and consciousness processing level is also significant.Namely,there was no significant difference in the prototype activation rate and correct resolution rate between the conscious group and the unconscious group under the low difficulty condition,but the prototype activation rate and correct resolution rate of the conscious group were significantly lower than those of the unconscious group under the high difficulty condition.This shows that in the process of prototype heuristic,the effect of unconscious processing is better than that of conscious processing.Experiment 2 recruited 90 subjects from southwest university,divided into high cognitive load distraction task group(30)low cognitive load distraction task group(30)and conscious processing(30),and explore whether the load level of distraction task have different influence to the unconscious processing when solving the creative problem.The results showed that the prototypic activation rate of the conscious group was significantly lower than that of the two distracted groups under the low difficulty condition(p<0.001),but there was no significant difference between the high and low cognitive load distraction groups(p=0.319);under the difficult condition,the prototypic activation rate of the conscious group was also significantly lower than that of the two distracted groups(p<0.001).However,the prototype activation rate was significantly lower in the high cognitive load distraction group than in the low cognitive load distraction group(p<0.001).Under the low difficulty condition,the correct resolution rate under low conscious processing conditions was significantly lower than that under high cognitive load distraction conditions(p=0.021),and also significantly lower than that under low cognitive load distraction conditions(p<0.001).However,there was no significant difference between the correct resolution rate under the condition of high and low cognitive load distraction(p=0.069).Under difficult conditions,the correct resolution rate of the conscious group was significantly higher than that of the two distraction groups(p<0.001),but there was no significant difference between the high and low cognitive load distraction groups(p=0.846).Experiment 3 recruited 90 subjects from southwest university,divided into high cognitive load distraction task group low cognitive load distraction task group and conscious processing,to explore the internal mechanism of prototype heuristic advantage effect in solving difficult scientific invention problems,which is reflected in unconscious processing compared with conscious processing.We took the level of consciousness processing as the independent variable,the three dimensions of executive function as the mediating variables,and the activation rate and correct resolution rate as the dependent variables for the mediating analysis.It was found that both models were valid: Prototype activation rate as the dependent variable of the mediation analysis showed that both high cognitive load distraction or low cognitive load distracted group,relative to the conscious processing group,executive function of the three dimensions of all partial mediate effect,but in the high cognitive load distraction group,the mediate effect were less than in the low cognitive load distraction task group;And also,when the correct resolution rate as the dependent variable,the mediation analysis showed that both high cognitive load distraction or low cognitive load distracted group,relative to the conscious processing group,executive function of the flexibility and the inhibition control are partly mediating,but in the high cognitive load distraction group,the mediate effect were less than in the low cognitive load distraction task group.However,in the high cognitive load distracted task group,the relative mediating effect of working memory was not significant.To sum up,the unconscious processing by raising the ability of flexibility,inhibition and working memory in executive function,thus promote the individuals' prototype activation and key heuristic information using ability.However,with the increase of the cognitive load of distraction task the mediation effect of executive function can be relatively reduced,and in the unconscious processing induced by high cognitive load distraction task,the mediating effect of the dimension of working memory disappeared.The research conclusions are as follows :1.The distracting task can successfully induce the individual to produce unconscious processing,and unconscious processing is more conducive to the solution of scientific invention problems than conscious processing;2.The load of the distracted task will affect the facilitating effect of unconscious processing on creative problem solving.When the distracted task takes up too much cognitive resources,the promoting effect will be relatively weakened;3.With the level of consciousness processing as the independent variable,the executive function as the intermediary variable,and the prototype heuristic effect as the dependent variable,the mediation model can be established.In other words,the level of conscious processing can cause individual differences in executive function,and unconscious processing can help solve creative problems by promoting the improvement of executive function.Specifically,whether high cognitive load distraction task or low cognitive load induced by distraction task unconscious processing status for the individual is in the process of solving the problem of creative consciousness and processing the promoting effect of stronger,but when distraction task cognitive load increase,the individual unconscious processing and promoting effect on creative problem will gradually weaken.Furthermore,it is mainly shown that when the distracted task takes up more cognitive load,the individual's working memory ability will be reduced,and the mediating effect of working memory will not be prominent. |
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