Incubation & Divergent Solutions

Abstract

Have you ever woken up and known the answer to a problem you had been wrestling with the day before? When trying to solve problems, especially problems requiring creative solutions, doing something else—an incubation activity—can help (Sio & Ormerod, 2009). Furthermore, undemanding (low cognitive load) incubation activities, such as sleeping or listening to music, are particularly effective (Sio & Ormerod). Being in a positive mood also promotes creativity (Davis, 2009) and listening to music can promote positive mood (Lingham & Theorell, 2009). Integrating these ideas, we examined the relationships between low load incubation, positive mood, and creativity. We invented one of our own measure of creativity, the Divergent Solutions Task (DST) and undertook the present study to test our hypotheses.