Response: Commentary: Incubation and Intuition in Creative Problem Solving

Yuan and Shen (2016), in a commentary on Gilhooly's (2016) explanation of incubation in terms of Unconscious Work, suggested that a Dual Process account may be a useful alternative explanation. Although Dual Process theories have been useful in studies of decision making (Greene, 2007) and reasoning (Evans, 2008), I will argue that the usefulness of this approach to explaining incubation is not clear. but arguably, there is a core " modal model " of Dual Process thinking, broadly as put forward by Kahneman (2011), according to which System 1 processes are parallel, implicit, and unconscious, and do not involve working memory or executive control and System 2 processes are sequential, explicit, conscious, under executive control, and do load working memory. In experimental studies, incubation periods, by definition, are periods in which a target task is to be set aside and not consciously processed. During this period only unconscious processes (System 1) should be operative on the target task and it is hard to see, on the generally accepted definitions of incubation and Dual Process Theory, how the System 2 component of Dual Process Theory could be directly involved during the incubation period unless Intermittent (conscious) Work on the target task is accepted as a possible explanation. On the basis of a number of studies looking at this possibility, I feel we have been able to rule out the Intermittent (conscious) Work hypothesis (Gilhooly et al., 2012, 2013). The idea of Conscious Work and Unconscious Work occurring at different stages of creative thinking, as classically proposed by Wallas (1926) and Poincare (1910), is consistent with a Dual Process Theory, in that System 2 is evident in the initial conscious phase (Wallas's Preparation Stage) and the final Verification Stage, while System 1 is involved in the unconscious Incubation stage. If this is what Yuan and Shen were proposing I would agree that there is a reasonable mapping of the relatively new System 1 and 2 terminology onto the classical Stages terminology, and such a mapping is of value in that it enables linkages to be made between creative problem solving and other areas of thinking research, such as reasoning and decision making. The nature and the duration of initial conscious (System 2) work in the Preparation stage have been widely acknowledged to influence subsequent unconscious (System 1) processing during the Incubation stage e.g., the classic analyses of Wallas and Poincare proposed that …