When doing some research for my book "The Science of Chess" I came across a study on incubation ("thinking aside") in problem solving by Robert Olton:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1979.tb00185.x/abstract
Olton spent many years at the University of California, Berkeley, trying to prove that incubation exists. In one study, he used experts trying to solve a problem in their area of expertise - chess players and a chess problem. Olton’s study marked a turning point in the study of incubation. His study was cited in many books (just recently in Kevin Ashton's How to Fly a Horse) and in over 100 scientific publications. The only catch: the original study (with the data) he was referring to in his review-paper actually may have never been published ! Olton cites his own study as “OLTON, R M. Incubation in problem solving: the pause that refreshes? Manuscript submitted for publication, 1979”. Yet, there is no trace of this paper anywhere. It seems that his manuscript may have not passed the referees judgment – and was rejected for publication. Could it be that a whole branch of psychology research is based on a study that actually doesn't exist?
Does anybody have more information on this "lost" study?
Axel
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1979.tb00185.x/abstract
Hello Axel
The paper you mentioned:
Olton, R. M. (1979). Experimental Studies of Incubation: Searching for the Elusive*. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 13(1), 9-22.
(but not ‘Incubation in problem solving: the pause that refreshes?’) is referenced on quite a few occasions by Bo T Christensen in:
Christensen, B. T. (2005). Problematic Assumptions in Incubation Effect Studies and What to do about Them. CREATIVE COGNITION: ANALOGY AND INCUBATION.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.81.7618&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=39
Bo T Christensen is a ResearchGate member:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bo_Christensen2/publications
I wonder whether he might be able to shed some light on this?
I hope this helps
Mary
Hi Mary,
thank you for the links; the Christensen paper is very interesting. I have access to the Olton paper in The Journal of Creative Behavior (JCB).
Nevertheless, all later publications that cite this this paper are merely referencing only this 1979 JCB review, which does not contain any original data. The real research data must be in the paper that Olton cites in his JCB review. However, I cannot find any proof that this data was published at all (maybe with a different title?). No hits for: “Incubation in problem solving: the pause that refreshes?”
Thanks
Axel
Hi Axel,
You probably are aware of this paper:
Roden, Robert Brian (1983) 'Sleep as a mechanism of incubation in creative problem solving'
http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/274812/1/azu_td_1320928_sip1_m.pdf
- his reference to 'Incubation in problem solving: The pause that refreshes?' is the same as you have found (top of p.46) regarding submission for publication.
It is an old paper (1983) and the author does not seem to be on ResearchGate. But the fact that he referenced a 1979 paper in this way, in 1983, does look as if it was never published in this form.
In the book:
Klein, Gary (2013) Seeing What Others Don’t. The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights
https://matrixtrainings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/seeing-what-others-dont-gary-klein.pdf
- there is a section entitled 'THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES' p.188. On p.265, this paragraph is referenced to an earlier paper: R. M. Olton and D. M. Johnson, “Mechanisms of Incubation in Creative Problem Solving,” American Journal of Psychology 89(4) (1976): 617–630.
In this (AJP) paper, Olton and Johnson reference an even earlier Olton paper with a similar title (p.630):
Olton, R.M. (1976) Incubation: The pause that refreshes. Submitted for publication.
I don't think this gets your search any further, but it was fascinating,
I'll follow your question with interest
Mary
You might not be aware of the dissertation of a Dutch scientist, A.D. de Groot, title: " Het denken van den schaker" (1946). Is is referred to by Newell and Simon, in "Human Problem Solving" (1972). The story goes that Simon learned enough of the Dutch language in order to read it.
Ton
Hi Ton,
thanks for the comment. I do know the works of de Groot; he is the father of chess related studies. His dissertation was actually translated into English in 1965 and is available as reprint (Thought and Choice in Chess, 2008) from Amsterdam University press. (I think I probably have the largest collection of chess related papers in the world; however, it is difficult to find related studies that are not mentioning chess in the title or abstract, such as the Olton, 1979 paper - or if they are published in different languages. I may still miss many studies in Russian). de Groot's research and also his biography will for sure have a central role in my book project.
Axel
Hi Axel
Again, I don't think this brings the quest about the seemingly unpublished paper any further, but I found a mention of Olton's 'lost' paper in a website re another academic: Herbert Simon Collection , 1929-2001, Carnegie Mellon University Archives
https://libwebspace.library.cmu.edu/Research/Archives/ead/generated/simon.xml
in which the following line refers to Simon's Olton's paper:
'FF 2355 -- Simon, Herbert A. - Carnegie Mellon University - Problem Solving - Correspondence - Hyman - Study - Paper - "Incubation: The Pause that Refreshes?" - Olton - 1973, 1982'
Unfortunately, I was not able to locate the correspondence. I looked (as a guest) in the correspondence section of:
http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/portal/guest.jsp?smd=2&cl=library1_lib&nid=93636
This is the area where I searched:
http://ptfs.library.cmu.edu/awweb/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=1&awdid=1
I searched for p.203 but this does not give any further information than the above; the archives do not provide online access to the correspondence.
Another paper: Craig A. Kaplan and Janet Davidson (1998) Hatching a theory of incubation effects (a technical report)
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA219275
referenced:
Olton, R.M. & Johnson, D.M. (1976) Mechanisms of incubation in creative problem solving. American Journal of Psychology, 89, 631-644.
Olton, R.M. (1979) Experimental studies of incubation: Searching for the elusive. Journal of Creative Behavior, 13,1, 9-22.
- - but in a footnote p. 11, stated:
'OIton (1979) cites two additional studies that failed to find an incubation effect: Olton (unpublished) and Dominowski (1972). However, neither of these papers has been published (to our knowledge), and hence they were unavailable for review'.
You mentioned your book project "The Science of Chess" - I'm sure you have seen this, as you really have very extensive knowledge about Olton, but I found a website of his obituary - he was a marvellous man:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/contracostatimes/obituary.aspx?pid=170550085
Mary
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1979.tb00185.x/abstract
Further to the above search in the CMU archives; in the Allen Newell collection, there is a scanned copy of a draft copy of the paper 'Incubation in problem solving: the pause that refreshes?' front cover (?) warning that it was still a draft copy and should not be cited or quoted without permission.
http://doi.library.cmu.edu/10.1184/pmc/newell/box00095/fld06894/bdl0001/doc0001
http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/portal/main.jsp?flag=browse&smd=1&awdid=2
- Badges
- Science topic