Exploration of the relationships between retrieval-induced forgetting effects with open-ended versus closed-ended creative problem solving

•We use RIF paradigm to measure inhibitory control in retrieval of concepts.•We differentiate open- versus closed-ended creative problem solving.•Open-ended divergent thinking is negatively related to cognitive inhibition.•Successful closed-ended 2-4-6 problem solvers exhibit reliable RIF effects.•Reduced cognitive inhibition is not a general mechanism for different creativities.

Reduced cognitive inhibition has been proposed to be a characteristic of creative individuals that allows them to attend to wide-ranging information and fosters remote associations. However, empirical findings regarding the relationship between cognitive inhibition and creativity remain inconclusive. The present study applies a selective attention paradigm on internal stimuli to assess cognitive inhibition. The study also differentiates open-ended and closed-ended creative problem solving as distinct indices to measure creative potentials. How cognitive inhibition correlates with different creativity measures is then explored. Experiment 1 recruited participants who performed well on the Chinese version of the Creative Thinking Test (an open-ended, divergent thinking test) and Wason's 2-4-6 problem (a closed-ended, creative problem-solving task) to perform the retrieval-induced-forgetting (RIF) task. Compared to controls, divergent thinkers showed no RIF effects while creative problem solvers did. Experiment 2 inspected individual performance on the three tasks. The results showed that, while participants with lower inhibition performed better on the divergent thinking test, performance on the creative problem-solving task was not related to RIF. Indices of divergent thinking significantly and negatively predicted extent of cognitive inhibition. These results suggest that reduced cognitive inhibition might not be a general mechanism for different kinds of creativity.