Work

Does collaboration improve or impede finding remote associations?

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Across two experiments using the Compound Remote Associates Test (cRAT), we examined whether collaboration improves or impedes the ability to find remote associations. Participants worked either jointly in dyads or in parallel. In both experiments, joint dyads solved fewer problems and required more time to reach correct solutions, indicating a consistent performance cost of collaboration. In Experiment 1, joint dyads also generated fewer solution attempts and showed greater semantic similarity between consecutive ideas, consistent with the hypothesis of collaborative fixation. In Experiment 2, we removed verbal interaction while maintaining shared access to each other's solution attempts. Performance was still lower in the joint condition, but evidence for semantic fixation was no longer observed. Our findings indicate that collaboration may, in fact, impede rather than improve the creation of remote semantic links.

Source: Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2026.106484

Authors: Elena Pavliuchik, Günther Knoblich

Institution: Central European University

Language: English

Topic: Creativity in Education and Neuroscience

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,910

Funder: Central European University