The HED Task Catalog is under development. IDs are not stable until formal release. Comments are welcome at github.com/hed-standard/hed-task/issues.

Remote Associates Task

HED task ID: hedtsk_remote_associates

Family: Rule use, planning and reasoning tasks (also Language comprehension and production tasks)

Also known as: Remote Associates Test, RAT, Remote Associates

Three cue words linked to a single fourth word; solution rate and solution time index semantic search and insight.

Description

The Remote Associates Test measures creative thinking through convergent semantic association. On each trial, participants are given three seemingly unrelated words (e.g., “cottage,” “Swiss,” “cake”) and must find a single word that connects all three (answer: “cheese”). The task requires searching semantic memory broadly, suppressing dominant but incorrect associations, and recognizing the linking concept. RAT performance correlates with measures of creativity, insight problem-solving, and divergent thinking. The task has also been used to study the “Aha!” moment—the subjective experience of sudden insight—and its neural correlates in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus.

Inclusion test

An experiment is an instance of this task when its procedure matches, it manipulates at least one of the listed variables, and it records at least one of the listed measures.

Procedure

Three seemingly unrelated words are presented (e.g., PINE, CRAB, SAUCE); participants find a single word that forms a compound or common phrase with each (APPLE).

Manipulation

Item difficulty (associative strength of solution to each cue); number of items; time limit.

Measurement

Number correct; RT to solution; solution probability as a function of associative strength.

Variations

Named versions that change what the participant experiences or does. The identifier of a variation is hedvar_<task>__<variation>.

Variation

Description

Justification

Standard RAT (Mednick)

hedvar_remote_associates__standard_rat_mednick

30-item test with three cue words per item; timed at 15-40 seconds per item.

Canonical three-word compound remote associate task

Compound RAT (CRAT)

hedvar_remote_associates__compound_rat_crat

Solutions form compound words or phrases with each cue (e.g., “cottage cheese,” “Swiss cheese,” “cheesecake”).

Compound word solutions instead of single words; different solution structure

Timed vs. Untimed RAT

hedvar_remote_associates__timed_vs_untimed_rat

Strict time limits vs. self-paced to study incubation effects.

Time pressure changes solving strategy

RAT with Hint/Priming

hedvar_remote_associates__rat_with_hint_priming

Subliminal or suprathreshold presentation of the answer or related words.

Semantic prime precedes problem; changes solution accessibility

Cognitive processes

This task is designed to engage the following processes:

Key references

  • Mednick, S. A. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69(3), 220–232. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Bowden, E. M., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2003). Aha! Insight experience correlates with solution activation in the right hemisphere. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10(3), 730–737. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Jung-Beeman, M., Bowden, E. M., Haberman, J., Frymiare, J. L., Arambel-Liu, S., Greenblatt, R., … & Kounios, J. (2004). Neural activity when people solve verbal problems with insight. PLoS Biology, 2(4), e97. (DOI, PubMed)

Further references

  • Beaty, R. E., Silvia, P. J., Nusbaum, E. C., Jauk, E., & Benedek, M. (2014). The roles of associative and executive processes in creative cognition. Memory & Cognition, 42(7), 1186–1197. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Salvi, C., Bricolo, E., Kounios, J., Bowden, E., & Beeman, M. (2016). Insight solutions are correct more often than analytic solutions. Thinking & Reasoning, 22(4), 443–460. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Kounios, J., & Beeman, M. (2014). The cognitive neuroscience of insight. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 71–93. (DOI, PubMed)

  • Olteteanu, A. M., & Falomir, Z. (2015). comRAT-C: A computational compound Remote Associates Test solver based on language data and its comparison to human performance. Pattern Recognition Letters, 67, 81–90. (DOI)