The Semantic Integration of Multiple Unconscious Stimuli in Creative Problem-Solving

The process of creative problem-solving (CPS) commonly demands that individuals consciously or unconsciously integrate creative ideas from a vast array of diverse information. Using a masked priming paradigm and the Chinese remote associates test (RAT), this study provides innovative behavioral evidence for the integration of multiple unconscious stimuli during CPS. In Experiment 1, three masked Chinese characters were simultaneously presented in the RAT, the first and third characters could be combined to form an answer. Two Chinese two-character words were presented in parallel, each containing the answer in Experiment 2, and required the complete word information to be split and subsequently re-integrated in a more complex manner than in Experiment 1. Interestingly, in both the experiments, multiple unconsciously processed stimuli generated a priming effect on creative performance. Specifically, a positive priming effect was observed in response to the difficult RATs, whereas a negative priming effect was observed in response to the easy RATs. Overall, our study verified that semantic integration between different unconsciously perceived stimuli can occur, which provides insights into the mechanisms underlying unconscious priming effects and contributes to a better understanding of how creative cognitive processing is influenced by multiple types of unconscious information.