Performance on a functional fixedness problem was investigated under conditions of continuous work on the problem vs interpolation of unrelated activity, and in Ss of low vs high problem-solving ability. The performance of low-ability Ss was most proficient under the interpolated-activity condition, whereas for high-ability Ss performance was best under continuous work. It was suggested that different types of problem-solving processes occurred in low- and high-ability Ss, and that interpolated activity influenced these processes in opposite ways.
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