Effects of Prior Knowledge on Generative Tasks Essay -- Philosophy Cre

effect of Prior Knowledge on Generative Tasks The creation of new ideas plays an heavy role in the growth of any society. Inventions such as the hollo and automobile have provided the tools for increased levels of communication and widened the access to information. While the groundbreaking generation may view these inventions as staples of our society, at the time of their designing they were viewed as revolutionary new concepts. Yet, were they really revolutionary or were they an denotation of prior knowledge? Large proportions of new ideas ar based on the properties of an existing concept (Marsh, Ward, & Landau, 1999). Without the concept of the phonograph, for example, we may never have had the gain of 8-tracks, audio cassettes, or compact discs. These creations, while separate in their l evels of advancement, argon all based on the initial notion of recorded sound. Researchers cognize the benefits of prior knowledge as adaptive to survival. The fact that humans are able to learn and apply information from previous experience assists in reasoning, problem solving, and comprehension of our environment (Smith, Ward, & Schumacher, 1993). Without the use of prior knowledge it would be impossible to advance cognitively. The benefits notwithstanding, the use of prior knowledge also has the electromotive force of limiting, or constraining, the creative process (Marsh, Bink, & Hicks, 1999 Marsh, Landau, & Hicks, 1996 Marsh, Ward, et al., 1999 Smith, et al., 1993). The theoretical construct of structured supposition proposes that new ... ...iness that expects creative results from its associates. Society may believe an invention is truly revolutionary when, in fact, the creation is most likely a spotless extension of a previous thought. References Marsh, R. L., Bink, M. L., & Hicks, J. L. (1999). Conceptual priming in a generative problem-solving task. reminiscence & Cognition, 27 (2), 355-363. Marsh, R. L., Landau, J. D., & Hicks, J. L. (1996). How examples may (and may not) constrain creativity. Memory & Cognition, 24 (3), 669-680. Marsh, R. L., Ward, T. B., & Landau, J. D. (1999). The inadvertent use of prior knowledge in a generative cognitive task. Memory & Cognition, 27 (1), 94-105. Smith, S. M., Ward, T. B., & Schumacher, J. S. (1993). Constraining effects of examples in a creative generation task. Memory & Cognition, 21 (6), 837-845.