The Accumulated Clues Task (ACT): Development of a German Semantic Problem-Solving Paradigm

Abstract

The Accumulated Clues Task (ACT; Bowers et al., 1990) is a semantic problem-solving paradigm that has primarily been used in research on intuitive processes and as an experimental model of insight. In this incremental task, participants are instructed to find a solution word that is implied by a list of clue words with increasing semantic proximity to the solution word. We present a German version of the ACT, consisting of 20 word lists with 15 clues each, and report norming studies testing its psychometric properties and their relations to psycholinguistic features of the stimulus material (total 'N' = 300). The results are reported and discussed for future research employing this stimulus pool, which can be easily adapted to varying experimental set-ups and research questions.

Keywords

• conceptual problem-solving
• insight
• intuition