Incubation

Incubation involves taking a break from conscious task-focused reflection in order to allow increased non-conscious processing to happen, possibly by allowing the brain's default mode network to become more active.

Planned incubation involves interspersing periods of conscious, task-focused reflection with periods of less intensive activity. 

Research indicates that incubation works best if the break involves an undemanding task that is still related to the goals of the intensive task (e.g. a passive listening activity).

• Andrews-Hanna, J. R. (2012). The brain’s default network and its adaptive role in internal mentation. The Neuroscientist : A Review Journal Bringing Neurobiology, Neurology and Psychiatry, 18(3), 251–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858411403316

• Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W. Y., Franklin, M. S., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1117–1122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612446024

• Davey, C. G., Pujol, J., & Harrison, B. J. (2016). Mapping the self in the brain’s default mode network. NeuroImage, 132, 390–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.022

• Gronchi, G., & Giovannelli, F. (2018). Dual process theory of thought and default mode network: A possible neural foundation of fast thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1237. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01237

• Hélie, S., & Sun, R. (2010). Incubation, insight, and creative problem solving: A unified theory and a connectionist model. Psychological Review, 117(3), 994. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019532

• Knyazev, G. G., Bocharov, A. V., Savostyanov, A. N., & Velichkovsky, B. M. (2021). The Incubation Effect and Resting Network Activity. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 51(4), 466–471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01093-3

• Raichle, M. E. (2015). The brain’s default mode network. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38(1), 433–447. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014030

• Ritter, S. M., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity—The unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00215

• Sio, U. N., & Ormerod, T. C. (2009). Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 94–120. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014212

• Smallwood, J., Bernhardt, B. C., Leech, R., Bzdok, D., Jefferies, E., & Margulies, D. S. (2021). The default mode network in cognition: A topographical perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22(8), 503–513. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00474-4

• Tops, M., Boksem, M. A. S., Quirin, M., IJzerman, H., & Koole, S. L. (2014). Internally directed cognition and mindfulness: An integrative perspective derived from predictive and reactive control systems theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 429. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00429

• Zhou, Y., Friston, K. J., Zeidman, P., Chen, J., Li, S., & Razi, A. (2018). The hierarchical organization of the default, dorsal attention and salience networks in adolescents and young adults. Cerebral Cortex, 28(2), 726–737. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx307