Which cues work best? An examination of two structured thinking tools using eye-tracking analysis

Previous research has shown that providing structured, cue-based techniques, such as the 'six thinking hats' or 'six honest serving men', can facilitate creative problem solving performance. These tools require participants to adopt multiple viewpoints, by either utilising particular thinking styles along with associated questions (six hats) or incorporating a range of specific questions (six men). However, it is not clear whether each of the six elements of the tools contribute equally to the outcome. Hence, our aim was to ascertain which elements of the two tools are utilised during the problem solving process. To do this, we created a ʽclock-faceʼ that simultaneously presented each of the six elements of each tool surrounding a centred problem that needed to be solved. For comparison, the control group were presented with six question marks surrounding the problem. We then randomly allocated 80 participants to one of the three groups (six men, six hats, control) and, after reading a synopsis of their allocated tool and completing a practice run, they attempted to solve two given problems whilst looking at the surrounding cues within a 3 minute time period. Given the established links between eye movements and visual attention, we monitored eye movements to ascertain which of the six elements within each tool captured more attentional processing. Our results are pending and will be presented at the conference.