Do Cheaters Never Prosper? The Impact of Examples, Expertise, and Cognitive Load on Cryptomnesia and Inadvertent Self-Plagiarism of Creative Tasks

Abstract

Previous work has shown that the presence of examples may lead to cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism, on creative tasks. Various experiential and environmental attributes may magnify this finding. For instance, novices, with limited knowledge, may be more prone to inadvertently plagiarize examples, and increases in cognitive load may result in an inability to recall the source of an idea. The purpose of my research was to determine if providing examples leads to cryptomnesia on linguistic and visual creative tasks and to further examine whether expertise level and cognitive load magnifies this relationship. In study 1, participants were given plain instructions or instructions with either an auditory or print example before completing linguistic and visual divergent thinking (DT) tasks. Examples increased the likelihood of cryptomnesia for both tasks, especially with congruent modalities (print example and visual task). In study 2, participants were classified as novices or experts in engineering and completed two designs tasks, one with an example accompanying the instructions. The presence of an example fostered cryptomnesia and this effect was stronger for novices. Novices were also more likely to inadvertently self-plagiarize. In study 3, participants were exposed to examples under both cognitive taxation and no taxation conditions prior to completing linguistic and visual DT tasks. After controlling for error rate on taxation task, cognitive taxation resulted in a greater likelihood of cryptomnesia. Based on principles of schema theory and cognitive load, in order to reduce cryptomnesia it is recommended to avoid providing examples for higher level learning objectives and avoid simultaneous presentation of congruent task modalities.