Why do humans try to discover better alternatives to solve a problem even when they already have a solution? Such flexibility to reject the familiar solution and to search for and discover better alternatives supports creative problem solving. Previous research has shown that participants who found alternatives are less likely to bias their attention toward the fixation-related areas, even when they are fixated on the trained procedure, compared to non-finder. The present study examined whether an intentional search for information irrelevant to the trained procedure under the successful situation is related to finding alternatives. Experimental results indicated that finders intentionally searched for a greater amount of information irrelevant to fixation, even when solving a problem with the trained procedure. In addition, it was shown that the difference in the intentional search might be caused by the strength of reinforcement of fixation on the trained procedure.
