Functional fixedness in a technologically sparse culture

Problem solving can be inefficient when the solution requires subjects to generate art atypical function for air object and the object's typical function has been primed. Subjects become 'fixed' on the design function, of the object, and problem solving suffers relative to control conditions in which the object's function is riot demonstrated. In the current study, such functional fixedness was demonstrated in a sample of adolescents (mean age of 16 years) among the Shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia, whose technologically sparse culture provides limited access to large numbers of artifacts with highly specialized functions. This result suggests that design function may universally be the core property of artifact concepts in human semantic memory.