The discussions about creativity indicate difficulties in the definition of what would be
an "original" or "creative" pattern and in identifying what variables would control it.
Among the interpretations of this phenomenon there is one which is called spontaneous
"interconnection of repertoires", when two or more different repertoires, learned in
separate, join in new situations producing original sequences of behavior. The problem
solving in a sudden way through this interconnection was called "Insight". One process
participating in that interconnection would be "Functional Generalization". The present
study replicated with some changes, using three rats (Rattus norvegicus) as subjects (S1,
S2 and S3), the original work of Epstein (1985b) and investigated the role of
"Functional Generalization" in the interconnection of repertoires. The subjects S1 and
S2 were taught three different repertoires separately. The S1 learned (1) to push a cube
toward a goal, (2) to climb and to rise on the cube and (3) to pull a string. The S2
learned (1) to push the cube with no goal, (2) to climb and to rise on the cube and the
(3) to pull a string. The S3 just learned (1) to climb and to rise on cube and (2) to pull a
current. After the training they were put into a problem-situation-problem that would
demand the interconnection of the learned abilities to arrive to the final step which was
to pull a string. The S1 and S2 solved the problem in different ways: one solved in a
random way and the other solved after additional training to climb and to pull a string
which established important links for the resolution. The S3 didn't solve the problem.
The data indicated that functional generalization could be explained as simple
generalization and that this would not be a fundamental requirement for the sudden
resolution of the problem.
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