Implicit and Explicit Problem-Solving Process during Chinese Radical Assembly Game

The Chinese Radical Assembly Game (CRAG) is an online platform that assesses the lexical competence. In which, individuals select different Chinese radicals to combine them and form a legitimate character. This concept is similar to that of creative synthesis. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether the CRAG response process involves creativity through eye-tracking technologies and behavior scales. In Experiment 1, the eye movements of 40 participants in the CRAG process were tracked with an eye tracker, after which the average fixation duration (AFD) and average fixation count (AFC) were calculated. Additionally, we analyzed the correlation among AFD, AFC and participants’ radical assembly performance. In Experiment 2, 75 participants of CRAG and the Chinese Remote Associates Test (CRAT) were collected to analyze the correlation between their CRAG and CRAT performance. The results indicate that individuals’ saccades of different Chinese radicals per unit of time contributed to the accuracy of radical combination. Long fixation durations on certain Chinese radicals reduced the accuracy of radical combinations. The accuracy rates of the CRAG and CRAT correlated positively. This study presents the cognitive process in the CRAG based on implicit and explicit evidence.