When you have used a particular tool, item, or object for one sole purpose again and again, your brain can sometimes associate it with only that use. This concept is called functional fixedness.

Stuck solving a problem? Seek the obscure, says a psychologist. "There's a classic obstacle to innovation called 'functional fixedness,' which is the tendency to fixate on the common use of an object ...

Instead of forcing creativity, recognise when the structure itself is limiting new ideas, writes Barbara Salopek Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits our ability to see novel uses for ...