what are the 3 aspects involved in problem solving?
- goal directed (or purposeful)
○ Aiming for a specific outcome - Involves controlled (or conscious) processing
○ Consciously aware when we are solving a problem - Lack of knowledge to produce an immediate solution
○ We don’t know the solution= problem.
what are the two types of problems?
- well-defined
○ All aspects of a problem are clearly specified (Anagrams)
○ Aware of the desired outcome - Ill-defined
○ Aspects of the problem are imprecisely specified
○ E.g.: a surprise party
○ Lots of components that aren’t immediately there
§ Less clear cut
what does the mnemonic IGOR stand for in defining problems?
I- Clear description of how everything is set up at the beginning of the problem
○ the initial state of the problem
○ Starting point
○ Where we are currently
G- What the problem should look like at the end
○ in the goal state
○ Where we want to be w=once we have solved the problem
O- The actions (operators) to be taken to get to the goal
○ the actions we will complete to achieve the state
R- What you are not allowed to do (operator restrictions)
○ Is there anything we cant do?
what is a knowledge rich problem?
○ Can only be solved with relevant knowledge and expertise
E.g.: getting a degree
what is a knowledge-lean problem?
○ Do not require knowledge
○ Most information to solve problem available in the initial problem statement
E.g.: an anagram
what are the two types of thinking involved in the gestalt approach to problem solving?
- Reproductive
○ Systematic re-use of previous experience
○ Use previous experiences/knowledge to successfully solve the problem. - Productive
○ Novel restructuring of a problem
○ Existing previous experience isn’t enough to solve the problem successfully so you have to think of something new.
* Problems requiring productive thinking solved using insight
what is insight?
- Involves a sudden restructuring of a problem
- Experience of suddenly realising how to solve a problem- Eureka moment- solution comes to you randomly.
- e.g.: multilated chessboard
what are alternatice representations?
- a way to increase insight through looking at extreme conditions
how do we facilitate insight according to Maier’s (1931) two string problem?
- Participants were provided with hints- use them to solve the problem
- Had to tie to pieces of string together but they cant both be reached at the same time
○ Solution= tie plyers to the string to swing it closer. - ** Hints**
○ Increase the number of solutions produced on insight problems
○ Even subtle hints are useful - Way to increase insight
how did Thomas and Lleras (2009) further the tow string problem study?
- Participants required to solve two string problem
- Regular exercise breaks (in the middle)
○ Some participants asked to swing arms, others asked to stretch arms
○ Swing arms task was relevant to the problem (task-relevant)
§ Had insight moment so were more likely to solve the problem. - found that hints can be effective without conscious awareess of task relevance (unconscious mind influenced).
what is incubation and how does it facilitate insight?
- Problem is put to one side for some time
- Move away from problem for a little bit of time.
- Subconscious mind continues to work towards a solution- conscious mind stops trying to solve the problem.
- Forget previously failed strategies and adopt new approach- adopt a new approach.
○ Incubation vs control group working continuously
○ Sleeping effective form of incubation
how does changing the problem representation facilitate insight?
- Sometimes encounter a block (or impasse) when solving a problem because it is represented wrongly
- Change the way the problem is represented in our mind.
- Need to change problem representation for insight to occur
how does contraint relaxation facilitate insight?
inhibitions on what is regarded as permissible removed
○ Assume you cant do something even if you can
○ Have general assumptions of what you can and cant do to solve a problem
§ Often we put constraints on what we can and cant do (even though you can do something)
how does re-encoding facilitate insight?
some aspect of problem representation reinterpreted
Recreate new steps to solve the problem
how does ellaboration facilitate insight?
new problem information is added to the representation
Add new information to solve the problem
what is representational change theory (Ohlsson, 1992)?
- Problem representation= how the problem is represented in mindset (representation)
○ Based on previous experience - Then search for possible solutions
- If unable to search for solution, get impasse (mental block)
- Then start searching for another solution (flow through back and forth process)
- Go through representational change (change perception of problem in mind) and then can start to work on finding a new approach to solving the problem
- From impasse, step away, change focus of problem, have insight moment
how does the nine-dot problem support the idea that contraints must be relaxed?
- have to go outside of the dots to be able to successfully solve the problem
how does past experience influence problem solving?
- Past experience increases our ability to solve problems
- However, we can be misled by our past experience
○ Have past experiences that aren’t the right solution for a new problem.
Functional fixedness
Mental set
what is functional fixedness (dunker, 1945)?
- Mistakenly assume that a given object has a limited number of uses
○ Nail candle to wall using pins?
○ Melt candle with matches and stick to wall? - Fixated on pin box function as container, rather than platform- other objects have different functions.
○ Empty pin box, use empty pin box to hold candle, and pin to wall!
what is mental set?
- Tendency to use a familiar problem-solving strategy that has proved successful in the past
○ Use something we know that works again.
○ Allows similar problems to be solved rapidly- Three water jars problem
how does Luchins (1942) dejonstate mental set through the 3 water jars problem?
○ Subjects were given a series of problems based on water jugs that can contain different amounts of water. Using those jugs as measuring jugs, the participants had to end up with a set amount of water.
* For example: If jug A can hold 18 litres, jug B can hold 43 litres and jug C can hold 10 litres, how can end up with 5 litres?
* The answer is to fill jug B with 43 litres. From jug B you then need to fill jug A and pour out the contents, then fill jug C from the remainder of jug B twice, emptying jug C each time. This will leave you with 5 litres in jug B.
* After solving a series of such problems, they started to infer the rule for finding the solution as B - A - 2C
* they were then given anothe rprobme that didnt fit the ruile nad many participants struggeld to solve it even though it was much simpler becau ethey were fixated on the rule.
what did Newell and Simon (1972) discuss about problem solving strategies?
○ We have very limited short-term memory capacity and processing is typically serial
§ In how much information it can hold
§ Have to take it one step at a time to solve a problem.
○ How do we solve problems given our limited capacity?
§ Used knowledge-lean problems ]
* tower of hanoi
what are heuristics?
- rules of thumb
- Easy to use and often produce correct answers
- Means-end analysis
○ Note the difference between the current problem state and the goal state
○ Form a sub-goal to reduce the difference between the current and goal states
§ Don’t have to get to goal directly.
§ Make goal easier
○ Select a mental operator (e.g., move or moves) that permits attainment of the sub-goal
what is a cognitive miser?
- Someone who is typically economical with their time and effort on tasks requiring thinking
Requires little thinking and effort from the individual.
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Introduction to cognitive research28
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approaches to human cognition25
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Working Memory40
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Long-Term Memory Systems43
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Memory Disorders39
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Perceiving Objects52
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Attention & Performance34
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Problem Solving42
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Reasoning & Decision Making39
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Reading & Speech Perception55
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Language Comprehension33
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Language Production51
