Why are ill-defined problems harder to represent in mind ?
- Few task constraints (these are limitations for how to solve the problem)
- There can be multiple solutions
Engaging our episodic memory to solve ill-defined problems
- Recombine related memories to form imagined hypothetical solutions or goal states in the hippocampus
- E.g. create stimulation of me going to talk to someone to make a new friendship - Remember past experiences related to a problem
- Try to relate these past experiences to our current problem situation to try and solve it
Analogical problem solving
Making comparisons across scenarios
* Applying the solution from a past situation to a current problem
- Used a lot of the time when unsure how to solve something
- Linked to feeling of insight
E.g. Archimedes
- Needed to figure out what crown was made of
- Found his solution in the tub
Target and source problems in analogical problem solving
Target problem : the problem the person is trying to solve (e.g. composition of the crown for Archimedes)
Source problem : the problem that shares similarity with the target problem
* How was this resolved in past similar scenarios?
(e.g. when Archimedes went into the tub)
the “tumor” problem
- High intensity will destroy both the tumor and healthy issue
- At low intensity, the rays are harmless to healthy tissues, but they’re not going to affect the tumor either.
Solving the tumor problem with analogical problem solving
- People initially have a hard time solving the tumor problem (8% solve it)
- After reading a story about a similar problem and told this could help them, 76% could solve it
But : only 10% of people will make analogies between stories like the Fortress story and the tumor problem without any hints
Analogical problem solving increases with _____ and ______ _______ between source/target problem
Hints and content overlap between source/target problem
Surface details in analogical problem solving
Content of scenarios :
* It is easier to use a school-related problem to solve a current school-related problem than a related current relationship-related problem
Structural similarity in analogical problem solving
- Leads to greater more creative anological transfer problem
- storing the governing principles or essence underlying a problem and a solution and then using that to transfer to a new situation : generalization
2 groups were presented with problems and their solution (source problems) then target problems : one group napped, the other went away
Which group was better able to engage in analogical transfer ?
the group who napped
The amount of ___ sleep in the nap group was associated with the likelihood of engaging in analogical problem solving and solving the target problems.
REM
_______ similarity can confine analogical problem solving
Superficial
Einstellung effect
Bias to use familiar methods to solve a problem : depending on familiar solutions is a cognitive trap that makes us rely on less than optimal solutions
Rigid Thinking
Inability to seek out a better method to solve a given problem : only see one way to solve the problematic; opposite of being malleable to the current situation
Functional fixedness
The inability to see beyond the most common use of a particular object
- Hard time recognizing you could use something in your environment to get to a needed solution because “fixed” on the known function of an object
Maier’s (1931) two-string problem : test of functional fixedness
Person in a room with two strings hanging from the ceiling, have to tie them together
Problem : strings are too far apart to reach them both at the same time
* Only 39% of people can find the solution within 10 minutes
Hints and the two-string problem
- Prior to task, swinging arms in a solution-relevant manner led to the solution : allowed to know motion was involved in solving the task
The candle problem :functional fixedness test
- Attach the candle to the wall using these tools : board, table, box of matches, thumbtack, candle; so that the candle does not drip wax onto the table below
- Solution : pin the candle on top of the box of matches : using the matches as a platform
- Few people find the solution because they get fixated on the function of the objects they know
development of functional fixedness
Children of different ages solved the ‘candle’ problem
* Pre-utilization group: children with experience with the objects
* No functional fixedness in children without pre-utilization : fastest reaction time to fix the candle problem
* Too much experience leads to fixedness and the Einstellung effect
too much ______ might not always be beneficial to overcome functional fixedness and come up with a creative outcome
Experience
Alternate uses task
- Coming up with alternate uses to an object
- we can give this task to patients with brain injury to see if certain injuries to the brain result in more or less creativity.
- We can also give it to people as we scan their brains to see which area of the brain is involved in creativity.
Mental fixedness
Overusing mental sets
* Responding with previously learned rule sequences even when they are inappropriate or less productive
* The tendency to respond inflexibly to a particular type of problem and not alter your response
Test of mental fixedness : 3 jugs of water
- 74% of people that learnt a complex equation to solve problems one to 6 will solve a problem 7 and 8 the same way.
- The control group used the easier more direct solution to solve 7 and 8
Insight problem solving
A productive thinking process of forming new patterns or ways to view a problem (opposite is reproductive thinking in which you just see things the same way) : overcoming functional and mental fixedness
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Intro28
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Approaches67
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Perception 1103
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Perception 2185
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Attention83
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Mental imagery60
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Memory part 161
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Memory part 291
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Concepts and knowledge58
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Language43
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Bilingualism37
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Problem solving 141
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Problem solving 238
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Decision Making and Reasoning51
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Uncertainty and risk34
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Intelligence47
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Executive functions34
