Cognition Ch. 10

Front 1

insight problem

Back 1

a problem that requires restructuring of the way in which it is represented before it can be solved

Front 2

Gestalt switch

Back 2

a sudden change in the way information is organized

Front 3

productive thinking

Back 3

thinking that occurs as a result of having a grasp of the general principles that apply in the particular situation in which you find yourself

Front 4

structurally blind thinking

Back 4

the tendency to reproduce thinking appropriate for other situations, but not for the current situation

Front 5

analysis of the situation

Back 5

determining what functions the objects in the situation have and how they can be used to solve the problem

Front 6

functional fixedness

Back 6

being unable to see that a particular object could perform the function needed to solve a problem; also, the tendency for people to think about objects based on the function for which they are designed

Front 7

hints

Back 7

a hint mus be consistent with the direction that the person's thinking is taking, and cannot be useful unless it responds to a difficulty that the person has already experienced

Front 8

feeling of warmth

Back 8

the feeling people might have as they approach the solution to a problem (i.e. growing warm)

Front 9

feeling of knowing

Back 9

the feeling a person might have that she/he would be able to solve a particular problem

Front 10

progress monitoring theory

Back 10

participants monitor their progress on a problem, and when they reach an impasse then they are ope to an insightful solution

Front 11

representational change theory

Back 11

insight requires a change in the way the participant represents the problem

Front 12

constraint relaxation

Back 12

an aspect of representational change theory: the removal of assumptions that are blocking problem solution

Front 13

chunk decomposition

Back 13

an aspect of representational change theory: parts of the problem are seen as belonging together; 'chunks' are separated and thought about independently

Front 14

Einstellung effect

Back 14

also called a rigid set, this is the tendency to respond inflexibly to a problem or situation

Front 15

negative transfer

Back 15

in the case of Einstellung tasks, the tendency to respond with previously learned rule sequences even though they are inappropriate

Front 16

strong but wrong tendency

Back 16

an overlearned response sequence may be executed even when we intend to do something else

Front 17

mindfulness-mindlessness

Back 17

openness to alternative possibilities versus the tendency to act as if a situation has only one possible interpretation

Front 18

artificial intelligence

Back 18

computer programs that solve problems in ways similar to the intelligent ways in which humans solve problems

Front 19

heuristic

Back 19

a useful problem solving procedure that may not always guarantee solution

Front 20

algorithms

Back 20

unambiguous solution procedures

Front 21

problem space

Back 21

the way a problem is represented, including the goal to be reached an the various ways of transforming the given situation into a solution

Front 22

evaluation function

Back 22

a process whereby a plan is created, carried out, and evaluated

Front 23

search tree

Back 23

a representation of all possible moves branching out from the initial state of the problem

Front 24

toy problems

Back 24

problems you might find in a toy shop that are useful for analyzing the problem-solving process

Front 25

Goal stack

Back 25

the final goal to be reached is on the bottom of the stack, with the subgoals piled on top of it in the reverse order in which they are to be attained

Front 26

production rules

Back 26

a production rule consists of a condition and an action (problem solved --> halt)

Front 27

means-end analysis

Back 27

the procedures used by General Problem Solver to reduce difference between current and goal states

Front 28

subgoals

Back 28

a goal derived from the original goal, the solution of which leads to the the solution of the problem as a whole

Front 29

thinking aloud

Back 29

concurrent verbalization: the verbalization of information at the time the participant is attending to it

Front 30

different methods for studying problem-solving in science

Back 30

historical accounts, observation of ongoing scientific investigations, laboratory studies, and computational models

Front 31

cognitive history of science

Back 31

case studies of historically important scientific discoveries understood within a framework provided by cognitive science

Front 32

Zeigarnik effect

Back 32

the tendency to persist in finishing incomplete tasks

Front 33

in vivo/in vitro method

Back 33

In the case of scientific problem solving, in vivo research involves the observation of ongoing scientific investigations, while in vitro research involves laboratory studies of scientific problem-solving

Front 34

unexpected findings

Back 34

although scientists may initially resist information that disconfirms one of their favourite hypotheses, successful problem solvers attempt to explain surprising results

Front 35

distributed reasoning

Back 35

reasoning done by more than one person

Front 36

BACON

Back 36

a computer program that is able to discover several well-known scientific laws

Front 37

face valid

Back 37

a method that obviously measures what it is supposed to measure