Problem Solving And Expertise

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Problem solving is..

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purposeful, goal directed action
does not involve automatic processes but relies on cognitive processes
it is only a 'problem' if the solution is not available immediately

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Well defined problem:

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All aspects of the problem are clearly laid out, we know the initial state, the rules and the goal state

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Ill defined problem:

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None of these things are as clear

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Gestalt approach: Proposed by a number of German psychologists in the 1920's - 30's

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Drew a distinction between reproductive thinking, involving re-use of previous experience and
productive thinking, involving a novel restructuring of the problem

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Gestalt problem solving: Insight

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Insight occurs during productive thinking when the problem is suddenly restructured and the solution becomes clear.

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Gestalt approach (Birch)

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Found that apes raised in captivity did not show this level of insight,
Does this mean our capacity for insight emerges from the challenges of survival?

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Problem solving: Gestalt approach

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Maier asked participants to tie the 2 strings together, there were a number of objects available in the room.
Found that it was possible to facilitate insight by 'accidentally' brushing against the string.
Those who solved it rarely reported noticing the cue.
Unconscious cues can lead to problem restructuring and then to insight.

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Functional Fixedness,

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a Gestalt term referring to when learning or past experience impedes problem solving

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Functional Fixedness, Duncker (1945)

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claims that participants fixate on the box's function as a container, more correct solutions were produced when the box was emptied before presenting the problem

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Representational Change theory, Ohlsson (1992) :

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Based on the assumptions;
A problem is represented in a certain way in the person's mind and this serves as a probe for information from LTM.
The retrieval process spreads activation over 'relevant' LTM items.

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Representational change, Problems:

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A block occurs if the way a problem is represented does not lead t a helpful memory search, so to fix the problem;
-The way it is represented changes
-The memory search is extended
-Making new information available

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Representational change can occur due to..

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elaboration (new info)
constraint relaxation (rules are reinterpreted) OR
re-encoding (functional fixedness is removed)
-Insight occurs when a block is broken + retrieved knowledge results in solution

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Expertise:
(Websters dictionary)

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Refers to the mechanisms underlying the superior achievement of an expert, i.e. one who has acquired special skill or knowledge of a particular subject through professional training and practical experience.

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Perceived V consistent expert performance

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Crtieria for expert performance varies from domain to domain, eg, chess and the arts.

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Perceived V consistent expert performance , Outlier

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-if a person performs at least 2 standard deviations above the mean level in the population
-that individual can be said to be performing at an expert level
(Ericsson & Charness, 1994)

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The distinction between perceived and actual expertise is important:

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Performance of people nominated as experts is not always measurably superior.

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Perceived V consistent expert performance, studies

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Numerous studies show that financial stock experts investments yield returns that are not consistently better than the average of the stock market.
Experts may have more knowledge but their performance on key tasks is not always reliably better, we must not assume experts performance is superior they must demonstrate it is.

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Traditional view of expertise: Gardner (1983) 7 types of intelligence:

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Linguistic, Musical, spatial, mathematical, kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intra-personal.
He believed that innate talent was; potential for achievement and capacity to learn material relevant to one of the intelligences.
Ideas based on the research of savants and prodigies.

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Prodigy:

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Person, especially a young one who displays unusual or exceptional intelligence

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Savant:

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Individuals with a low level of general intellectual functioning who are able to perform at high levels in some special tasks

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Expert performance:

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De Goot - pioneering research to capture expert performace

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De Goot's research: Chess masters

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Determined that the ability to play chess is:
-best captured in the task of selecting the next move for a given chess position, taken from the middle of a game.
-Presented chessboard configurations to a chess player for 2-15secs.
-Found experts superior in ability to produce these configurations.

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Chase and Simon, replicated De Goot's research and discovered something new:

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The superior STM performance of chess experts was confined to meaningful chess patterns, it did not appear when unstructured 'scrambled' or when random patterns were presented.

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Chase and Simon suggested that..

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The better performance of experts isnt due to any general memory advantage (such as photographic memory) BUT was due to their ability to recognise their chess pieces on the basis of their knowledge of vast numbers of chess patterns.

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Recognition-Association Theory:

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A chess position is percieved by a skilled player in terms of groups 2-3 chess pieces corresponding to familiar patterns (chunks in ltm)
With extensive experience & learning the size, number of chunks in ltm can increase, each of these chunks is thought to be associated with plausible moves.

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Experts in superior memory for chess patterns is attributed to their ability to:

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Perceive the board in terms of chunks AND to hold each chunk in working memory

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Template theory:

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Experts organise chunks into meaningful complex structures known as templates
Templates can hold larger amounts of info than simple chunks

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Template theory, Charnes et al (2001)

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Presented chess boards to experts and novices, eye movements were recorded for the 1st second after presentation, even in this short time experts were more likely than novices to fixate on tactically relevant pieces (80-64), global structures of game patterns seem to be stored by experts.

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Template theory, McGregor & Holmes (2002)

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Showed chess boards to experts and novices, participants had to indicate if they had seen a particular board before or not, experts were better at realising they had not seen a particular board if 1 important piece was shifted, rather than if the whole board was translated one space over.

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: Ericsson believed that..

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practice of the right sort was not only necessary but also sufficient for memory expertise to develop.

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: A wide range of expertise can be developed through deliberate practice, which have 4 aspects:

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-The task is at an appropriate level of difficulty
-The learner is provided with info feedback re their performance
-The learner has sufficient opportunities for repetition
-It is possible for the learner to correct his/her errors

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: "Innate talent has no onfluence on expert performance" evidence..
Ericsson and Chase (1982)

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Digital span task: Extensive practice on task where numbers had to be recalled immediately, 7 digits recalled on average at start, 80 digits recalled after practice for an hour a day for 2yrs, no cross over to letter or word spans, increased span by organising chunks into a hierarchical retrieval structure.

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: Ericsson and Lehman (1996) - what is important is the amount of deliberate practice..

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Think of children who spend hours on the road kicking a football but never make it to a professional level.

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: Ericsson et al (1993)
Violinists at German music academy,

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7500 hours engaged in deliberate practice for experts violinists, 5300 hours engaged in deliberate practice for good violinists.

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Ericsson's theory of deliberate practice: Limitations

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-Lots of evidence that DP is not the only factor. Innate ability predicts long term career success in many occupations (Gottfredson, 1997)
-The notion that innate talent is irrelevant seems implausible (Sternberg, 2001)
-It is highly intelligent or talented individual who is willing to put in the hours of practice.