Psyc 213 Cognition, Problem Solving (Chapter 10)

Front 1

Insight problem; gestalt switch

Back 1

A problem that requires a restructuring of the way in which it is represented before it can be solved- results in ah-huh moment; a sudden change in the way inromation is organized seen in insight problems

Front 2

What did Kohler do?

Back 2

- Studied problem solving in apes.
- found they had insight
- by this he meant they understood the way in which the parts of the situation are related to one another spontaneously and suddenly- all or none

Front 3

Productive thinking, give an ex.

Back 3

Thinking that occurs as a result of having a grasp of the general principals that apply to the situation. What general truths do I know that can help me?
Ex= the altar window problem (see page 297)

Front 4

Structurally blind thinking; analysis of the situation

Back 4

Tendency to reproduce thinking appropriate for other situations but not for the current one; determining the functions of objects in the particular situation and how they can be used to solve problem

Front 5

Functional fixedness (3)

Back 5

-Being unable to see that a particular object could preform the function needed to solve a problem.
-Also, the tendency for people to think about objects based on the function for which they were designed
- they think this is universal and begins around age 5

Front 6

When are hints useful?

Back 6

- only if they are consistent with the direction that the person is taking
- only if it responds to a difficulty the person has already experienced

Front 7

What did Maier invent?

Back 7

- The 9 dot and two-string (aka drawstring- you have two strings and a chair and pliers and you have to connect strings) insight problems
- he had very gestaltian thinking

Front 8

What is meant by ‘feeling of warmth’ rating? Feeling of knowing?

Back 8

With non-insight problems, people can usually tell when they are getting close to solution, or ‘warmer’ ; the feeling a person has about whether or not they can solve a problem at the start- with insight problems people have no accuracy at guessing this, but non-insight they are pretty good

Front 9

Progress monitoring theory

Back 9

- an approach to the study of insight problems
- Participants monitor their progress on a problem and when they reach an impasse then they are open to an insightful solution

Front 10

Representational change theory

Back 10

- an approach to the study of insight problems
- insight requires a change in the way a participant represents the problem

Front 11

What are the 2 processes central to the representational change theory?

Back 11

1) constraint relaxation- removal of assumptions that are blocking problem solution
2) chunk decomposition- parts of the problem are seen as belonging together- chunks are separated and thought about independently
e= matchstick math problems using roman numerals

Front 12

Where in the brain is the ah- huh! Moment seen?

Back 12

The ACC- resolves conflict between the way one was thinking before and the correct way to solve the problem
Hippocampus- perhaps to convert insights to LTM for evolutionary purposes

Front 13

What aides insight?

Back 13

Sleep! Similar to consolidation in the hippocampus, people are more likely to provide insightful solutions after sleep

Front 14

Einstellung effect; negative transfer

Back 14

Aka rigid set- the tendency to respons inflexibly to a problem situation, for example, after solving the same type of problem one way several times and then getting one that had to be solved differently; the tendency to respond with previously learned rule sequences even though they are inappropriate

Front 15

Strong but wrong tendency

Back 15

An over learned response sequence may be executed even when we intend to do something else- you hide your coat every time at the gym so even when you put it in the change room one time you went to the hiding place

Front 16

Mindfulness vs mindlessness- how do we stop mindlessness?

Back 16

Openness to alternative possibilities (and actively seeking them) vs the tendency to act as if a situation has only one possible interpretation- stop this by having people think of things in a tentative rather than absolute way

Front 17

Algorithms

Back 17

Unambiguous solution procedures, which can be divided into systematic (guaranteed to find a solution if one exists) and non-systematic (not guaranteed)- often used in artificial intelligence research

Front 18

What is an evaluation function? Problem space? Search trees?

Back 18

A process whereby a plan is created, carried out, and evaluated; the way a problem is represented, including the goal and the various ways of getting the solution- chess has a complex problem space because you cant just think one move ahead;
A search tree is a representation of all the possible moves branching out from the initial problem

Front 19

General Problem Solver; Production rules; Means-end analysis

Back 19

-A computer program which uses non-systematic methods to find the best route through the problem space
- A production rule consists of a condition and an action used by GPS to solve problems like the tower problem
- uses means end analysis- the procedure to reduce differences between current and goal states

Front 20

What are the types of the thinking aloud technique? (2); what is a protocol?

Back 20

Concurrent verbalization- the person verbalizes their process as they do it so the experimenter can understand
Retrospective verbalization- participant describes their cognitive processes later
- protocol is the verbal description obtained from this

Front 21

Can we program insight?

Back 21

-They have computer programs with a ‘stop rule’ that stops one route and tries different avenues if it hasn’t solved problem after a certain time

Front 22

What are some methods for studying problem-solving? (4)

Back 22

-historical accounts
- observation of ongoing scientific accounts (called: in-vivo)
- lab studies (called: in vitro)
- computational methods

Front 23

Zeigarnik effect

Back 23

The tendancy to persist in finishing incomplete tasks (can be measured in lab but really evident when we watch someone who works on a project or years)

Front 24

Distributed reasoning

Back 24

Reasoning done by more than one person- a way for researchers to avoid Einstellung effects when creating experiments

Front 25

BACON

Back 25

A computer program that is able to ‘discover’ several well-known scientific laws using heuristics

Front 26

what are the 7 steps in problem solving??

Back 26

1) identify problem
2) define the problem
3) construct a strategy
4) organization of information
5) resource allocation.
6) monitoring - how are we doing? dont just set on one path and wait. We may need to go back to strategy setting stage
7) evaluation

Front 27

In the steps of problem solving, how can we 'construct a strategy?' (4) what do 'experts' usually use

Back 27

can use analytic approach (break into pieces) vs synthesis (put elements together), divergent (generate a number of dif ways to solve it) vs convergent (narrow down plausible ways)
-experts will more often use synthesis and divergent than analytic and convergent

Front 28

In terms of resource allocation to a problem, an expert is more likely to...

Back 28

Experts are mire likely to spend more time on the global aspects of the problem like global strategy (i need this into to explain this) where as novices focus more on local aspects (i need this intro to be 300 words)- if we dont have certain resources we may need to redefine

Front 29

What are the two main types of problems and describe them (how are they defined, and how do we solve them?)

Back 29

1) well- structured
- have a very clear path to solution, doesn’t mean its easy
- Human (heuristics): means-end (minimize number of steps), work backwards, generate-test (able to learn and alter strategies

2) ill-structured
- like drawstrings problem- no clear path
- illicit ah-huh! moments= INSIGHT- sudden instinctive understanding of problem
- use productive thinking- that goes beyond realizing associations between things - this is contrary to reproductive thinking- looking as associations between elements

Front 30

Give some examples of well-structured problems (4)

Back 30

- Isomorphic problems- same prob different form- like the exam questions make us take knowledge and then view it in a dif way (also, tic tac toe)
- computer simulations like CREATE solve well-structured problems like ‘toy problems’- computer looks at problem, goes through the steps and gets to goals
- solitaire ('move problems')
- cross the river with boats and people problem

Front 31

How can we explain insight according to some studies? What about neo-gestaltists view?

Back 31

- it is nothing special - it is an extension of typical thinking- people sometimes solve insight-type problems without experiencing ah-ha! and people experience ah-ha! when solving ordinary problems
- Neo-Gestaltists View: when we solve insight and non-insight type prelims we have different feeling of progress (warm feeling)

Front 32

What are some hinderances to problem solving? (3)
Aids?

Back 32

Hinderances
- mental sets- stuck on a particular solution
- negative transfer
- functional fixedness- we get fixated on the functional uses of things and cant think of using them in other ways

Aids
- postive transfer- past success facilitates problem solving
- incubation- putting off the problem for a while minimize negative transfer

Front 33

Mindwandering and insight?

Back 33

found that if you do a task then go away and do an undemanding task (vs demanding, rest or no break) it facilitates performance in the unusual uses task