scholarly journals An Experimental Comparison of Approaches to Training Insight

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-181
Author(s):  
James N. MacGregor ◽  
John Barton Cunningham ◽  
Jennifer Walinga
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Experimental Comparison ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Placebo Control ◽  
Fluency Training ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Insight Problem Solving ◽  
Flexibility Training

AbstractThe purpose of the research was to investigate different types of training in insight problem solving. In doing so, we reviewed the literature on experimental tests of procedures for training insight problem solving. The results revealed that most procedures focused either on restructuring or divergent thinking, and provided some evidence for the effectiveness of both approaches. However, we found no studies that compared the effects of the two approaches. The article reports two experiments that compared different training procedures based on restructuring and divergent thinking. For the latter, the methods focused separately on fluency, flexibility and originality training. The first experiment compared a restructuring approach with fluency training and a placebo control condition. The results indicated that the restructuring training was significantly more effective than the others, but only when instructions were verbal, not in script form. The second experiment compared restructuring training with flexibility, fluency and originality training, all presented in script form, and the results indicated that the restructuring training was significantly more effective than both fluency training and flexibility training. Implications for future research are discussed.

scholarly journals Sharing the same languages helps us work better together

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Quin Yow ◽  
Tony Zhao Ming Lim
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Pair Type ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Insight Problem Solving ◽  
Problem Solving Task

AbstractCollaborative problem-solving, the mutual engagement of people in a coordinated effort to solve a problem together, plays a critical role in the increasingly complex, linguistically diverse, and interconnected world. In particular, being able to communicate in the same languages provides a critical platform for facilitating problem solving among members of a multilingual team. Little research has explored whether sharing the same spoken languages would boost collaborative problem-solving over and beyond the effects of possible confounding variables such as language proficiency, personality, ethnicity, nationality, and non-verbal intelligence. This study manipulated the sharing of same languages by pairing 118 English-speaking bilingual participants either with someone who shares the same two spoken languages as themselves (English-same pair) or with someone who differs in one language (English-different pair). We explored whether such sharing of the same languages enhances collaborative problem-solving in multilingual pairs. Participants completed the Raven’s Matrices individually, as well as an insight problem-solving task (Triangle of Coins task) and a divergent thinking task (Mind-mapping) in pairs. English-same pairs performed better than English-different pairs in the insight problem-solving task but not in the divergent thinking task. English-different pairs collaborated (mean number of turns per minute) and communicated (mean number of utterances) more than English-same pairs in the divergent thinking task, although the effect of pair type on communication was fully mediated by a difference in ethnicity within pairs. More collaboration could have been needed between English-different pairs in the divergent thinking task to achieve comparable performance as English-same pairs, possibly due to the different communication processes experienced by English-different pairs. This study provides insights to the role of sharing spoken languages in enhancing collaborative problem-solving in small multilingual groups.

In Search of Somatic Precursors of Spontaneous Insight

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wangbing Shen ◽  
Yuan Yuan ◽  
Chaoying Tang ◽  
Chunhua Shi ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Cardiovascular Responses ◽  
Solution Time ◽  
Problem Solution ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Creative Insight ◽  
Insight Problem Solving ◽  
Analytic Problem

Abstract. A considerable number of behavioral and neuroscientific studies on insight problem solving have revealed behavioral and neural correlates of the dynamic insight process; however, somatic correlates, particularly somatic precursors of creative insight, remain undetermined. To characterize the somatic precursor of spontaneous insight, 22 healthy volunteers were recruited to solve the compound remote associate (CRA) task in which a problem can be solved by either an insight or an analytic strategy. The participants’ peripheral nervous activities, particularly electrodermal and cardiovascular responses, were continuously monitored and separately measured. The results revealed a greater skin conductance magnitude for insight trials than for non-insight trials in the 4-s time span prior to problem solutions and two marginally significant correlations between pre-solution heart rate variability (HRV) and the solution time of insight trials. Our findings provide the first direct evidence that spontaneous insight in problem solving is a somatically peculiar process that is distinct from the stepwise process of analytic problem solving and can be represented by a special somatic precursor, which is a stronger pre-solution electrodermal activity and a correlation between problem solution time and certain HRV indicators such as the root mean square successive difference (RMSSD).

scholarly journals Insight and Search in Katona’s Five-Square Problem

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Öllinger ◽  
Gary Jones ◽  
Günther Knoblich
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Search Space ◽  
Problem Representation ◽  
Problem Space ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Insight Problem Solving ◽  
Representational Change ◽  
Human Thinking

Insights are often productive outcomes of human thinking. We provide a cognitive model that explains insight problem solving by the interplay of problem space search and representational change, whereby the problem space is constrained or relaxed based on the problem representation. By introducing different experimental conditions that either constrained the initial search space or helped solvers to initiate a representational change, we investigated the interplay of problem space search and representational change in Katona’s five-square problem. Testing 168 participants, we demonstrated that independent hints relating to the initial search space and to representational change had little effect on solution rates. However, providing both hints caused a significant increase in solution rates. Our results show the interplay between problem space search and representational change in insight problem solving: The initial problem space can be so large that people fail to encounter impasse, but even when representational change is achieved the resulting problem space can still provide a major obstacle to finding the solution.

scholarly journals Verbal insight revisited – Dissociable neurocognitive processes underlying solutions accompanied by an AHA! experience with and without prior restructuring

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxi Becker ◽  
Simone Kühn ◽  
Tobias Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Solution Processes ◽  
Insight Problem Solving

In this article, we investigate insight problem solving by exploring the subjective AHA! experience as a function of restructuring of a problem. It has long been assumed that the AHA! experience is the direct consequence of restructuring. However, is this assumption justified?We will argue that a) the AHA! experience does not always result from prior restructuring and that b) solutions with accompanied AHA! do not underlie a single neurocognitive process. In this regard, we use a modified compound remote associates (CRA) paradigm designed to experimentally dissociate restructuring from the AHA! experience. Results indicate that solutions accompanied by an AHA! are often found also in absence of restructuring. This finding is explained by proposing distinct CRA solution processes that differentiate between AHA! solutions with and without restructuring. We predict that solutions with accompanied AHA! experience differ in their behavioral, neural and eye-tracking related signature as a function of restructuring. The results mostly support these predictions. These findings have implications for insight research: First, by only measuring the subjective AHA! experience especially using CRAs it cannot be implied anymore that restructuring has occurred. Second, it is vital to experimentally separate the different components of insight to better understand its underlying diverse neurocognitive processes.

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