scholarly journals Cognition stays wild: A commentary on Ross and Vallée-Tourangeau’s Rewilding Cognition

10.36850/r4 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Experimental Method ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Insight Problem ◽  
Embodied Action ◽  
New Evidence

A “failed” experiment (Ross & Vallée-Tourangeau, 2021) tried to reveal the role played by materiality in solving an insight problem that made reference to embodied action, leading to valuable insights about the nature of cognition and the experimental method. In this commentary, we argue that this study reveals various forms of interactivity and brings new evidence against the idea that “pure” cognition can be isolated from either materiality or sociality. The question becomes, then, not whether the use of objects helps or hinders problem solving, but how objects, bodies, and other people participate in it, even in controlled lab settings, and to what effect. Reflections are offered on why and how cognition stays wild (i.e., embodied, dialogical, and surprising) and what this means for experimental work.

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).

An Experiment in Problem Solving

1951 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 184-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Whitfield
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Qualitative Difference ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Qualitative Nature ◽  
The Individual

Trial-and-error problems are described in terms of “stimulus” difficulty, which is a measure of the number of possible modes of response left to the individual when all the information given is taken into account; and “phenomenal” difficulty, which is a measure derived from the individual's performance. An experiment is described in which three types of problem were presented to human subjects. In all three problems the stimulus difficulty was calculable, stage by stage, in the solution. The problems differed in this stimulus difficulty and also in the qualitative nature of the information provided—from unequivocal to conditional. It is shown that the qualitative difference of the nature of the information bears most relationship to phenomenal difficulty. Some observations are made on the modes of solution adopted, and further experimental work is suggested.

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.

scholarly journals Implementation of a Problem-finding and Problem-solving Oriented Engineering Experiment Course Focused on the Acquisition of the Fundamentals of the Experimental Method

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 1_48-1_61
Author(s):  
Nobuyuki KITASHOJI ◽  
Eiichi SENTOKU ◽  
Makoto NISHI ◽  
Tetsuro HIRAI ◽  
Takeshi KUBO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Experimental Method ◽  
Problem Finding
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