Task 3 - Out of the Box Aha PDF

Task 3 - Out of the box: Aha Learning goals How can problems be classified? What are different strategies to solve problems? How do creativity and analogies help us solve problems? Problem Solving and Expertise - Eysenck chapter Forms of thinking Problem solving - c...

Task 3 - Out of the box: Aha Learning goals How can problems be classified? What are different strategies to solve problems? How do creativity and analogies help us solve problems? Problem Solving and Expertise - Eysenck chapter Forms of thinking Problem solving - cognitive activity that involves moving from the recognition that there is a problem through a series of steps to the solution. Most other forms of thinking involve some problem solving. Problem solving differs from decision-making in that individuals have to generate their own solutions. Decision-making - selecting one out of a number of presented options or possibilities, with the decision having personal consequences (e.g., winning or losing money). Judgement - a component of decision-making that involves calculating the likelihood of various possible events; the emphasis is on accuracy. Deductive reasoning - deciding what conclusions necessarily follow provided various statements are assumed to be true; most deductive-reasoning tasks are based on formal logic; however, most individuals use informal reasoning rather than logic with such tasks. Informal reasoning - evaluating the strength of arguments by taking account of one’s relevant knowledge and experience. Inductive reasoning - deciding whether certain statements or hypotheses are true on the basis of the available information. Used by scientists and detectives. Not guaranteed to produce valid conclusions. Introduction Problem solving involves the following: 1) There are 2 states of affairs. 2) The agent (problem solver) is in one state and wants to be in the other state. 3) It is not obvious to the agent how to bridge the gap between the 2 states. 4) Bridging the gap is a consciously guided multi-step process. Problem solving: introduction Problem solving contains 3 major aspects: 1) It is purposeful. 2) It involves controlled processes and is not completely reliant on "automatic" processes 3) A problem exists when someone lacks the relevant knowledge to produce an immediate solution (e.g. a math calculation is a problem for most people, but not for math professionals). However, it sometimes relies on non-conscious processes. Well-defined problems - problems in which the initial state, goal state and the set of possible moves/strategies are known. Chess is well-defined because it has a standard initial state, clear goal (checkmate) and rules that specify the set of possible moves. However, it may also be somewhat ill-defined, because the nature of the problem faced by a chess player varies constantly during a game. Ill-defined problems - problems in which the initial state, the goal state or the available moves are unclear. Example: becoming happier (many available strategies & hard to define the goal state). Patients with damage to the right PFC perform successfully on well-defined laboratory tasks, but struggle with real-life ill-defined problems. There is research that they generate too many (or inadequate) preliminary plans. Knowledge-rich problems - problems that can be solved only by those having much relevant specific knowledge (e.g. chess). Knowledge-lean problems - problems whose initial problem statement contains all needed information to solve the problem, and can thus be solved by people without specific prior knowledge. Problem solving was studied with thousands of problems. There are several brain areas that are common to mathematical, verbal and visuo- Complex Cognition Page 1  several brain areas that are common to mathematical, verbal and visuo- spatial problems. Frontoparietal network (including e.g. DLPFC & cingulate gyrus) - it is believed to be a core problem solving network and is common to all 3 problem types mentioned above. There are also brain areas specific to mathematical, verbal an visuo-spatial problems. Gestalt approach and beyond: insight and role of experience Reproductive thinking - the systematic re-use of previous experiences, mostly used on well-defined problems. Productive thinking - involves novel problem restructuring, mostly required on ill-defined problems. Insight Insight - any sudden comprehension, realization, or problem solution that involves a reorganization of the elements of a person’s mental representation of a stimulus, situation, or event to yield non-obvious or non-dominant interpretation (the Aha! Experience). Special-process viewpoint - insight is different from other cognitive processes. Aha! Experiences are reported more often with insight than non-insight problems. Self-reported feelings of "warmth" (closeness to solution) increase progressively during non-insight problems. For insight problems, they remain low and increase dramatically just before problem solution (consistent with the Aha! experience). Business-as-usual viewpoint - very similar processes are used in insight and non-insight problems Aha! Experiences are sometimes associated with wrong solutions (especially when produced rapidly). The sudden & unexpected nature of insight does not mean that the underlying processes are also sudden & unexpected. Study: eye movements are recorded while participants solve 4-letter anagrams (5 letters were presented but one was a distractor). On insight trials, participants reported suddenly finding the solution to the problem. However, they had decreasing fixations on the distractor letter ahead of the solution indicating they were gradually, but unconsciously accumulating relevant knowledge. Insight experiences are associated with activity in: Anterior temporal gyrus - associated with processing distant semantic relations between words, reinterpretation and semantic integration. Anterior cingulate cortex - involved in the detection of cognitive conflict and the breaking of a mindset. PFC - involved in higher cognitive processes. The Aha! experience is also associated with increased autonomic arousal, which indicates an emotional reaction to insightful problem solving. Representational change theory Representational change theory - the initial stage of problem solving involves forming a mental representation of the problem using prior knowledge and perceptual processes. The mental representation causes unconscious search for various mental operators (heuristics) related to it in meaning. The mental operator most strongly activated is retrieved. Impasse - the experience of being blocked and not knowing how to proceed when engaged in problem solving. If no heuristics are found during the search process, an impasse is encountered. Representational change theory states that to overcome the impasse and reach insight, the representation needs to change. This can happen in 3 ways: Constraint relaxation - inhibitions on what is regarded as permissible are removed. Re-encoding - some aspect of the problem representation is reinterpreted. Elaboration - new problem information is added to the representation. Matchstick problems with Roman numerals - problems in Complex Cognition Page 2  Matchstick problems with Roman numerals - problems in which a single stick needs to be moved in order to produce a true statement and replace the initial false one. Type A problems - only require changing 2 values in the equation (e.g. VI = VII + I --> VII = VI + I). Type B problems - involve a less obvious change in the representation of the equation (e.g. IV = III - I --> IV - III = I). People perform much better on type A problems. Their initial representation is based on the assumption that values must be changed. This is an example of how unnecessarily-imposed constraints can form suboptimal problem representations. Processing constraints on insight problems involve the lateral PFC. Study: people with lateral PFC damage solved 82% of the hardest matchstick arithmetic problems compared to only 43% of controls (because people with damage to this area do not impose artificial constraints). Representational change theory predicts that solution hints should be most useful when individuals have just reached an impasse (because they have not become excessively fixated on the incorrect problem representation yet). Problem solving on insight problems is significantly more flexible and variable than assumed by the theory. The theory provides an idealized account of the processes involved in insight problems, but there are significant individual differences in problem processing. Processing sequences are often more complex and flexible than assumed by the theory. Research has failed to predict when/why problems solvers change a problem's representation. There is little evidence of restructuring or impasse when people solve insight problems. Facilitating insight: hints and incubation Incubation - a stage of problem solving in which the problem is put to one side for some time. It may facilitate problem solving (the solution comes to mind after a temporary shift of attention to another domain). Study: participants enter a room containing various objects and 2 hanging strings. They need to tie the strings together, but the strings are too far apart for the participants to reach one string while holding the other. The solution involves tying an object to one of the strings and swinging it like a pendulum. Participants have occasional exercise breaks, during which they swung or stretched their arms. Those moving their arms in a solution-relevant way (swinging) were more likely to solve the problem, even though they are unaware of the relationship between their arm movements and the task. Meta-analysis of incubation studies: Incubation effects were generally small and reported in 73% of the studies. Incubation effects were stronger with creative problems having multiple solutions than with linguistic & verbal problems having a single solution. (Incubation widens the search for knowledge, which may be useful with multiple-solution problems). The effects were larger when there was a fairly long preparation time prior to incubation. Past experience: mental set Mental set - the tendency to use a familiar problem-solving strategy that has proven successful in the past even when it is no longer appropriate. Mental set allows solving successive problems of the same time quickly with few processing demands. However, it can also make it difficult to solve problems. A single exposure to an implausible solution can inhibit finding the actual (and more obvious) solution and in general inhibit creativity. Past experience: functional fixedness Functional fixedness - a type of mental set in which one mistakenly presumes that an object has only a limited number of familiar/intended uses. Generic-parts technique - a technique that helps reduce functional fixedness by encouraging individuals to focus on the generic/basic characteristics of an object rather than its specific function: 1) The person generates function-free descriptions of all object parts. Complex Cognition Page 3  1) The person generates function-free descriptions of all object parts. 2) The person decides whether each description implies a use. Study: Participants are given training in the generic-parts technique. They solved 83% of insight problems, compared to only 49% in the control group. Cognitive control: its role in insight, functional fixedness and mental set Cognitive control - the ability to limit attention to goal-relevant information and suppress irrelevant distraction. High cognitive control is associated with a narrowed focus of attention on goal-relevant information => it might impair performance on tasks where broad focus of attention is beneficial. Study: using TMS to the left PFC in order to reduce cognitive control facilitated performance on a task in which uncommon uses for objects had to be produced. The ability to break a mental set can be inversely related to intelligence and cognitive control. Study: 2 red squares are presented. The subjects need to touch the 2 locations, after which a blue square appears. Touching the blue square results in a reward. After subjects have established a mental set, the blue square was presented all the time and it was sufficient to touch it to get rewarded. 100% of baboons, 45% of children and 12% of adults successfully broke the mental set. Individuals high in working memory capacity tend to consider complex problem solutions even when simple ones are required, which disadvantages them on many insight problems. However, they are better than individuals with lower WM capacity in non-insight problems, because they represent the problem more quickly. Study: in the matchstick Roman numerals problem described above, high WM individuals performed better than low WM individuals for non- insight tasks. The opposite is true for insight-requiring tasks. Alcohol intoxication can improve performance on insight tasks, because it broadens attentional focus beyond standard (but incorrect) solutions. Study: 58% of intoxicated participants, but only 42% of the sober ones managed to solve an insight task (Remote Associates test). Problem-solving strategies Problem space - an abstract description of all the possible states that can occur within a given problem (initial state + goal state + all intermediate states + all possible mental operators that can be applied to move between states). Heuristic - a rule of thumb that is cognitively undemanding and often produces approximately accurate answers. Algorithm - here contrasted with heuristic - a computational procedure that involves a specified sequence of steps to a problem solution. Due to our limited processing capacities, we rely heavily on heuristics and very rarely on algorithms. Hill climbing Hill climbing - a heuristic which involves changing the present problem state into one that is apparently closer to the goal state. Mostly used when the problem solver has no clear understanding of the problem and thus focuses on short-term goals. Means-ends analysis Means-ends analysis - a heuristic which involves creating subgoals to reduce the difference between the current state and the goal state. Similar to hill climbing, but the problem solver has greater awareness of how to break the problem down into sub-problems. Typically assists, but can also impair problem solution. Meta-reasoning Meta-reasoning - processes that monitor our progress during problem solving and reasoning and influence the strategies we adopt. Problems solvers assess their rate of progress towards the goal. If progress is too slow to solve the problem with the maximum number of allowed moves, they tend to change their strategy. On some tasks, problem solving (specifically strategy switching) is slower when problem solvers have the illusion that they are Complex Cognition Page 4  On some tasks, problem solving (specifically strategy switching) is slower when problem solvers have the illusion that they are making progress. Problem solvers more quickly abandon impossible problems with fewer states, because when there are only a few possible problem states, it becomes easier for participants to realize that making progress toward finding a solution is impossible. Planning Individuals presented with a complex problem tend to engage in preliminary planning, which involves prefrontal areas. Patients with prefrontal damage have impaired planning and problem solving. There is a distinction between plan production and plan execution. Study: during the Towers of Hanoi task, the DLPFC was more active during initial planning and the posterior temporal areas, inferior frontal regions + dorsolateral premotor cortex were more active during plan execution. Problem solvers usually engage in limited planning due to short-term memory constraints. Study: during a Towers of Hanoi task, discs were added/deleted/moved during participants' eye movements so that they did not notice the change. These changes only minimally disrupted performance => participants' next move was triggered by the current state of the problem rather than by a preexisting plan. There are substantial individual differences in planning, most of which can be explained by the single factor of planning ability. The amount of planning is flexible: if you make it more expensive for individuals to access crucial information needed to complete a specific task, such as the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, it would result in them engaging in more strategic planning. Cognitive miserliness Dual-process theories commonly distinguish between 2 processes: Type 1 process - fast and relatively effortless, produces intuitive responses. Type 2 process - slow and controlled. Cognitive miser - someone who is typically economical with their time and effort on tasks requiring thinking. Cognitive reflection test - a test assessing individuals' tendencies to override intuitive (but incorrect) answers to problems (basically a test of how much of a cognitive miser one is). Scores on the cognitive reflection test are correlated with IQ. However, scores predict performance on several tasks after the effects of intelligence are removed statistically => cognitive miserliness is found on many tasks. The difference between being a cognitive miser and using heuristics is that our limited processing capacity forces us to use heuristics, while cognitive miserliness is simply reluctance to use type 2 processes. Analogical problem solving and reasoning Analogical problem solving - detecting and using analogies/similarities between a current problem and others solved in the past. Analogical problem solving is correlated with IQ, more specifically with fluid intelligence (the ability to reason through and solve novel problems). Analogical problem solving Problems can be similar in 3 ways: Superficial similarity - the 2 problems share solution-irrelevant details. Structural similarity - the 2 problems share causal relations between the main components. Procedural similarity - the 2 problems share procedures for turning the solution principle into concrete operations. People's inability to solve analogic problems is often due to failure of retrieval of appropriate past experiences or knowledge. Reception paradigm - participants need to solve a problem after they memorize a story that can be used as an analogy to solve the problem. When informed that the story is relevant to the problem, 80% of the participants solved the problem. Only 40% solved the problem when not informed. In the previous study, the story had no superficial similarity to the problem. However, when a story with superficial similarity to the problem is used, spontaneous recall rate during the problem increases to 88%. People's fluid intelligence is a factor in facilitating effective use of analogies. Individuals high in fluid intelligence (measured by Raven's Progressive Matrices) perform much better when a problem is preceded by a verbal analogy (a study obtained results of 85% vs 40% successful solution for high and low fluid IQ, respectively). Production paradigm - unlike the reception paradigm, in real life people generally need to produce their own analogies. In the reception paradigm, people tend to select analogies based on superficial similarities. However, those given the production paradigm mostly produced analogies sharing structural features with the current problem. Complex Cognition Page 5 People's use of analogies in analogical problem solving can be increased in 2 ways: 1) Increasing the encoding of the underlying structure of the problem. Study: 2 groups attempt to solve a problem. Before proceeding with problem solution, the experimental group identifies similarities & differences between the problem at hand and another problem with a similar structure. The control group directly attempts to solve the problem. Experimental group participants were much more likely to solve the problem (34% vs. 9%), because they understood more clearly the abstract structure of the problem. 2) Increase the use of effective retrieval strategies. Study: participants need to generate arguments to persuade a poor family to reduce its indebtedness. When they are instructed to use analogies, their use of analogies increased fourfold, which in turn increased count of arguments. Processes in analogical reasoning Analogical reasoning - a different process from analogical problem solving. Example tasks: A:B::C:D problems - answering if A relates to B the same way C relates to D (e.g. GLOVE:HAND::SOCK:FOOT). One of 3 terms are provided (e.g. A, B, C) and participants need to specify the fourth term (e.g. D). Analogical reasoning involves several sequential processing stages. These are Grossnickle's 4 component processes: Encoding - information concerning the problem stimuli is processed. Inferring - identifying a relation (similarity) between 2 items. Mapping - identifying the overall relational pattern or rule governing the problem. Applying - using the outcome of the mapping process to select the response completing the analogy. Performance of high and low performers on tasks involving relational reasoning (+ analogical reasoning) were compared. The figure to the right shows the probabilities of successfully completing each process given the previous process had been successfully completed (inference & mapping processes were the hardest). Project-first models - a strategy in which individuals generate a rule relating the A and B terms, then they map the A and C terms, and finally they apply a rule generating D. Alignment-mapping models - individuals first align the A and C terms, and then align the B item with the target (D item). When using eye tracking to see which strategy is used, reasoning performance was higher when the former strategy was used. Analogical reasoning requires the central executive component of the working memory system. Problem-solving performance is impaired if a secondary task involving the central executive is performed at the same time. Analogical reasoning also depends on working memory capacity. A meta-analysis shows a correlation of r = 0.49 on working memory capacity and performance on Raven's Matrices (which requires analogical reasoning and involves fluid intelligence). Most cognitive tasks require top-down, goal-focused executive attention. They differ in the extent to which they also require maintenance (keeping relevant information accessible) and disengagement (removing/inhibiting outdated information). Fluid intelligence requires executive attention + disengagement. Working memory capacity involves executive attention + maintenance. Successful performance on Raven's Matrices requires a high level of goal-focused executive attention + disengagement to inhibit task-irrelevant information. Key aspects of the disengagement process are thinking flexibly, which often involves re-representing the problem structure by making it more abstract. Brain mechanisms Occipital & parietal areas are associated with visual & spatial processing, followed by extensive involvement of the PFC. Left rostrolateral PFC integrates information within analogical problems. A meta-analysis shows that the left rostrolateral PFC is consistently activated Complex Cognition Page 6  A meta-analysis shows that the left rostrolateral PFC is consistently activated with both visuo-spatial and verbal analogies. Damage to the left rostrolateral PFC is associated with impaired analogical reasoning more than other frontal damage. The DLPFC and inferior frontal gyrus are involved in inhibitory processes to prevent distraction and interference. The temporal lobes store information about concepts (semantic memory). Expertise Expertise - the high level of knowledge and performance in a given domain that an expert has achieved through years of systematic practice. Chess-playing expertise Expert chess players develop cognitive skills (e.g. pattern recognition, selective search) of general usefulness. Also, chess instruction improves achievement in mathematics and overall cognitive ability. Expert chess players have much more detailed information about chess positions stored in long-term memory than non-experts Chess players are presented with brief presentations of board positions from actual games. After removing the board, they reconstructed the positions. Chess masters recalled the positions with a 91% accuracy. Less expert players had an accuracy of 43%. This does not reflect differences in memory ability - there were no group differences when remembering random board positions. Template theory Template - an abstract, schematic structure more general than an actual board position (in the context of chess). Consists of a core (fixed information) + slots (containing variable information about pieces and locations). Each template usually stores information relating to 10 or more pieces. Templates are built of small memory structures known as chunks. Article Summary - When Cognition Interferes with Innovation Overcoming Cognitive Obstacles to Design Thinking Article summary here. Article Summary - Multicultural experience enhances creativity: then when and how Article summary here. Article Summary - Revisiting the multicultural experience-creativity link: the effects of perceived cultural distance and comparison mind-set Article summary here. Complex Cognition Page 7