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Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities
Published on: September 11, 2021
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Conceptual transfer insimple insight problems.
Robert S Lockhart1, Mary Lamon1, Mary L Gick2
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, M5S IAI, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Memory & Cognition
|March 4, 2017
Summary
Presenting information to induce puzzlement and reconception significantly aids insight problem-solving. This highlights the importance of conceptual processing over mere information content for effective knowledge transfer.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Problem-Solving Research
Background:
- Previous studies often failed to facilitate insight problem-solving with presented information.
- This failure was hypothesized to stem from the way information was presented, not its content.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate conditions for information facilitation in insight problem-solving.
- To determine if conceptual operations, not just content, are key for knowledge transfer.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted using simple insight problems.
- Information was presented in different formats to induce or avoid conceptual operations like puzzlement and reconception.
Main Results:
- Substantial facilitation occurred when information induced puzzlement and a subsequent clue led to reconception.
- Identical information presented without this process yielded no facilitation.
- This demonstrates that conceptual processing is crucial for transfer.
Conclusions:
- Effective knowledge transfer in problem-solving depends on inducing specific conceptual operations.
- The mechanism may involve indexing concepts with pointers to anomalous episodes.
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