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Related Experiment Video

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Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

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Published on: September 11, 2021

How physical interaction with insight problems affects solution rates, hint use, and cognitive load.

Adam Chuderski¹, Jan Jastrzębski¹, Hanna Kucwaj²

¹Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)

|March 4, 2020

Summary

Physical interaction with insight problems did not generally improve creative problem-solving. This suggests that solving these problems relies more on internal cognitive processes, like working memory, rather than external manipulation.

Keywords:

hint use insight problems interactivity working memory

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Problem-Solving Research

Background:

Insight problems are crucial for studying creative thinking.
Traditional problem-solving formats lack physical interaction, potentially limiting cognitive resources like working memory (WM).

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether physical interaction with insight problems facilitates solutions compared to static formats.
To examine the impact of physical interaction on hint utilization and cognitive load.

Main Methods:

124 young adults physically interacted with insight problems.
124 young adults used paper and pencil for the same problems.
Hints were provided for difficult problems.

Main Results:

Physical interaction showed no general facilitating effect on solving insight problems.
Only one problem out of nine significantly benefited from physical interaction.
Physical interaction hindered the use of hints and did not alter perceived task load or WM correlation.

Conclusions:

Physical interaction has a minimal impact on insight problem-solving.
Insight problem-solving appears to depend heavily on internalized cognitive processing and working memory capacity.