Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 9, 2026
07:43
A Naturalistic Setup for Presenting Real People and Live Actions in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Studies
Published on: August 4, 2023
The development of problem solving: Integrating perception, cognition, and action in real time
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom; Centre for Educational Neuroscience, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom; School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Advances in Child Development and Behavior
|June 7, 2026
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Cognitive science
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Problem-solving skills develop throughout infancy and childhood.
- Classic and recent research highlights tool use, means-end behavior, planning, and action selection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review developmental progress in problem solving.
- To emphasize the importance of real-time problem-solving processes.
- To integrate diverse research methods for a comprehensive understanding.
Main Methods:
- Review of behavioral, kinematic, eye-tracking, neural, and computational studies.
- Analysis of how children solve problems, not just success rates.
- Examination of exploration, variability, and error in learning.
Main Results:
- Developmental progress in problem solving is best understood by analyzing the real-time execution of tasks.
- Successful problem solving relies on the timed coordination of information gathering, motor preparation, and online adjustments.
- Exploration and error facilitate learning and generalization.
Conclusions:
- A holistic approach is needed to understand the emergence of flexible problem-solving skills.
- Integrating structured experiments, naturalistic observation, and computational models is crucial.
- Future research should focus on how problem-solving skills develop in everyday contexts.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Problem-Solving
Effective problem-solving consists of two steps: 1. identifying the problem and 2. selecting the appropriate problem-solving strategy (i.e., a plan of action used to find a solution). Humans use four problem-solving strategies:
01:30Information Processing Approach
The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is also...
01:21Cognitive Learning
Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
01:20Parallel Processing
The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...
01:20Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving, as well as other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology studies how information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
01:13Principle of Virtual Work: Problem Solving
The principle of virtual work is an essential concept in the field of mechanics and engineering. This is used to solve problems related to the equilibrium of a structure or system. It is based on the assumption that if a system is in equilibrium, the work done by all the forces during a virtual displacement is zero. This principle is applied by considering virtual displacements of the system and the corresponding work done by internal and external forces.
To apply the principle of virtual work,...
To apply the principle of virtual work,...