Conscious and unconscious strategy discoveries: a microgenetic analysis

We examined second graders' strategy discoveries on a task that could be solved either by arithmetic computation or by a simple insight. Strategy use was assessed on each trial through both an implicit measure and an explicit one. The results provided unambiguous evidence that strategies can be discovered without conscious awareness. Almost 90% of children showed the insight at an implicit, unreportable level before they showed it at an explicit, reportable one. When children received the relevant problems on each trial, 80% reported the insight within 5 trials of when their solution times indicated that they first generated it. Implications for understanding the relation between unconscious and conscious discoveries and for the role of competing activations in strategy discovery are discussed.