Problem solving and Expertise

What is meant by a well-defined problem?

All aspects of the problem are clearly specified

The goal is well specified

What is meant by ill-defined problems

It is underspecified, there are several strategies to adopt and the goal may be amigious. Most everyday/human problems are ill-defined

What are knowledge rich problems?

Can be solved by those who have relevant and specific knowledge

What are knowledge-lean problems?

Do not require such knowledge as most of the information needed to solve the problem is contained in the initial problem statement. Minimise individual differences and is what most traditional research was based upon

What is reproductive thinking and what solution is it?

Involves systematic reuse of previous experiences eg memorisation with problems solved incrementally

Non-insight solution

What is productive thinking and what type of solution is it?

Involves creating new solutions and approaches by combining existing knowledge and experiences. It often leads to insightful or novel solutions to problems.

Insight solution

What is meant by an insight solution?

Involves a reorganisation of the elements of a persons mental representation of a stimulus, situation or event to yield a nonobvious interpretation when having sudden realisation of a problem

Eureka

What is gestalt psychology?

Views the mind and behaviour as made up components, does not focus on the components as the whole is different to the sum of its parts

Holistic approach

With which problems were incubation effects stronger in meta-analysis of studies?

Stronger with creative problems having multiple solutions than with linguistic and verbal problems which have a single solution

What enhances performance on difficult problems but not easy ones?

Sleep

What occurs during incubation period?

The strategies tried by the problem solver are forgotten or restructured, allowing for new connections and insights to emerge.

What is required for insight to occur according to representational change theory?

Must change the problem representation to allow for insight

What is the main 4 step cycle of representational change theory?

1. Problem representation (prior knowledge and perceptual aspects of a problem leads to the formation of a problem) 2. Repeated unsuccesful search processes 3. Impasse or block 4. A new problem representation is formed to try overcome the impasse and is followed by an additional search process

What do gestalts argue that numerous failures on insight problems are due to?

due to being misled by past experiences and previous ways of categorizing information.

When does functional fixedness occur?

Functional fixedness occurs when individuals are unable to see alternative uses for an object due to its traditional or most common use, which restricts problem-solving capabilities.

Mistakenly assume that a given object only has a limited number of uses

What is meant by mental set according to the gestalt approach?

Involves continuing to use a previously successful problem-solving strategy even when it is inappropriate or sub-optimal

What are the positives of mental set (gestalt approach)?

Allow successive problems of the same type to be solved rapidly and with few processing demands

What are heuristic processes?

Processes by which humans use cognitive shortcuts to arrive at decisions quicker and easier. These mental shortcuts simplify complex decision-making by reducing the amount of information to be considered.

What is meant be hill climbing according to heuristics?

A person chooses the route that seems to lead most directly towards your goal state however may fail to choose a less direct alternative that could lead to a better outcome. Nor neccesarily the best route to take

What are the 3 steps in which heuristics believe a goal can be met?

1) note the difference between the current problem state and the goal state

2) form a sub-goal to reduce the gap between current and goal states

3) select a mental operator that permits attainment of the sub-goal

What are the two things that training analogy can lead to?

1) improved performance on cognitive tests of analogy

2) essential for efficient and effective learning across subjects

How do analogies help in problem-solving tasks?

Reduce uncertainty and facilitated rapid, approximate problem solving

What are the three types of similarities?

1) superficial similarity 2) structural similarity 3) procedural similarity

What is structural similarity?

Solution-irrelevant details are common to the two problems

What is structural similarity?

Causal relations among some of the main components are shared

What is procedural similarity?

Procedures for turning the solution principle into concrete operations are shared

What is the end point of such long-term learning?

the development of expertise. very high level of thinking in a given domain as a result of many years of practice

What type of problems do studies on expertise use?

knowledge rich problems

What type of problems do traditional research on problem solving use?

knowledge lean problems

How are skilled activities remembered?

Skilled activities are remembered through the formation of mental representations and patterns developed over time, allowing for efficient retrieval and execution.

Memory skills allow for end products to be stored in LTM.

How do chess expertise differ to normal individuals when playing?

Have differences in stored chess positions rather than in memory ability and different strategies

Memorise larger chunks of information

What is the basis of template theory - what does a template consist of?

Core - fixed information

Slots - containing variable info about pieces and locations

How many pieces of information can a template store?

Relating about 10 pieces

How does template-based knowledge benefit chess playing expertise?

Template-based knowledge allows chess players to access knowledge rapidly rather than using slow, strategy based processes

Narrow down all the possible moves and remove time pressure

What are the 4 steps to deliberate practice?

1) task is at an appropriate level of difficulty

2) learner is given informative feedback about performance

3) learner has adequate chances to repeat the task

4) learner has the opportunity to correct his/hers errors