Class 7: Insight and metacognition Flashcards
What is the difference between convergent and divergent thinking?
Convergent thinking involves using logical and systematic methods to arrive at a single correct solution to a problem, while divergent thinking involves generating multiple possible solutions to a problem and exploring different ways of thinking about a problem.
According to Topolinski and Reber (2010), which of the following activities is most likely to lead to the “Aha” experience? a. Engaging in repetitive, mindless tasks b. Solving complex problems using trial-and-error c. Focusing on a single task for an extended period of time d. Engaging in activities that require minimal cognitive effort
b) Solving complex problems using trial-and-error
Explain “phenomenology” according to feelings-as-information theory.
Phenomenology carries information that helps us to efficiently navigate the world and to reason appropriately
Define the “Aha” experience.
A sudden moment of understanding or realisation.
True or false: The study of cognitive and neurocomputational mechanisms of insight is focused on exploring the conscious and deliberate decision-making process.
FALSE
What are the main characteristics of the experience of insight?
The main characteristics are Suddennes, Ease, Positive Affect, and Truth and Confidence
Describe judgment of truth
the judgment of truth involves determining whether something is factually accurate or not. This process is a key component of critical thinking and is essential for making informed decisions and forming valid conclusions.
What did John Nash say when asked about his belief in supernatural beings and how does it relate to the human conundrum of discerning true and false ideas?
When asked about his belief in supernatural beings, John Nash responded that the ideas he had about them came to him in the same way as his mathematical ideas, so he took them seriously. This example exposes the basic human conundrum of discerning the difference between a true and false idea, especially in situations where time is limited.
Insights usually follow ____ processing and appear _____.
(1) Implicit; (2) Unexpectedly.
The crucial prediction of Sascha Topolinski and Rolf Reber is aha experiences entailing mild pleasure and confidence can be induced experimentally, thus avoid illusions of insight.Is that true or false?
False,it creates illusions of insight.
What is the difference between the “Aha!” experience and insight?
The “Aha!” experience refers to the sudden realisation or solution to a problem, while insight refers to the gradual process of problem-solving.
True or False: Conscious effort and deliberate thinking are the primary factors that trigger the “Aha” experience.
False
According to the ‘Eureka Heuristics’ article, what is one common theme found so far about insights?
Insights must somehow draw on past experiences or memory in order to provide valuable information for ongoing problem solving processes.
What are the four main characteristics of insight discussed in the article by Topolinski & Reber?
Suddenness, ease, positive affect, and truth and confidence.
What’s the difference between insight and intuition?
Intuition tends to be more gradual and non-specific, whereas insights are sudden and tend to involve specific reportable content. Intuitions are also often associated with System 1 errors and biases, while insights tend to predict accurate solutions.
True or False: The authors propose that the P3 event-related potential (ERP) component is an electrophysiological marker of the restructuring process during insight.
Answer: True. Explanation: Laukkonen et al. propose that the P3 event-related potential (ERP) component is an electrophysiological marker of the restructuring process during insight. The P3 component is thought to reflect the updating of mental representations and the allocation of attentional resources during problem-solving. The authors argue that the P3 component may be a neural signature of the restructuring process that occurs during insight problem-solving.
ture or false: when a solution to a problem pops into a person’s mid, information that has ben difficult to process can be processed more fluently.
ture
What brain regions are associated with the insight process?
The anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and striatum are brain regions associated with the insight process.
What are the four main characteristics of insight?
Suddenness, ease, positive affect and the feeling of being right.
What is processing fluency?
Processing fluency is the ease and speed with which information processing succeeds independent of content.
What are the main characteristics when someone experiences insight?
Suddenness, ease, positive affect, truth and confidence
What constitutes Eureka Heuristic?
It is the utilisation of our prior learning to allow us to quickly decide whether or not we should trust a new idea, this involves assessing a new idea based upon our existing knowledge and beliefs and thus making a decision about whether we then accept or reject the new idea.
What is the role of expertise in facilitating the “Aha!” experience?
Expertise can facilitate the “Aha!” experience by allowing individuals to recognise patterns and make connections more easily, as well as providing a deeper understanding of the problem domain.
True or False: The remote associate’s task (RAT) requires participants to identify three related words.
False The RAT requires participants to identify a word that is related to three other words, rather than two. This is an important detail as it highlights the specific nature of the task and the cognitive processes involved in solving it.
When a scientist, an inventor, or an artist has a new idea, they will automaticly use_________?
Knowledge and expertise
What are the cognitive and neurocomputational mechanisms of insight?
The processes in the brain that enable the selection of ideas leading to insight.
How can the “Aha!” experience be facilitated/triggered?
The “Aha!” experience can be facilitated or triggered by presenting problems that require insight, using incubation periods, and encouraging a positive mood.
What are four things that insights have in common with heuristics and biases?
The fact that they are automatic, largely involuntary, linked to emotions, and are foremost adaptive.
True or False? Feelings of insight tend to occur alongside incorrect solutions
FALSE
What is Metacognition
Thinking about thinking. Reflecting and evaluating on cognitive processes to improve performance and understanding.
Why is an insight heuristic necessary, and how does it help individuals judge the validity of spontaneous ideas?
Answer: An insight heuristic is necessary because spontaneous ideas that emerge from implicit processing cannot always be evaluated through step-wise analytical problem solving. Instead, these ideas must be “intuited” as good ideas based on a feeling of rightness, which distinguishes them from other competing ideas. An insight heuristic helps individuals judge the validity of spontaneous ideas by providing a framework for evaluating them based on factors such as feasibility, novelty, and value.
What is processing fluency?
Processing fluency is the ease with which information is processed in the cognitive system
Define the term “Aha experience”.
“Aha” experience — This refers to the sudden moment of insight or realization that one experiences when solving a problem or gaining new understanding. It is often accompanied by a feeling of pleasure or excitement and is characterized by the perception of a sudden shift in perspective or a novel solution to a problem.
What is the eureka heuristic?
Feelings of insight that act as a metacognitive heuristic which permits us to make decisions about if an idea is trustworthy (without prior learning)
True / False According to Hansen, Dechene, and Wanke’s replication of the experiment by Reber and Schwarz, fluent statements were judged as more truthful when they appeared in a block of less fluent statements.
False - Whittlesea and Williams (1998) found that new homophones not shown in the study list were more likely to be judged “old” than new words in a recognition test, suggesting that fluency can lead to false alarms.
True/False Is the aha effect a sudden appearance of a solution through insight?
TRUE
What triggers not only affective preferences but a broad range of other judgments, including ratings of loudness, clarity, or familiarity of a stimulus?
Fluency
True or False: The Eureka heuristic can lead to the entrenchment of false beliefs and delusions.
TRUE
Define Term: Insight
Insight is a sudden realization of a problem’s solution, which seems obvious and straightforward once it occurs.
True or false: According to one of the main characteristics of the “Aha” Experience, Ease explains that regardless of the difficulty of the problem-related processing, after the solution has been found, the process becomes fast and easy.
TRUE
How does the ease of retrieving an answer affect confidence in general memory content?
When an answer to a general-knowledge question is easily retrieved, people are more confident in their general memory content, independently of their actual knowledge.
True or false? The insight experience is an emotional reaction regarding the relevance of one’s goals.
TRUE
True or False: Recent research suggests that feelings of insight always accompany correct ideas.
FALSE
What consequences that might happen to someone who committed insight fallacy?
Subjects are more likely to believe their false insights as true. In this case, it may be difficult to change their mind as they are more likely to stick with it, and would therefore be less likely to accept any alternative solution.
True or false: People feel positive and confident about a solution when it appears suddenly because their brain processes the solution easily and quickly.
True. This is known as processing fluency, which is the ease with which information is processed in the cognitive system.
How are insights and heuristics related?
Aha! moments are “the subjective marker of insight” (Laukonnen & al., 2020). In a similar vein to heuristics, these can be viewed as a (phenomenological) way of quickly assessing how “true” or “valuable” a novel idea/solution is in comparison to prior knowledge, giving it subsequent preponderant importance in one’s decision making process.
What are the four characteristics of insight mentioned in the article by Sascha Topolinski1 and Rolf Reber?
Suddenness Ease Positive affect Truth and confidence
How does the “Aha” experience affect problem-solving and creativity?
The “Aha” experience can have a significant impact on problem-solving and creativity by providing sudden and powerful insights that can help to break through mental blocks and overcome obstacles. It can also enhance our ability to see patterns and connections, and can lead to new and innovative solutions to problems.
The word Eureka & heuristic come from the same origin in Ancient Greece. Why is this?
Humans use the feeling of Eureka as a heuristic signal to help select from a multitude of thoughts and ideas appearing in awareness. Insight (or a “eureka moment”) incorporates our past experiences and knowledge and uses shortcuts to help us solve problems.
True or False: The dalmatian dog figure provided in the reading utilised Bayesian model selection
False: It utilised Bayesian model reduction not Bayesian model selection because it made the image simpler and less complex
How are Eureka or ‘Aha!’ moments artificially induce?
Authors used anagram tasks which involve rearranging letters to form a new word or phrase
Will the Eureka Heuristic Model always be reliable?
No, false factoids can be strung together to encourage false Eureka experiences, potentially spreading misinformation.
feelings as information theory involves ___
subjective experiences in the form of emotions, bodily sensations and metacognitive experiences. They are sources of information that humans regularly rely on to make judgements and decisions.
fill in the blank: our crucial prediction is that aha experiences entailing mild pleasure and confidence can be induced experimentally, thus creating _____.
illusions of insight
One type of AI?
super AI
What is the “four-point” insight model?
The four-point insight model is a theoretical framework for understanding the “Aha” experience, which includes the problem space, the solution space, the restructuring process, and the moment of insight.
In Topolinski1 and Rebe’s paper, what is meant by suddenness?
The experience is surprising and immediate.
What do we call the insight that permitting us to quickly decide whether we should truest a new idea given prior learning?
Eureka Heuristic
Which of the following best describes the relationship between insight and metacognition? A) Insight and metacognition are unrelated processes. B) Insight can be used to enhance metacognitive abilities. C) Metacognition is a prerequisite for insight. D) Insight and metacognition are two different terms for the same process.
The correct answer is B) Insight can be used to enhance metacognitive abilities.
in Bayesian Model Reduction, the aim is to maximize data inputs to render more accurate prediction models. True or False?
False. BMR works by reducing the complexity of explanation on current data by generating simpler (discrete) structures and models, thus no new data is used.
How does the ‘‘aha’’ experience differ from other types of insights?
The ‘‘aha’’ experience is characterized by a sudden, intuitive understanding of a problem or situation, often accompanied by a feeling of surprise or satisfaction. Other types of insights may be more gradual or involve a more deliberate cognitive process.
What is the insight fallacy
The erroneous belief that understanding the cause of a problem will solve the problem
Briefly explain what the Eureka Heuristic is.
When we have strong, positive feelings of insight towards an idea we generate, this feeling acts as a metacognitive heuristic which allows us to quickly decide whether we should trust this idea.
Katie has been trying to solve a complex mathematical problem for many hours and feels like she is making no progress. She decides to put it out of her mind by engaging in a different activity. She is tossing up between going for a walk or getting started on a big assignment. In which situation is she more likely to enhance insight problem solving for her maths problem?
If she chooses to go for a walk, Katie is more likely to enhance implicit processing afforded by periods of incubation as incubation is thought to best enhance insight problem solving if one is occupied by an undemanding task.
True or False: Artificially induced “Aha” moments can make facts feel true.
True.
In the video about Andrew Wiles, how many of the key characteristics of insight did he demonstrate in finding a solution to his problem.
- Suddenness (finding the solution seemed like a moment of realisation), ease (after 7 years of labour, it was a simple shift in mind set), positive affect (he was given a great amount of satisfaction from the insight), and the feeling of being correct (he seemed quite sure he was correct, after years of not having a solution).
What fallacy was being attempted by mathematician and Nobel laureate John Nash after he concluded that the idea of of supernatural beings was true simply because it occurred to him with certain phenomenology that got him into his mathematical discoveries?
Insight fallacy
What is the Eureka Heuristic proposed in the paper?
The Eureka Heuristic is a metacognitive heuristic proposed in the paper that allows individuals to quickly determine whether they should trust a new idea based on prior learning.
What method was used to examine the neural activity involved in insight problem solving?
Electroencephalography (EEG)
What is the role of the prefrontal cortex in the ‘Aha’ experience? A) It is responsible for processing visual information B) It is responsible for processing auditory information C) It is responsible for problem-solving and decision-making D) It is responsible for controlling movement
Answer: C) It is responsible for problem-solving and decision-making
What is insight?
When a new idea feels particularly valuable, inspiring, and engenders a deep confidence within us.
True of false? If a solution of a problem comes to mind quickly and easily, then it must be true.
False – but the ease and speed with which it comes to mind does make people more likely to believe it is true
What is the role of suddenness in insights?
Insights come suddenly, as observed in empirical studies, and the moment of insight triggers an increase in positive affect and fluency.
Which section used rating and claim in article ? A,Design & materials B,Descriptives C,Discussion
B,Descriptives
What are the four main characteristics that describe the experience of insight mentioned in the Topolinsk & Reber (2010) paper?
Suddenness: The solution of the problem pops into mind abruptly and surprisingly Ease: However difficult the problem-related processing might have been before, it is processed fast and easily after a solution has been found. Positive affect: An insight yields a genuine positive affective experience that comes before the assessment of the solution. Truth and confidence. After an insight, problem solvers judge the solution as being true and express confidence in that judgment, even before systematically assessing the solution’s veracity in a formal analysis.
Describe the two major differences between insight and intuition.
Intuition tends to be more gradual and-non-specific, whereas insights are sudden and more specific; Intuitions are often associated with system 1 errors, whereas insights tend to predict accurate solutions
What type of problems are most likely to elicit the “aha” experience, based on the findings of Topolinski and Reber?
The study found that problems that involve a “hidden structure” or a “restructuring” of the problem space are most likely to elicit the “aha” experience.
What are some of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that are involved in moments of insight, according to the paper?
The paper suggests that various cognitive and neural mechanisms are involved in moments of insight, including attentional processes, working memory, and brain activity in the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions.
Fill in the Blank: The discrepancy between _________ before and after the appearance of the solution may be one component of the “aha” experience.
Processing fluency
According to the Topolinski, S., & Reber, R. (2010) paper, what are the four characteristics of the ‘Aha!’ experience?
Suddenness, Ease, Positive Affect, and Truth and Confidence.
In Laukkonen et al’s (2020) study on Aha moments, were the anagrams accompanied by insight (when compared with anagrams not accompanied by insight) a) more likely to be correctly solved, b) less likely to be correctly solved, c) correctly solved at the same rate as no insight or d) more likely to elicit uncomfortable feelings in the participants
a) anagrams accompanied by insight were more likely to be correctly solved, compared with anagrams not accompanied by insight
What task can be used to artificially induce an Aha! moment?
An anagram task.
What are the differences between intuition and insight?
Intuition tends to be more gradual and non-specific, and is associated with system 1 system errors. Meanwhile, insight is sudden, tends to involve specific reportable content, and can predict accurate solutions.
What are the four aspects of the a-ha experience?
Suddenness, Ease, Positive affect, and the feeling of being right.
What is the incubation period?
The incubation period is a period of time where the problem is set aside before the “Aha” moment occurs.
What is the “Feeling-as-Information” Theory?
It refers to when Humans use subjective experience as sources of information to make judgments and decisions. In regards to “Aha! Moments” that occur when solving problems, humans will often find these moments as a source of information when it carries information about the accuracy for a new solution. Therefore, “Aha!” Moments can lead humans to predict accurate solutions on the basis that it aligns with the accuracy for a new solution.
The “Aha” experience, also known as an insight, is characterised by four main features. Which of the following is not one of them? (a) Suddenness (b) Effortful and deliberate problem-solving (c) Positive affect (d) Ease
The correct answer is: (b) Effortful and deliberate problem-solving Explanation: The “aha” experience is characterised by suddenness, positive affect, and ease, which contrasts with effortful and deliberate problem-solving. The study suggests that insights are more likely to occur when people are engaged in tasks that involve some level of problem-solving, but not so much that it becomes an effortful and deliberate process.
What is the main implication of the study (The Dark Side of Eureka study) for combatting misinformation?
Raising awareness of the dark side of “aha” moments could help combat misinformation
What percentage of the time people have an insight are they likely to be correct according to Salvi et al. (2016).
92%
What are the four main characteristics present in an “aha” moment?
- Suddenness (the experience is surprising and immediate) 2. Ease (the solution is processed without difficulty) 3. Positive affect (insights are gratifying) 4. The feeling of being right (after an insight, problem solvers judge the solution as being true and have confidence in this judgment)
What are some practical applications of understanding the ‘Aha’ experience? A) Improving social skills and emotional intelligence B) Increasing physical performance and endurance C) Improving problem-solving skills and creativity D) Increasing memory retention and recall
Answer: C) Improving problem-solving skills and creativity
In the anagram experiment, the authors mention the possibility that even if the participants don’t manage to solve the problem, a “miniature” Aha-moment still could occur when the solution is presented to them, and that this makes the results harder to interpret.
False. They made sure this factor didn’t play a role by introducing the “delay” condition.
