Problem Solving

Question 1

What are insight problems?

Answer 1

A problem that requires us to understand how all parts of the problem are related before we can find the solution

Question 2

What are non-insight problems?

Answer 2

A problem that can be effectively broken down into discrete stages, working slowly toward the end solution

Question 3

What does the gestalt theory state?

Answer 3

Consciousness tends to be organized into a coherent whole

Question 4

What is a gestalt switch?

Answer 4

Sudden change in the way information is organized

Question 5

True or false. Insight occurred spontaneously and was all-or-none for the chimpanzee who used a small stick to retrieve a longer stick to retrieve a banana outside of the cage.

Answer 5

True

Question 6

What does the alter window problem demonstrate?

Answer 6

How superficial learning interferes with the ability to see what might be obvious to a more naive person

Question 7

What did the alter window problem show for children and adults?

Answer 7

Children: with no math training was able to solve the problem. Not constrained by any way of thinking unlike adults
Adults: tried to solve according to principles they had learned in past

Question 8

What is structurally blind thinking?

Answer 8

Kind of thinking shown by adults, who reproduced thinking they had done in past with similar situations, but which was unfit to the current one

Question 9

What is functional fixedness?

Answer 9

Inability to see beyond the most common use of a particular object and recognize that it could perform the function needed to solve a problem; thinking about objects only in respect to function for which they were designed

Question 10

Animals do not have insight. True or false.

Answer 10

False

Question 11

What is insight?

Answer 11

Sudden realization of how parts of a problem/situation relate together

Question 12

Applying the same kind of thinking as for a past problem, but which is ineffective for the current one is called ____ thinking.

Answer 12

Structurally blind thinking

Question 13

What happens during non-insight problems?

Answer 13

We have an awareness of incremental success or a greater feeling of warmth as we get closer to the solution and feeling of knowing

Question 14

What is the progress monitoring theory?

Answer 14

We monitor our progress on a problem, and when we reach an impasse we are open to an insightful solution

Question 15

What proposes that insight requires a change in the way that we represent the problem?

Answer 15

Representational change theory

Question 16

Representational change theory depends on what 2 processes?

Answer 16

1. Constraint relaxation: removal of assumptions that are blocking problem solution
2. Chunk decomposition: parts of the problem that are seen as belonging together are separated into chunks and thought about independently

Question 17

What part of the brain is involved in insight process?

Answer 17

Anterior cingulate cortex

Question 18

What part of the brain strengthens memory traces, catalyzes mental restructuring and encourages the emergence of insight?

Answer 18

Hippocampal

Question 19

What did Wagner et al. find about participants who slept after training on an insight problem?

Answer 19

More likely to produce insightful solutions compared to those who had not slept

Question 20

What is the Einstellung effect?

Answer 20

Tendency to respond inflexibly to a particular type of problem; also called a rigid set

Question 21

What part of the brain is critical for successful water jar performance?

Answer 21

Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 22

What does it mean to behave mindlessly?

Answer 22

To act as if a situation has only one possible interpretation

Question 23

What does it mean to behave mindfully?

Answer 23

To actively seek new possibilities

Question 24

True or false. younger children show more functional fixedness than older children do.

Answer 24

False

Question 25

True or flase. In insight problems, there is a gradual increase in feelings of warmth, and a feeling of knowing.

Answer 25

False

Question 26

Brain area involved in conflict monitoring and insight problem solving is ____

Answer 26

ACC

Question 27

Sleep can enhance insight problem solving. True or false.

Shows the role of consolidation and this brain region ___ in insight problem solving

Answer 27

True

Hippocampus

Question 28

Having an intact ___ is critical for the water jar problem solving, presumably underlying inhibition of obvious solutions

Answer 28

Left DLPFC

Question 29

Rigidy-flexibility dimensions can also be seen as dimensions along ____ continuum

Answer 29

Mindlesness- Mindfulness