Problem solving and expertise

-defined as: cognitive activity involves moving from recognition of problem through series of
step to solution
3 aspects to problem solving:
1. Goal directed
2. Controlled process
3. Only exists if lack expertise
There is distinction between: Well/Ill-defined problems and Knowledge-rich/lean problems
- WD, all aspects laid out: initial stage, methods solving, most psy studies focus on this
- Ill-D imprecisely specified, occurs irl (key locked in care, time restrained)
- Knowledge-rich prob, only solved through considerable prior specifir knowledge
- Knowledge-lean prob, gives necessary info

The Monty Hall Problem

Why people fail – Shimojo & Ichikawa (1989) using number of cases heuristic/rule of thumb-
if the n# alternatives N, then probability of each I/N, De Neys & Vershueren (2004) MHp
places substantial demands on central executive, attention-like component of working
memory- 22% correct presented on its own, 8% with simultaneous demanding task. Burn &
Wieth (2004) errors in causality- host actions seem random but aren’t

Gestalt Approach
Thorndike (1898), 1st proposed animals (cats) used trial and errors- in cages to access food.
However, Gesatlt Psys, 1930s, argued, actions not arbitrary; Reproductive thinking- reuse of
prev experiences and Productive thinking- novel restructuring of prob+more compelx.
Köhler (1925) caged an ape, Sultan, accidentely used two stick to acquire banana- lead to
insight (realising how to solve), Sultan had spent sometime in wild Birch (1945) found apes
raised in captivity showed little evi of insight shown by Kohler, thus apparent insight may be
slow learning process instead
Insight? Gestalt psys didn’t provide convincing evi of existence of it, subsequent research
filled gap, Metcalfe & Weibe (1987) feelings of warmth increased in non-insight problems.
Bowden et a (2005) used fMRI to investi differences in brain activity-
Duncker (1945) argued past experiences do not always increase ability to prob solve-
perhaps due to functional fixedness, assumption from past that any given object has limited
number of uses
Luchins (1942) manipulated ppts past experiences to provide stronger evidence for
relevance. Found notion of Einstellung/mental set, using well-practised stragetgy even
when inappropriate/sub-optimal

Representational change theory

Ohlsson (1992)- incorporated key aspects of Gestalt in Representational change theory:
- Current problem probes solver to retrieve related knowledge from LTM
- Retrieval process involves spreading activation among items of knowledge in LTM
- Block occurs when way prob represented doesn’t permit retrival of possible actions
- Impasse broken when prob representation changed, new rep, acts as memory probe
 extends info available
 - Changing representation occurs: elaboration/additional infor, constraint relaxation,
re-encoding in which some aspect of re-represented
- Insight occurs when impasse broken and retrieval operator are sufficient.
Knoblich et al (1999) showed importance of constrains in reducing likelihood of insight,
experience of arithmetic tells us many operation change values. Ppts must relax constrains.
Reverberi et al (2005) argued lateral frontal cortex involved in imposing constrains when
confronted by insight prob, patients w/ brain damage to that area don’t impose artificial
constrains -perform netter, Brain damaged patients solved 82% of most diff matchstick
arithmetic problem, compared to 43% healthy patients
Limitations of Ohlsson- deemphasised importance of individual difference (IQ), not always
possible to predict when/how prob will change, sinle factor theory.

Wallas (1926) arg. Incubation-putting aside- helped prob solving, he sug its bc, subconscious
mind continued solving whilst conscious did other things, (Simon (1966) arg. Incubation
involved special type of forgetting) Sio+Ormerod (2009) meta-analysis of 117 studies found
small but highly sig incubation effect, 85 studies at +ve effects from incu, stronger
incubation effect on creative prob having multiple solution than linguistic/verbal with single
solution. Long prep prior, lessen impasse. Wagner et al (2004) tested sleep as form of
incubation, ppts performed complex mathematical task and retested after several hours of
sleep, sleep group- 59% found shortcut, compared to 29 non-sleep

General Problem Solver – Newell and Simon (1962) arg possible to produce systematic
computer simulations of human problem solving. Human cope with limited capacities by
relying on Heuristics- which are contrasted to Algorithms-a computational procure providing
set of steps to a solution- generally complex and lead to solution. PPt often used hill-
climbing – a heurist where problem is changed into one which is apparently closer to goal.
Thomas (1974) arg. people struggle when heuristics unavailable, but GPS didn’t.
Progress monitoring- insufficient rapid progress towards sloutions.

Adaptive Control of Rartional thought (ACT-R)- Anderson et al (2004/2008), applys to hum

cog in gen, combination of computational cog science and cog neuroscience, Assumption
- 7 moduels specialised and operate independely – 4 particulary important to human:
- Retrieval Module (in inferior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, Badre+wagner,2007)
- Imaginal Module transforms prob representation in posterior parietal cortex
- Goal Module- intentions control infor processing- in Anterior cingulate cortex
- Procedural module-produces rule (if,then) head of caudate nucleus in basal ganglia
- Generally activated in complex cog task, each with a buffer with limted infor
Evidence: Anderson, Albert + Fincham (2005) used fMRI with Tower if Hanoi. Less activation
of retrival modeule lead to minimal demands on memory. Greatest activation on imaginal
mod when ToH more intense

Evaluation: ACT-R is impressive- ambitious attempt to provide theortical framework,

thorough attempt to combine computational cog science with cog science, and several parts
tend to be active making it hard to identify specific region- may not be do distinct, (Danker
and Anderson, 2007).
Transfer of Training and Analogical reasoning- assumption that previous experinces can help
future – Positive transfer and solving past problem disrupts ability to solve similar current
problem- Negative transfer (Duncker; Luchins) . Far transfer- beneficial effort of previous
prob solving in dissimilar context – form of +ve transfer, Near transfer beneficial effort of
prev. prob solviing on current prob. Bransford & Schwartz (1999) preferable approach is
preparation and learning is an active process- metacognition- indis beliefs and knowledge
about cog processes and strategies.
Chen and Klahr (2008) identified 3 dimensions determining transfer distance between
current and relevant past problem : Task Similarity- in superficial objects, Context Similarity-
location/social setting, Time interval- period between.

Expertise- the end-point of longterm learning results in development of expertise- this is

highly skilled, component performance in one or more task domains (Srteinberg and Ben-
Zeev, 2001)studying prcesses involved is skill acquision- developing abilities through practice
-increase probability of goal achievement

Chess expertise –Chunking can be used to integrate small pieces of information – Chase and
simon (1973b) but Gobet and Waters (2003) found two major weaknesses of chunking- fails
to relate mechanisms at chunk level for higher-leve representation used by chess expert and
the theory predicts encoding would take longer, expert player differ from non-experts in
possessing far more templates of chess positions- Template- an abstract schematic structure
consists of mixture of fixed and variable info about chess pieces (Gobet and Waters, 2004)
Limitation? Burns (2004) Accesss to template constrained by time pressure and
International masters exhibited more flexibity and better at prob solving when template
was not correct – than Candidate masters. Hatano and Inagaki -1986 routine expertise – can
familiar prob and adaptive expertise developing new strategy – convincing account
Grabner (2007) temp theory exagggeraret amoung of time requrief to encode template

Medical expertse