Problem Solving - Cognitive Psychology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Cognitive Psychology

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Ch 11: Problem Solving

Problem solving

Richard Feynman:You write down the problem.You think very hard. Then you write down the answer.

(Kohler, 1925)

(Kohler, 1925)

A checkerboard consists of 64 squares. These 64 squares can be completely covered by placing 32 dominos on the board so each domino covers two squares. If we eliminate two corners of the checkerboard, can we cover the remaining squares with 31 dominos?

Gestalt approach

Weaknesses:

Explanations mostly focus on visual representations

Can describe restructuring after the fact, but can’t predict insight

i.e., no mechanism behind the theory

• 7 x + 3 =

Procedural knowledge

IF the goal is to solve an equation THEN retrieve instructions how to solve it IF I’ve retrieved a set of instructions THEN retrieve the first step of the instructions IF I’m evaluating the expression ‘a + b’ THEN try to retrieve a fact of the form ‘a + b = c’

Procedural knowledge

The secret of humanity

(Qin, Anderson, Silk, Stenger, & Carter, 2004)

Examined 11–14yr olds about to start Algebra 1

Students spent 6 days practicing simple algebra equations

0-, 1-, or 2-step equations

Average solution time

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 0 1 2 3 4 5 Days Time to Solve (msec.) 0 Step: Data 1 Step: Data 2 Step: Data O Step: Theory 1 Step: Theory 2 Step: Theory