Task 3

when there are two states of affairs and the solver wishes to go from one state to the other, but doesn't see how the gap between the states can ve bridged. A multistep process is used to solve the gap

using past experience and knowledge to help solve the current task or problem

• ​purposeful (goal-directed)
• ​controlled process (not reliant on automatic processes)

• ​problem aspects are specified
• ​specified goal (you know when you've reached it)
• ​most researched because it's easy to identify solver's errors in solving strategy

• ​no specific goal
• ​no clear processes (endless strategies can be used)

requires relevant and specific knowledge to be solved. This knowledge is not necessarily given in the inital problem statement

information needed to solve the problem is contained in the initial problem statement

• frontoparietal network
• brain areas specific to maths, verbal, and visuospatial problems

• sudden and unexpected realisation of how to solve the problem
• used to solve productive thinking problems (gestalt)
• aha experience

• used to indicate when insight occurs during problem solving
• some insight problems solved without aha experience and some non-insight problems solved with aha experience

Feeling of warmth

• Feelings of warmth increase abruptly when solutions are accompanied by Aha experience --indicates insight

• tool to measure creativity and insight
• it involves finding a word that is related to three given words (e.g., opera, hand and dish are all related to soap)

• anterior superior temporal gyrus
• anterior cingulate cortex
• prefrontal cortex

using a problem-solving strategy that worked in the past, but that is inappropriate for the problem at hand 

a specific mental set characterised by an inflexible focus on the usual function/s of an object in problem solving

• the experience of being blocked and not knowing how to proceed when engaged in problem-solving
• occurs because our mental representation of the problem is incorrect

a stage in problem-solving when the problem is put aside for a while

• facilitates problem-solving by making us forget the strategies that we've used so far, which leads to the adoption of a new approach

the ability to limit attention to goal-relevant information

• greater in people with high WM capacity
• can impair performance on tasks where a bigger picture is needed
• advantageous when distracting stimuli must be ignored

an abstract description of all the possible states that can occur within a given problem

changing the present problem state into one closer to the goal

• used when the problem solver has no clear understanding of problem structure, so s/he focuses on short-term goals

a heuristic method for solving problems based on creating a subgoal to reduce the difference between the current state and the goal state

• requires knowledge of goal location

• processes that monitor our progress during problem-solving and reasoning, and which influence the strategies that we adopt
• when an answer is produced to any problem, judgments of solvability and feelings of rightness or error influence our decision of which strategy to use and whether or not to continue problem-solving

someone who is economical with the time and effort when performing a thinking task

a test assessing individuals' tendencies to override intuitive (but incorrect) answers to problems

an innovative problem-solving methodology mostly used for ill-defined problems. It challenges the human brain to work in ways that counter routine patterns of thinking

1. Empathise
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test

an abstract schematic structure consisting of a mixture of fixed and variable info about chess pieces and positions