Phenomenology

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When people solve, or attempt to solve an insight puzzle, they experience a common Phenomenology, that is, a set of behavioural properties that accompany problem-solving activity (for a useful edited review of insight problems and their phenomenology, see Sternberg & Davidson, 1995). Other kinds of puzzle, such as the Tower of Hanoi, an example of a transformation problem, tend not to yield these phenomena. The phenomena may include:

• Impasse: An individual reaches a point where he or she simply appears to run out of ideas of new things to try that might solve a problem.

• Fixation: An individual repeats the same type of solution attempt again and again, even when they see that it does not seem to lead to solution.

• Incubation: A pause or gap between attempts to solve a problem can sometimes appear to aid the finding of a solution, as if one is clearing the mind of faulty ideas.

• The 'Aha' experience: The solutions to some insight problems can seem to appear from nowhere, like a Eureka moment.

References

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Sternberg, R. J. and J. E. Davidson (1995). The nature of insight. Cambridge MA, MIT Press.

Problem solving