Chapter 2 Purpose of the Present Study

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Chapter 2 Purpose of the Present Study

The purpose of the present study is to deal with the above limitations to determine the role the operation of hints plays in the shift between the construction and reconstruction of representations in verbal insight problem solving. We simultaneously manipulated factors relevant to the construction of representations and the operation of hints to examine how these manipulations interact to influence the solver’s performance. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the typicality of critical components and the hint salience. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the content of the preceding associates tasks and the hints salience. Both experiments aimed at examining the interaction between the construction of representations and the operation of hints in insight problem solving. By investigating the interactions among these factors, we argued that it would be possible for researchers to portray a complete picture of the cognitive mechanism underlying insight problem solving.

This study had several advantages over past studies. First, we used a set of problems rather than a single problem in experiments. According to Bowden et al. (2005), the use of small numbers of problems in experiments is one of the limitations of classical insight research. It is argued that the reliance on small numbers of problem decreases the reliability of data, limits the variety of techniques, and hinders the clear decomposition of the components processes of insight problem solving. To deal with the limitation, they developed a framework with a relatively large set of compound remote associates problems for research on insight (Bowden & Jung-Beeman, 2003).

However, the compound remote associates problems are not as complex as classic

insight problems (Bowden & Jung-Beeman, 1998). Whether the process of solving a

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compound remote associates problem is identical to that of solving a classic insight problem remains an open question. Moreover, the compound remote associates problems are physically compact. The feature makes it difficult for us to conduct manipulations with the problems to examine the interaction between the construction of representations and the operation of hints. Hence, it seems necessary for us to employ a set of problems in our experiments.

Second, the present study went beyond the explanation of phenomenology. We empirically addressed the interaction between the construction of representations and the operation of hints. By simultaneously manipulating factors relevant to the construction of representations and the operation of hints, we attempted to portray a complete picture of the operation of hints underlying the shift between the construction and reconstruction of representations in insight problem solving.

Third, we employed a specific subcategory of insight problems, verbal insight problem, in our experiments. While past studies examining the operation of hints in insight problem solving tend to employ spatial insight problems as their experimental tasks, the operation of hints in verbal insight problem solving is rarely investigated.

Hence, on the basis of Dow and Mayer’s (2004) cluster analysis sorting insight

problems into different subcategories, we selected insight problems sorted as verbal

ones to examine whether the operation of hints in spatial insight problem solving can

be generalized to verbal insight problem solving.