Chein Jason M, Weisberg Robert W
Department of Psychology, Temple University, 825 Weiss Hall 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA,
Mem Cognit. 2014 Jan;42(1):67-83. doi: 10.3758/s13421-013-0343-4.
Problem solving is sometimes accompanied by a sudden feeling of knowing, or insight. The specific cognitive processes that underlie insightful problem solving are a matter of great interest and debate. Although some investigators favor a special-process view, which explains insight in terms of specialized mechanisms that operate outside of conscious awareness, others favor a business-as-usual account, which posits that insightful problem solving involves the same conscious mechanisms-including working memory (WM) and attention-that are implicated in noninsightful problem solving. In the present study, we used an individual-differences approach to explore the contributions of WM and attention to the solution of compound remote associate (CRA) problems. On the basis of self-report insight ratings, we identified CRA problems whose solution was accompanied by a subjective feeling of insight and examined the correlations between problem performance and measures of WM capacity (verbal and spatial) and attention control (Stroop and antisaccade tasks). The results indicated that individual differences in verbal WM and attention significantly explained variation in overall CRA problem solving and, most importantly, in the occurrence of solutions that were accompanied by a feeling of insight. The findings implicated both modality-dependent WM mechanisms and modality-independent attention control mechanisms in this class of insight problems. Comparisons of the accuracy and solution-latency findings for insightfully versus noninsightfully solved CRA problems, and for participants working silently versus in a "think-aloud" condition, provided additional evidence against the special-process view, and reinforcing the business-as-usual account of insight.
解决问题有时会伴随着一种突然的知晓感或顿悟。构成顿悟式问题解决基础的具体认知过程是一个备受关注且存在争议的问题。尽管一些研究者支持特殊过程观点，该观点用在意识觉知之外运作的专门机制来解释顿悟，但另一些研究者则支持常规观点，该观点假定顿悟式问题解决涉及与非顿悟式问题解决相同的意识机制，包括工作记忆（WM）和注意力。在本研究中，我们采用个体差异方法来探究工作记忆和注意力对复合远程联想（CRA）问题解决的贡献。基于自我报告的顿悟评分，我们确定了那些解决过程伴随着主观顿悟感的CRA问题，并检验了问题表现与工作记忆容量（言语和空间）及注意力控制（斯特鲁普任务和反眼跳任务）测量指标之间的相关性。结果表明，言语工作记忆和注意力的个体差异显著解释了总体CRA问题解决中的变异，最重要的是，解释了伴随着顿悟感的解决方案的出现情况。这些发现表明，在这类顿悟问题中，既有依赖于模态的工作记忆机制，也有不依赖于模态的注意力控制机制。对顿悟式与非顿悟式解决的CRA问题的准确性和解决潜伏期结果进行比较，以及对在安静状态下与“出声思考”条件下工作的参与者进行比较，为反对特殊过程观点提供了额外证据，并强化了关于顿悟的常规观点。
