Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Kırklareli University, 39100, Kayalı, Kırklareli, Türkiye.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, 34134, Fatih, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Psychol Res. 2024 Jul;88(5):1522-1539. doi: 10.1007/s00426-024-01960-x. Epub 2024 Apr 17.
Previous research on how problem-difficulty affects solution-types of insight-problems has yielded contradictory findings. Thus, we aimed to examine the impact of problem-difficulty on solution-types in both inter- and intra-problem-difficulty contexts. For this, we employed the original 8-coin, and 9-dot problems and four hinted-versions of those that were manipulated by using hints-to-remove-sources-of-difficulty to alter their difficulty level. Those manipulations were executed based on the assumptions of constraint-relaxation and chunk-decomposition as posited by representational change theory. The study involved a total of 165 participants who were tested in five groups (33 per se), with each group receiving an original or hinted problem. Following their correct solutions, problem-solvers classified their solution-types (insight or non-insight solutions) by whether they had an Aha!-experience during the solution. Across all groups, 56.1% of correctly solved insight problems were solved with Aha!-experience, based on participants' self-reports, implying that correct solutions should not be equated with insight. Subsequently, the solution-type rates were compared for both original problems (inter-problem-difficulty) and hinted versions of those at each difficulty level (intra-problem-difficulty). Inter-problem-difficulty comparisons demonstrated that the easier 8-coin problem was more likely to be solved with insight than the harder 9-dot problem. In contrast, intra-problem-difficulty comparisons revealed that harder problems were more likely to be solved with insight. These findings suggest that problem-difficulty should be considered in future studies of insight. Finally, separate analyses on the predictive values of the cognitive-affective-dimensions on solution-types revealed that, after adjusting for problem-difficulty, problem-solvers with higher suddenness scores in both problems exhibited a significantly higher probability of generating insight solutions.
先前关于问题难度如何影响顿悟问题解决类型的研究得出了相互矛盾的结论。因此，我们旨在检验在问题难度的内、外部环境下，问题难度对解决类型的影响。为此，我们使用了原始的 8 硬币和 9 点问题，以及这两个问题的四个提示版本，这些提示版本通过使用提示来消除困难来源来操纵，从而改变其难度级别。这些操纵是根据代表转换理论中提出的约束松弛和块分解假设来执行的。该研究共涉及 165 名参与者，他们被分为五个组（每组 33 人）进行测试，每组接受一个原始问题或提示问题。在正确解决问题后，问题解决者根据他们在解决问题过程中是否有顿悟经验，将他们的解决类型（顿悟或非顿悟解决方案）进行分类。根据参与者的自我报告，在所有组中，56.1%的正确解决的顿悟问题是通过顿悟经验解决的，这意味着正确的解决方案不应等同于顿悟。随后，对每个难度级别的原始问题（内问题难度）和提示版本的解决类型率进行了比较。内问题难度比较表明，较容易的 8 硬币问题比较难的 9 点问题更有可能通过顿悟解决。相比之下，内问题难度比较表明，较难的问题更有可能通过顿悟解决。这些发现表明，在未来的顿悟研究中应该考虑问题难度。最后，对认知情感维度对解决类型的预测值进行了单独分析，结果表明，在调整问题难度后，两个问题中突然得分较高的问题解决者产生顿悟解决方案的概率显著提高。
