Hindsight bias in insight and mathematical problem solving: Evidence of different reconstruction mechanisms for metacognitive versus situational judgments

Investigating Insight as Sudden Learning

“…Other alternatives include effects of re-exposure such as reducing the effort needed to re-read the problem, reduced time in formulating a solution strategy, or excluding branches of the search space that were previously found to be ineffective (Ash, Wiley, & Cushen, 2009). Ash and Wiley (2008) also provided some evidence supporting the Gestalt notion of insight learning. This study used a hindsight bias paradigm to assess the initial representation of problems in memory.…”

“…Only those who successfully solved the insight puzzles had higher component importance scores in their second session memory ratings. In summary, Ash and Wiley (2008) found evidence that people who correctly solved insight problems acquired a more appropriate problem representation, and retained that more appropriate representation a week later without incremental practice or instructions asking them to attempt to remember their solutions. However, no evidence for attainment or retention of a more appropriate problem representation was observed when participants failed to solve the insight problems and were shown the answers.…”

“…Because Ash and Wiley (2008) directly tested insight problems against arithmetic problems that required the application of previously learned routines, these results go a step further than the Dominowski and Buyer (2001) re-solution results. However, these results still do not provide conclusive evidence for the Gestalt view of insight learning.…”

“…The present study combined the methodologies of previous studies by using component importance ratings as a measure of solvers' initial problem representations (Ash & Wiley, 2008), re-solution times on a second problem solving attempt to assess learning (Dominowski & Buyer, 2000), and verbal protocols to assess the occurrence of impasse (Fleck & Weisberg, 2004) in order to empirically investigate the central aspects of Gestalt insight learning theory. The object arrangement puzzles and arithmetic problems from Ash and Wiley (2008) were used in order to directly test for learning differences between problems solved by restructuring vs. routine solving procedures.…”

“…The object arrangement puzzles and arithmetic problems from Ash and Wiley (2008) were used in order to directly test for learning differences between problems solved by restructuring vs. routine solving procedures.…”