Objects as knowledge: A case study of outsight

Abstract

Insight problems offer an interesting laboratory procedure to capture the origin of a new idea. These problems are relatively simple riddles designed to encourage an initially incorrect interpretation of the problem that leads to an impasse: Researchers are then poised to capture the moment the impasse is overcome, that is when a new productive interpretation of the problem is developed resulting in the solution. Researchers call this process ‘restructuring’: while the term describes the phenomenon, it is not clear how it explains it nor how restructuring comes about. The case study we describe here reveals the micro-processes involved in restructuring by using an interactive problem-solving procedure involving matchstick arithmetic problems. Originally developed by Knoblich et al. (1999), these problems present a simple but false arithmetic expression using Roman numerals: Participant must discover which matchstick can be moved and where to turn it into a true expression. The participant can manipulate matchsticks, and in doing so creates a dynamic object, the behaviour of which cues new actions and triggers new hypotheses about the solution. We present the case-study data in the form of a video of a participant instructed to narrate hunches and hypotheses as she interacts with a physical model of the solution, over three separate problems. On the basis of a granular coding of the participant’s verbal protocol along with an equally granular coding of the changes to the object (using ELAN; https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan), the case study is the first to clearly reveal the restructuring process that results in the phenomenon of ‘outsight’ (Vallée-Tourangeau & March, 2020), that is when the behaviour and polymorphic changes to the object qua model of the solution guides the participant to the solution.