When Higher Working Memory Capacity Hinders Insight

Autor/inn/en	DeCaro, Marci S.; Van Stockum, Charles A., Jr.; Wieth, Mareike B.
Titel	When Higher Working Memory Capacity Hinders Insight
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42 (2016) 1, S.39-49 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/xlm0000152
Schlagwörter	Short Term Memory; Cognitive Ability; Attention Control; Intuition; Problem Solving; Barriers; Cognitive Processes; Educational Experiments; Arithmetic; Thinking Skills; Accuracy; Undergraduate Students; Task Analysis; Prediction + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kurzzeitgedächtnis; Denkfähigkeit; Aufmerksamkeitstest; Problemlösen; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Schulversuch; Addition; Arithmetik; Arithmetikunterricht; Rechnen; Aufgabenanalyse; Vorhersage
Abstract	Higher working memory capacity (WMC) improves performance on a range of cognitive and academic tasks. However, a greater ability to control attention sometimes leads individuals with higher WMC to persist in using complex, attention-demanding approaches that are suboptimal for a given task. We examined whether higher WMC would hinder insight problem solving, which is thought to rely on associative processes that operate largely outside of close attentional control. In addition, we examined whether characteristics of the insight problems influence whether this negative relationship will be revealed. In Experiment 1, participants completed matchstick arithmetic problems, which require a similar initial problem representation for all problems. Higher WMC was associated with less accurate insight problem solving. In Experiment 2, participants completed insight word problems, which require substantially different representations for each problem. Higher WMC was again negatively associated with insight, but only after statistically controlling for shared variance between insight and incremental problem-solving accuracy. These findings suggest that WMC may benefit performance on fundamental processes common to both incremental and insight problem solving (e.g., initial problem representation), but hinder performance on the processes that are unique to insight (e.g., solution and restructuring). By considering the WMC of the individual, and the nature of the insight task, we may better understand the process of insight and how to best support it. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01