- Insight phenomenology
When people solve, or attempt to solve an insight
puzzle , they experience a common phenomenology, that is, a set of behavioural properties that accompany problem-solving activity (for a useful edited review of insight problems and their phenomenology, see Sternberg & Davidson, 1995). Other kinds of puzzle, such as theTower of Hanoi , an example of atransformation problem , tend not to yield these phenomena. The phenomena may include:* Impasse: An individual reaches a point where he or she simply appears to run out of ideas of new things to try that might solve a problem.
* Fixation: An individual repeats the same type of solution attempt again and again, even when they see that it does not seem to lead to solution.
* Incubation: A pause or gap between attempts to solve a problem can sometimes appear to aid the finding of a solution, as if one is clearing the mind of faulty ideas.
* The 'Aha' experience: The solutions to some insight problems can seem to appear from nowhere, like a Eureka moment.
References
Sternberg, R. J. and J. E. Davidson (1995). The nature of insight. Cambridge MA, MIT Press.
ee also
*
Wolfgang Köhler
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