工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响

Effect of Working Memory on Insight and Analytic Problem Solving

采用顿悟-分析自我报告范式,以远距离联想任务为实验材料,从工作记忆容量和工作记忆负荷两个角度考察了工作记忆对顿悟和分析型问题解决的影响。结果表明,高工作记忆容量个体分析型问题解决的表现优于低工作记忆容量者,但在顿悟表现上无显著差异;工作记忆负荷较小时个体分析型问题解决表现更佳,但对顿悟表现没有影响。说明通过分析解决创造性问题的表现依赖于工作记忆的支持,而通过顿悟解决问题的表现与工作记忆无关。

Creative problems can be solved by either insight or analysis. Due to the close relationship between central executive function components of working memory and the effects of attention control and suppression of distraction, the effect of working memory on creative problem-solving has been discussed by numerous researchers. The present study tries to clarify whether working memory plays different roles in insight and analytic problem-solving. Based on the previous studies, it is proposed that different experimental materials and paradigms may cause interference. On the one hand, if the initial representation phase of creativity problem-solving process is too difficult, the relationship between the subsequent processing phase and working memory would not be embodied. On the other hand, different experimental materials for insight and analysis may cover the actual psychological process of problem-solving.This study focused on the relationship between working memory and creative problem-solving when the information processing load of representation stage was relatively small. The Remote Association Task was employed as the experimental material in the self-report paradigm to ensure that insight and analytic problem-solving could be compared under equivalent experimental conditions. In line with the previous studies, two experiments were conducted from the perspective of working memory capacity and additional working memory load respectively. In Experiment 1, before the Remote Association Task, working memory capacity of participants was measured by the Automation Operation Span Task. In Experiment 2, the dual-task paradigm was applied in which participants were asked to speak loudly following the warning sounds while completing the Remote Association Task to impose a high working memory load.The result shows that:(1) The overall performance of creative problem-solving by high WMC individuals is better. However, the proportion of problem-solving by means of insight is lower than that by low WMC individuals.(2) Higher working memory capacity is related to better performance on analytic approach instead of insight.(3) Additional working memory load has decreased creative problem-solving performance.(4) The number of problems solved by analysis under low WML is significantly higher than that under high WML, whereas there is no significant difference between the two conditions in the problems solved by insight.Such results suggest that adequate cognitive resources help problem-solvers to solve creative problems more analytically. However, when cognitive resources are insufficient, the proportion of problems solved by insight is larger. Meanwhile, when the information processing load of representation stage is relatively small, analytic problem-solving relies on the support of working memory which has no effect on insight. In this sense, the cognitive processing mechanism of insight and analytic problem-solving is different, and this study supports the special-process view.