Lasting reductions in illegal moves following increasing their cost: Evidence from river-crossing problems

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Peter F. Delaney, Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Improving problem solving requires understanding what difficulties people have when they approach novel problems. Some of the known difficulties include identifying and understanding the operators (Kotovsky & Simon, 1990) or having implicit but wrong constraints on move selection (Richard, Poitrenaud, & Tijus, 1993), memory load imposed by the task or external circumstances (Kotovsky, Hayes, & Simon, 1985), whether the rules agree with real-world knowledge (Griggs & Cox, 1983; Kotovsky & Simon, 1990), difficulties in planning ahead (Atwood, Masson, & Polson, 1980; Atwood & Polson, 1976; Delaney, Ericsson, & Knowles, 2004), failures to sufficiently reflect on move selection (Davies, 2000), and heuristic biases that may lead problem solvers to select the wrong move at any given time (e.g., Atwood et al., 1980; Atwood & Polson, 1976).

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 31, 670-682
Language: English
Date: 2005
Keywords
problem solving, novel problems, planning, external circumstances, illegal moves

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