Roger L. Dominowski

Effects of hints and interpolated activity on solution of an insight problem

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of hints and interpolated activity on Ss’ behavior in trying to solve the hatrack problem. Results indicated that the “ceiling hint” was more effective in facilitating solution than the “clamp hint” but that interpolated activity alone was ineffective. In both experiments, Ss achieving low scores on the Gestalt transformations test responded to a hint more rapidly when it was given during continuous work compared to giving the hint after a period of interpolated activity; in contrast, high scorers responded more rapidly to a hint given after interpolated activity. Discussion centered on the conditions under which positive effects of interpolated activity might be expected.

Learning to solve insight problems

A series of seven insight problems was given to 28 male and 28 female college students. Each problem required that an object be used in a novel manner to reach solution, but both the critical object and its required use varied across problems. Subjects showed moderate improvement in performance on the second half of the problem series. Males solved more quickly than females; relatively stable and predictable individual differences in performance were observed. Results support the conclusions that insight problems form a class involving common abilities and that general transfer effects can occur if suffici6ent practice is given.

The effect of pronunciation practice on anagram difficulty

A comparison was made of the solution difficulty of anagrams differing in pronounceability but having the same solutions, either with or without prior pronunciation practice with the anagrams. Anagrams rated easier to pronounce had faster pronunciation speeds and lower solution probabilities. Pronunciation practice increased reading speed and reduced solution probability. It was suggested that pronounceability reflects Ss’ tendencies to deal with an anagram as a unit rather than as a sequence of letters, and the results were related to comparisons of word and nonsense anagrams.

Hypermnesia and the organization of recall

In this study, the role of organizational processes in hypermnesia was investigated. Subjects were given 40 simple riddles and asked to recall their answers on each of five consecutive recall trials. Two measures of organization, based on interitem response times during recall or on repetition of item pairings between successive recall trials, were used. The two measures yielded comparable findings. Total recall and organized recall increased across recall trials, but unorganized recall did not. The findings support the hypothesis that the construction of a relatively stable, interitem organizational scheme is important for the growth of recall. It was suggested that organizational processes may contribute to the maintenance of items once recalled rather than to their initial retrieval.