2,011 research outputs found
Categories of insight and their correlates: An exploration of relationships among classic-type insight problems, rebus puzzles, remote associates and esoteric analogies.
A central question in creativity concerns how insightful ideas emerge. Anecdotal examples of insightful scientific and technical discoveries include Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization of rubber, and Mendeleev's realization that there may be gaps as he tried to arrange the elements into the Periodic Table. Although most people would regard these discoveries as insightful, cognitive psychologists have had difficulty in agreeing on whether such ideas resulted from insights or from conventional problem solving processes. One area of wide agreement among psychologists is that insight involves a process of restructuring. If this view is correct, then understanding insight and its role in problem solving will depend on a better understanding of restructuring and the characteristics that describe it.
This article proposes and tests a preliminary classification of insight problems based on several restructuring characteristics: the need to redefine spatial assumptions, the need to change defined forms, the degree of misdirection involved, the difficulty in visualizing a possible solution, the number of restructuring sequences in the problem, and the requirement for figure-ground type reversals. A second purpose of the study was to compare performance on classic spatial insight problems with two types of verbal tests that may be related to insight, the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and rebus puzzles. In doing so, we report on the results of a survey of 172 business students at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who completed classic-type insight, RAT and rebus problems
Stochastic lattice models for the dynamics of linear polymers
Linear polymers are represented as chains of hopping reptons and their motion
is described as a stochastic process on a lattice. This admittedly crude
approximation still catches essential physics of polymer motion, i.e. the
universal properties as function of polymer length. More than the static
properties, the dynamics depends on the rules of motion. Small changes in the
hopping probabilities can result in different universal behavior. In particular
the cross-over between Rouse dynamics and reptation is controlled by the types
and strength of the hoppings that are allowed. The properties are analyzed
using a calculational scheme based on an analogy with one-dimensional spin
systems. It leads to accurate data for intermediately long polymers. These are
extrapolated to arbitrarily long polymers, by means of finite-size-scaling
analysis. Exponents and cross-over functions for the renewal time and the
diffusion coefficient are discussed for various types of motion.Comment: 60 pages, 19 figure
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Enabling spontaneous analogy through heuristic change
Despite analogy playing a central role in theories of problem solving, learning and education, demonstrations of spontaneous analogical transfer are rare. Here, we present a theory of heuristic change for spontaneous analogical transfer, tested in four experiments that manipulated the experience of failure to solve a source problem prior to attempting a target problem. In Experiment 1, participants solved more source problems that contained an additional financial constraint designed to signal the inappropriateness of moves that maximized progress towards the goal. This constraint also led to higher rates of spontaneous analogical transfer to a superficially similar problem. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the effects of this constraint extend to superficially and structurally different analogs. Experiment 4 generalized the finding to a non-analogous target problem that also benefitted from inhibiting maximizing moves. The results indicate that spontaneous transfer can arise through experience during the solution of a source problem that alters the heuristic chosen for solving both analogical and non-analogical target problems
Complete spectrum of the infinite- Hubbard ring using group theory
We present a full analytical solution of the multiconfigurational
strongly-correlated mixed-valence problem corresponding to the -Hubbard ring
filled with electrons, and infinite on-site repulsion. While the
eigenvalues and the eigenstates of the model are known already, analytical
determination of their degeneracy is presented here for the first time. The
full solution, including degeneracy count, is achieved for each spin
configuration by mapping the Hubbard model into a set of Huckel-annulene
problems for rings of variable size. The number and size of these effective
Huckel annulenes, both crucial to obtain Hubbard states and their degeneracy,
are determined by solving a well-known combinatorial enumeration problem, the
necklace problem for beads and two colors, within each subgroup of the
permutation group. Symmetry-adapted solution of the necklace
enumeration problem is finally achieved by means of the subduction of coset
representation technique [S. Fujita, Theor. Chim. Acta 76, 247 (1989)], which
provides a general and elegant strategy to solve the one-hole infinite-
Hubbard problem, including degeneracy count, for any ring size. The proposed
group theoretical strategy to solve the infinite- Hubbard problem for
electrons, is easily generalized to the case of arbitrary electron count ,
by analyzing the permutation group and all its subgroups.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures. Submitte
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