# Tag Info

17

The phenomenon's called the incubation effect. Wikipedia operationally defines the incubation effect as any benefit of a break during problem solving. In Wallas’ (1926) four-stage model of innovative problem solving or creativity, the incubation stage is the stage in which one takes some time away from the problem (the stages are: preparation, incubation, ...

8

Actually, standard IQ tests, such as Raven's matrices, tend to assess intelligence better if they are not timed. In this paper by Philip Vernon (1988) it was found that the g-factor extracted slightly more variance for the same test if the test was not timed than if it had a time limit. This means if you ask yourself: "What is this test measuring?", you can ...

7

Probably both a combination of being more tired and fewer distractions. Most other people will be asleep during the night. Programming is adversely affected by context-switching, thus night-time with stimulant-enhanced soda is more likely to provide you with long periods of interruption free coding. Update: The above situation creates the conditions where ...

7

I just quickly looked this up on Google Scholar and found the following interesting reference : JN Macgregor, T Ormerod. "Human performance on the traveling salesman problem." Perception & Psychophysics Volume 58, Issue 4, pp 527-539 (June 1996) This paper claims that "complexity of TSPs is a function of number of nonboundary points, not total number ...

6

I think it is often a myth that people work better under pressure. Most people who say they work better under pressure have not really tried working under normal conditions. Even if a person thinks he works better under pressure, he may work better under normal conditions. That being said, pressure (more specifically time pressure) helps in providing closure ...

6

There are two theoretical constructions that may be of use to you: Scaffolding "...what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow" -Vygotsky You are right to graduate the level of difficulty of problems the students encounter. Intuitively, a student has before her a level of task which, although perhaps ...

6

There are a couple of defence mechanisms that may fit the bill. Keep in mind that these defence mechanisms typically involve an unconscious denial of the problem - ie, they apply to people who don't admit to the problem in themselves. Projection: ... a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their ...

5

One answer is through turning off these messages or "tasks" via mindful awareness and focused attention on another task requiring much less cognitive load - like breathing. Look up Dr. Jeffery Schwartz's book "You Are Not Your Brain" for scientific data on this. Basically, latest scientific research shows that we can use our mind to stop the brain (or ...

5

I'm taking your question to be equivalent to "how does the human brain differ from a computer?". Indeed, it's well-established that humans outperform computers in a large number of contexts, but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why this is. The best answer you'll get is one that outlines how the two computational systems differ. Let me start ...

4

Critical thinking is an ill-defined concept in the cognitive sciences, so this question most likely has as many answers as there are measures of IQ and critical thinking. An accessible introduction to the literature is available here, with the general cognitive conception of critical thinking given as follows: ... the mental activities that are typically ...

4

You might be looking at cases of psychological projection, which is a method of denial in which people defend themselves from their own negative impulses by attributing them to others. In accordance with the theory, it is less a problem of 'defending' others from getting anywhere near the problem, and more an act of projecting the problem onto others, or ...

3

I imagine this question is tricky for students for a several reasons. Question wording: The question may suggest to the student that it is possible to differentiate $x!$. Or they may assume from the wording that some meaning is meant where it is possible to differentiate. For example, alternatively, you could ask a set of questions, one for each functions, ...

3

Is there a psychological condition which promotes literal and overly complicated thinking? Yes, I think so... Its called intelligence. Is this a known condition? You want a literal answer? Then "Yes" What, neurologically, may cause this in the brain? Something amiss in the corpus callosum Are there ways to improve this? If you can teach an ...

3

First of all, I agree that socialization and culture are most certainly the main reasons why today most famous inventors are male. If you are looking for sex differences that may explain further variance, studies have found that the variance in IQ (g) among males is greater than among females: Some studies have identified the degree of IQ variance as a ...

3

MariaAnt provided a relevant definition of complex problem solving in the answer to the question, "Research operationalizing so-called strategic thinking?" based on Frensch and Funke (1995). [Complex problem solving] occurs to overcome barriers between a given state and a desired goal state by means of behavioral and/or cognitive, multistep ...

3

Almost every area of your brain would be involved in learning and understanding such high-level topics, so any perceived inability to learn a specific topic is very unlikely to be due to a particular area of your brain not working optimally. Learning new things can take a lot of time and practice. A lot of times people don't see as much improvement as they ...

3

According the the Yerkes–Dodson law, a moderate level of arousal gives energy to the task, improving performance. The Yerkes–Dodson law is an empirical relationship between arousal and performance, originally developed by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908. The law dictates that performance increases with physiological ...

3

Quick answer: A brief Google search show cases where this occurred. For example, it seems that a study on medical students showed a significant relationship between confidence and ability after training, although not before training (Clanton et al., 2014). This being said, the Dunning-Kruger effect always comes to mind when such questions come up… ...

3

I think what you are reffering to is known as self-efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. ... A strong sense of ...

3

The "overheat" (flushing of the skin) you experience is a common-enough reaction to stress, part of the fight-or-flight response. It's not uncommon for people to experince it during exams; generally exam/test axniety is related to both internal and external factors (or perception thereof) Self-esteem was a significant and strong predictor of test anxiety. ...

2

This is all a fairly abstract discussion when it's independent of a particular task. Insights are by definition those discoveries that you couldn't immediately make. Thus, they are often on the horizon of your understanding. So if you knew more to begin with, the solution may have been obvious. And ultimately solving the problem is typically the goal ...

2

This is not intended an answer. I have a couple observations and I want actual formatting. You say: So, I've broken down larger problems into smaller problems. I've arranged these problems in the increasing level of difficulty. For the patterns to be remembered properly, I've increased no. of simple problems. and then: I'm ensuring that students ...

2

There are no known domain-general ways of formulating good questions and problems—what constitutes a good question or problem formulation depends on the field or domain. A good psychology question is different from a good literary question, which in turn is different from a good business question. Because there are no known domain-independent ways of ...

2

This ted talk video would probably interest you. It seems the current understanding is that it would depend on both the individual, and the type of task they are performing. Here are the general tendencies I've seen/been taught. For physical tasks or tasks where the important factor is strength and effort, time constraints and rewards tend to increase the ...

2

Dual Task research In general, I think a lot depends on what is the secondary task and how it relates to the primary task (see human multitasking). In general, secondary tasks tend to lower performance on the primary task. A classic combinations where there may be facilitation is music with gross motor tasks, where the music is often experienced as ...

Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible