Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems
While there is broad consensus that non-insight problems are typically solved through conscious, stepwise processes, the mechanisms underlying insight problem solving remain under debate. According to the <i>special process</i> view, insight relies on an unconscious restructuring that is...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Intelligence |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/13/3/36 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849342694985302016 |
|---|---|
| author | Laura Macchi Francesco Poli Laura Caravona |
| author_facet | Laura Macchi Francesco Poli Laura Caravona |
| author_sort | Laura Macchi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While there is broad consensus that non-insight problems are typically solved through conscious, stepwise processes, the mechanisms underlying insight problem solving remain under debate. According to the <i>special process</i> view, insight relies on an unconscious restructuring that is susceptible to verbal overshadowing. In contrast, the <i>business-as-usual</i> approach maintains that insight and non-insight solutions both emerge via similar, conscious procedures that should be unaffected by verbalization. A third, challenging, perspective, the <i>unconscious analytic thought</i> approach, claims that the insight problem-solving process is not only unconscious but also analytic, instead of being merely associative. Actually, this process requires cognitive resources also works at an unconscious layer, suggesting that it can be disrupted by forced verbalization, which demands great cognitive effort. Therefore, according to this approach, being asked to verbalize the simultaneous processing of insight problem solving would hampers restructuring. To disentangle these positions, we compared participants’ performances on an insight problem and a non-insight problem under either concurrent verbalization or silent conditions. Our results show that verbalization significantly hampered insight problem solving, yet dramatically aided non-insight performance. Overall, our results provide evidence supporting the role of unconscious analytic processes in the resolution of insight problems, in contrast with the stepwise, conscious procedure used for the resolution of non-insight problems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-81d1fbc76ff0440eaeacd6635640e887 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2079-3200 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Intelligence |
| spelling | doaj-art-81d1fbc76ff0440eaeacd6635640e8872025-08-20T03:43:16ZengMDPI AGJournal of Intelligence2079-32002025-03-011333610.3390/jintelligence13030036Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight ProblemsLaura Macchi0Francesco Poli1Laura Caravona2Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, ItalyDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDepartment of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, ItalyWhile there is broad consensus that non-insight problems are typically solved through conscious, stepwise processes, the mechanisms underlying insight problem solving remain under debate. According to the <i>special process</i> view, insight relies on an unconscious restructuring that is susceptible to verbal overshadowing. In contrast, the <i>business-as-usual</i> approach maintains that insight and non-insight solutions both emerge via similar, conscious procedures that should be unaffected by verbalization. A third, challenging, perspective, the <i>unconscious analytic thought</i> approach, claims that the insight problem-solving process is not only unconscious but also analytic, instead of being merely associative. Actually, this process requires cognitive resources also works at an unconscious layer, suggesting that it can be disrupted by forced verbalization, which demands great cognitive effort. Therefore, according to this approach, being asked to verbalize the simultaneous processing of insight problem solving would hampers restructuring. To disentangle these positions, we compared participants’ performances on an insight problem and a non-insight problem under either concurrent verbalization or silent conditions. Our results show that verbalization significantly hampered insight problem solving, yet dramatically aided non-insight performance. Overall, our results provide evidence supporting the role of unconscious analytic processes in the resolution of insight problems, in contrast with the stepwise, conscious procedure used for the resolution of non-insight problems.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/13/3/36insight problemsnon-insight problemsverbalizationunconscious analytic thought |
| spellingShingle | Laura Macchi Francesco Poli Laura Caravona Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems Journal of Intelligence insight problems non-insight problems verbalization unconscious analytic thought |
| title | Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems |
| title_full | Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems |
| title_fullStr | Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems |
| title_short | Dissociable Effects of Verbalization on Solving Insight and Non-Insight Problems |
| title_sort | dissociable effects of verbalization on solving insight and non insight problems |
| topic | insight problems non-insight problems verbalization unconscious analytic thought |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/13/3/36 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lauramacchi dissociableeffectsofverbalizationonsolvinginsightandnoninsightproblems AT francescopoli dissociableeffectsofverbalizationonsolvinginsightandnoninsightproblems AT lauracaravona dissociableeffectsofverbalizationonsolvinginsightandnoninsightproblems |