Implicit learning in problem solving: Case of analogy the link between “insight” and “incremental processes”

Abstract

In the recent past, some theories have been developed attempting to answer the following question “How do participants acquire knowledge of regularity that they encounter in an incidental learning situation?” (Frensch & Rünger, 2003). Wagner and colleagues (2004) have recently provided evidence by using a mathematical “Number Reduction Task”, which originates from Thurstone & Thurstone (1941) and have demonstrated sleep-dependent creative insight. However, this study focuses on the insight resolution itself to the exclusion of the other incremental processes that led up to changing qualitatively behaviour. Our hypothesis was to show and characterize this two contrasting implicit learning processes, by the extraction of analogies cues (Gick & Holyoak, 1983) inside a situation problem and under the positive influence of memory consolidation during sleep. Twenty sports students (age 20-27 yr), participated to a modified version of the NRT. This task requiring the learning of stimulus-response sequence, in which they improved gradually by increasing response speed across task blocks. In addition, they could also improve abruptly after gaining insight into a hidden abstract rule underlying all sequences. Our results suggest that the way a person represents a problem determines which kinds of links become active. We also obtained specifics qualitative results, like Vollmeyer et al. (1996) indicating that motivation can influence cognitive processes, and therefore lead to differential knowledge acquisition and performance.