Deck 8: Problem Solving

Question 1

_____ refers to an action that will transform the problem state into another problem state.

A) Goal state
B) Operator
C) Search
D) State

Answer 1

Operator

Question 2

The _____ cortex plays a major role in the overall organization of behavior.

A) parietal
B) prefrontal
C) sensorimotor
D) temporal

Answer 2

prefrontal

Question 3

According to Daw and colleagues (2005),one basis for learning operators involves the _____,where simple associations are gradually reinforced.

A) basal ganglia
B) parietal cortex
C) prefrontal cortex
D) temporal cortex

Answer 3

basal ganglia

Question 4

According to Daw and colleagues (2005),one basis for learning operators involves the _____,where a mental model of how the operators work is built.

A) basal ganglia
B) parietal cortex
C) prefrontal cortex
D) temporal cortex

Question 5

What is the ONLY method of acquiring new operators that most other creatures have?

A) discovery
B) insight
C) observation
D) direct instruction

Question 6

Problem solving depends on the:

A) cerebellum.
B) parietal cortex.
C) prefrontal cortex.
D) temporal cortex.

Question 7

_____ prefrontal structures have expanded the MOST in the human brain.

A) Left-hemisphere
B) Right-hemisphere
C) Posterior
D) Ventral

Question 8

_____ trees visually represent the various problem states.

A) Goal
B) Problem
C) Search
D) State

Question 9

Problem solving is described in terms of searching a _____ space.

A) goal
B) problem
C) search
D) state

Question 10

The capacity of nonhuman primates for learning by imitation has often been:

A) overestimated.
B) underestimated.
C) accurately estimated.
D) It depends on the nonhuman primate.

Question 11

_____ is/are better for learning problem-solving operators.

A) Abstract instruction
B) Direct instruction
C) Examples
D) Either abstract instruction or direct instruction

Question 12

_____ is the process by which the solver uses the operators of one problem to solve another.

A) Analogy
B) Discovery
C) Insight
D) Observation

Question 13

Which is NOT a feature of problem solving?

A) goal directedness
B) goal-space search
C) operator application
D) subgoal decomposition

Question 14

The capacity to solve analogical problems is:

A) only found in humans.
B) almost uniquely found in humans.
C) only found in primates.
D) only found in mammals.

Question 15

A(n)_____ is a representation of the problem in some degree of solution.

A) intermediate goal space
B) intermediate problem space
C) intermediate search
D) state

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a way to acquire new problem-solving operators?

A) discovery
B) insight
C) observation
D) direct instruction

Question 17

The solution to a problem is achieved through:

A) goal search.
B) problem search.
C) search.
D) state search.

Question 18

_____ prefrontal structures tend to be more involved in the organization of behavior.

A) Left-hemisphere
B) Right-hemisphere
C) Posterior
D) Ventral

Question 19

According to Halford (1992),what is the hallmark of human cognition?

A) analogical reasoning
B) communication
C) concept of self
D) theory of mind

Question 20

When Gick and Holyoak (1980)read participants the story about the general and the dictator,and then gave them Dunker's (1945)ray problem,what did they find?

A) Many participants immediately noticed the relevance of the first story to the second.
B) Participants had to be explicitly told to use the first story as an analogy for the second.
C) Even with direction,many participants did not connect the first story to the second.
D) Many participants immediately realized that the two stories were unrelated.

Question 21

Difference reduction is sometimes called:

A) backup avoidance.
B) hill climbing.
C) means-ends analysis.
D) search.

Question 22

What is the major advantage of means-ends analysis over difference reduction?

A) Means-ends analysis will abandon an operator if it cannot be applied immediately.
B) Means-ends analysis will not abandon an operator if it cannot be applied immediately.
C) Means-ends analysis tries to eliminate the differences between the current state and the goal state.
D) Means-ends analysis does not try to eliminate the differences between the current state and the goal state.

Question 23

The _____ plays a critical role in maintaining goal structures.

A) basal ganglia
B) cerebellum
C) nucleus accumbens
D) prefrontal cortex

Question 24

Patients with _____ damage have difficulty inhibiting a predominant response.

A) cerebellar
B) prefrontal
C) parietal
D) temporal

Question 25

_____ refers to the tendency to see objects as serving only conventional functions.

A) Functional fixedness
B) Incubation effects
C) Set effects
D) Einstellung effects

Question 26

The Tower of Hanoi problem is solved by adopting a _____ strategy.

A) backup-avoidance
B) difference-reduction
C) hill-climbing
D) means-ends

Question 27

_____ biases the solver against any operator that undoes the effect of the previous operators.

A) Backup avoidance
B) Difference reduction
C) Hill climbing
D) Means-ends analysis

Question 28

Failure to see a hammer as a paperweight is an example of:

A) Einstellung effects.
B) functional fixedness.
C) incubation effects.
D) set effects.

Question 29

Which method do humans NOT use to guide their selection of operators?

A) backup avoidance
B) hill climbing
C) means-ends analysis
D) search

Question 30

Children under the age of 5 experience difficulty solving analogical reasoning problems because their _____ cortices have not yet matured.

A) temporal
B) sensorimotor
C) parietal
D) frontal

Question 31

We can become biased by our experiences to prefer certain operators when solving a problem.This is referred to as a(n)_____ effect.

A) analogy
B) incubation
C) insight
D) set

Question 32

Humans tend to select the non-repeating operator that MOST reduces the difference between the current state and the goal.This is referred to as:

A) backup avoidance.
B) difference reduction.
C) means-ends analysis.
D) search.

Question 33

Which group does NOT have special difficulty with analogy problems?

A) children under the age of 5
B) nonhuman primates
C) patients with frontal damage
D) patients with parietal damage

Question 34

One of the major prerequisites to developing complex goal structures is the ability to maintain these goal structures in _____ memory.

A) prefrontal
B) long-term
C) short-term
D) working

Question 35

_____ describes the creation of a new goal to enable an operator to apply.

A) Backup avoidance
B) Difference reduction
C) Hill climbing
D) Means-ends analysis

Question 36

Analogical problem solving depends on the:

A) basal ganglia.
B) parietal cortex.
C) prefrontal cortex.
D) temporal cortex.

Question 37

Kotovsky and colleagues (1985)studied the way individuals approach the Tower of Hanoi problem.They found that participants:

A) adopted the backup-avoidance strategy.
B) adopted the difference-reduction strategy.
C) initially adopted the backup-avoidance strategy,then switched to a means-ends strategy.
D) initially adopted the difference-reduction strategy,then switched to a means-ends strategy.

Question 38

Novel tool building is an instance of:

A) backup avoidance.
B) hill climbing.
C) means-ends analysis.
D) operator subgoaling.

Question 39

_____ subgoal refers to a subgoal whose purpose is to unblock the application of an operator.

A) Applicator
B) Means-ends
C) Operator
D) Release

Question 40

How did Sarah,Premack's chimpanzee,perform on analogy-solving tasks?

A) Sarah solved these problems more often than chance,but she was more prone to error than human participants.
B) Sarah solved these problems more often than they would have been by chance,and she was less prone to error than human participants.
C) Sarah solved these problems less often than they would have been by chance,and she was more prone to error than human participants.
D) Sarah solved these problems less often than they would have been by chance,but she was less prone to error than human participants.

Question 41

The best learning occurs when students have access to abstract instruction and examples.Why?

Question 42

Describe the three ways to acquire new problem-solving operators.

Question 43

The BEST explanation for incubation effects relates them to:

A) atmosphere effects.
B) functional fixedness.
C) insight effects.
D) set effects.

Question 44

Describe the problem-solving process.

Question 45

What is hill climbing? What is its potential flaw?

Question 46

List three ways to acquire new problem-solving operators.

Question 47

How did Sarah,Premack's chimpanzee,respond to analogies?

Question 48

List the three features of problem solving.

Question 49

Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987)found that,15 seconds before solving an insight problem,participants:

A) were very confident that they were close to a solution.
B) were fairly confident that they were close to a solution.
C) had little idea that they were close to a solution.
D) reported absolutely no knowledge of the solution.

Question 50

A(n)_____ problem is one in which individuals are not aware that they are close to a solution.

A) incubation
B) insight
C) non-insight
D) set

Question 51

Young children have difficulty with analogy problems.Why?

Question 52

Metcalfe and Wiebe (1987)found that,15 seconds before solving a non-insight problem,participants:

A) were very confident that they were close to a solution.
B) were fairly confident that they were close to a solution.
C) had little idea that they were close to a solution.
D) reported absolutely no knowledge of the solution.

Question 53

Only humans are capable of advanced problem solving.Why?

Question 54

When solving an insight problem,the solution comes:

A) in a single moment.
B) almost immediately.
C) only to some people.
D) little by little.

Question 55

How is means-ends analysis similar to difference reduction?

Question 56

What are the three features of problem solving?

Question 57

What is the BEST explanation for incubation effects?

Question 58

Describe the three criteria that humans use to select operators.

Question 59

What is functional fixedness?

Question 60

What is an analogy?

Question 61

The population for which there is NO evidence of difficulty solving two-dimensional analogy problems is:

A) patients with frontal lobe damage.
B) Korsakoff's syndrome patients.
C) children younger than 5 years.
D) nonhuman primates.

Question 62

Newell and Simon's General Problem Solver (GPS)is a computer simulation program,a type of artificial intelligence that solves problems by employing the problem-solving operator of:

A) representativeness.
B) algorithmic sequencing.
C) means-ends analysis.
D) mental set.

Question 63

Fincham,Carter,van Veen,Stenger,and Anderson (2002)found that the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD)response of participants engaged in the Tower of Hanoi problem was related to the variable of the:

A) amount of experience each individual had with the problem.
B) gender of the participant.
C) goal load of the problem.
D) IQ of the participant.

Question 64

Analogical problem solving is supported by the lateral geniculate nucleus.

Question 65

What is an insight problem?

Question 66

Chimpanzees are capable of solving analogies.

Question 67

Participants do not know when they are close to the solution of an insight problem.

Question 68

What are incubation effects?

Question 69

Only humans engage in difference reduction.

Question 70

The hobbits and orcs problem is an example of the ineffectiveness of which problem-solving operator?

A) difference reduction
B) availability
C) anchoring and adjustment
D) remote association

Question 71

Humans CANNOT acquire new operators just by being told about them.

Question 72

Discovery is the ONLY method that most creatures have to learn new operators.

Question 73

Which factor is NOT an essential feature of the problem-solving activity of Sultan,the chimpanzee in Kohler's famous insight learning experiment?

A) goal directedness
B) environmental feedback
C) operator application
D) subgoal decomposition

Question 74

Which data display is a type of graph used to represent the start state of a problem and all states reachable from this state? It is possible to find the shortest sequence of operators between the start state and the goal state using this graphic display.

A) Venn diagram
B) grouped frequency table
C) search tree
D) Euler's circles

Question 75

Only humans are capable of advanced problem solving.

Question 76

Due to set effects,you might NOT see a coin as a screwdriver.

Question 77

The prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in maintaining goal structures.

Question 78

Which is NOT a way to acquire a new problem-solving operator?

A) intuition
B) heuristics
C) vicarious experience
D) insight

Question 79

The Tower of Hanoi problem is solved by adopting a backup avoidance strategy.

Question 80

What are set effects? What is the Einstellung effect?