Testing Two Cognitive Theories Of Insight

There are mainly two theories explaining the cognitive mechanism of insight problem resolving. One is the representational change theory, and the other is the progress monitoring theory. The two theories explain insight problem solving in different ways. The main support for the representational change theory is from one-step problems while the main support for the progress monitoring theory is from limited-move problems. By reviewing the two theories, we think although the progress monitoring theory has explained why insight problems are difficult, it doesn't tell us why insight problems can be solved. And the progress monitoring theory looks at the insight problems resolving progress as hill-climbing, which is the same as the ordinary problem solving progress. The representational change theory has explained how insight problems can be solved. It claims the changing of problem representation causes the insight problems to be solved, but it doesn't give us the reason how and when the representation of problem changes. We think that there are three cognitive phases in the process of solving insight problem and put forward a hypothesis about activation of clue in insight problem solving.This research consists of three experiments. Experiment 1 checked progress monitoring theory while Experiment 2 aimed to the representational change theory. On the basis of Experiment 1 and 2, Experiment 3 reviewed the clue activation...