The involvement of decomposition and composition processes in restructuring during problem solving

This study aims to investigate the roles of both decomposition and composition processes in chunk restructuring, as well as their relationships with "aha" experiences during problem-solving. Participants were asked to move a part of a character to another character to create two new characters. Across three experiments, the characters to be decomposed or composed were varied in terms of tight or loose chunks. The results showed that decomposition or composition of tight chunks led to lower success rates, longer response times, and significantly stronger "Aha!" emotional experiences (mainly in terms of surprise and suddenness). This study provides evidence for the contribution of both decomposition and composition processes to restructuring in creative insight.PMID:38598896 | DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2024.103685

Source: Consciousness and Cognition - April 10, 2024 Category: Neurology Authors: Zhonglu Zhang Yizhu Li Yuxin Zeng Jiamin Deng Qiang Xing Jing Luo Source Type: research