Key Actions in Insight Problems: Further Evidence for the Importance of Non-Dot Turns in the Nine-Dot Problem
Trina C. Kershaw · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 2004
Key actions are single actions or behaviors that can be singled out as leading to the solution of a problem.In the nine-dot problem (Maier, 1930), Kershaw and Ohlsson (2004) proposed that non-dot turns are the key action necessary for solution.In two experiments, non-dot turns are further analyzed as the key action necessary for solving the nine-dot problem and its variants.Non-dot turns are found to be predictive of solution, while the classic conception of drawing lines outside the dots does not distinguish between solvers and non-solvers. Key Actions in Problem Solving