Can Students Predict When Imagery Will Allow Them to Discover the Problem Solution?

Abstract

Three studies have been carried out to identify to what extent and on what grounds undergraduates realise that visual imagery can be useful to solve a problem. A series of problems had been selected according to the kind of task (logical, mathematical, geometrical, and practical) and to the objective level of imagery efficacy (as reported by previous experiments aimed at assessing the effects of mental visualisation on problem solving). Then, by means of different procedures, students were asked to rate how useful, in their opinion, mental visualisation is in solving each of such problems and to explain why they thought it is useful. Results showed that usefulness scores were highly consistent and were not affected by gender, course of study attended, and individual differences in imagery (vividness, control, and cognitive style). Undergraduates rated imagery as useful above all when problems deal with concrete situations, whereas mental images were not perceived as possible aids for abstract or conceptual problems. The subjective evaluation did not correspond to the objective effect. However, when a specific imagery strategy was described, the discrepancy between the subjective and objective measures decreased.