Objects as knowledge: A case study of outsight

Abstract

A laboratory procedure employing insight problems allows researcher to capture how new ideas are discovered or constructed. Insight problems are relatively simple riddles designed to encourage an initially incorrect interpretation of the problem that leads to an impasse: Researchers are then poised to capture the moment the impasse is overcome, that is when a new productive interpretation of the problem is developed resulting in the solution. Researchers call this process ‘restructuring’: while the term describes the phenomenon, it is not clear how it explains it nor how restructuring comes about. The case study we describe here reveals the micro-processes involved in restructuring by using an interactive problem-solving procedure involving matchstick arithmetic problems. Originally developed by Knoblich et al., these problems present a simple but false arithmetic expression using Roman numerals: Participant must discover which matchstick can be moved and where to turn it into a true expression. The participant can manipulate matchsticks, and in doing so creates a dynamic object, the behaviour of which triggers new actions and cues new hypotheses about the solution. We present the case-study data in the form of a video of a participant instructed to narrate hunches and hypotheses as she interacts with a physical model of the solution, over three separate problems. On the basis of a granular coding of the participant’s verbal protocol along with an equally granular coding of the changes to the object (using ELAN; https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan ), the case study is the first to clearly reveal the restructuring process that results in the phenomenon of ‘outsight’, that is when the behaviour and polymorphic changes to the object qua model of the solution guides the participant to the solution.