Osman, M. (2007) Observation can be as effective as action in problem solving. (ELSE Working Papers 282). ESRC Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution: London, UK.
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Abstract
The present study discusses findings that replicate and extend the original work of Burns and Vollmeyer (2002), which showed that performance in problem solving tasks was more accurate when people were engaged in a non-specific goal than in a specific goal. The main innovation here was to examine the goal specificity effect under both observation-based and conventional action-based learning conditions. The findings show that goal specificity affects the accuracy of problem solving in the same way, both when the learning stage of the task is observation based and when it is action-based. Additionally, the findings show that, when instructions do not promote goal specificity, observation-based problem solving is as effective as action-based problem solving.
| Type: | Working / discussion paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Observation can be as effective as action in problem solving |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | http://else.econ.ucl.ac.uk/newweb/papers.php#2007 |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | Problem solving, skill acquisition and learning, observation vs. intervention |
| UCL classification: | UCL > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Psychology and Language Sciences (Division of) > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience |
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