Through what mental processes does insight occur? Gestalt psychologists stressed the importance of restructuring the problem, but did not show how it occurs or how it leads to generation of insight Here, we investigate the hypothesis that an external representation should allow regrouping of parts and thereby serve as a source of insight. A protocol analyses of an experienced architect confirmed this hypothesis: regrouping parts of sketch led to generation of insightful ideas. Further, novices who adopted the regrouping-parts strategy generated more interpretations of ambiguous drawings than those who didn't adopt the strategy. Regrouping seems to be an important component of cognitive processes enabling generation of insight, a general skill applicable to many kinds of external representations.
展开▼
