This article proposes a unified framework for understanding creative problem solving, namely, the explicit-implicit interaction theory. This new theory of creative problem solving constitutes an attempt at providing a more unified explanation of relevant phenomena (in part by reinterpreting/integrating various fragmentary existing theories of…

How can humans acquire relational representations that enable analogical inference and other forms of high-level reasoning? Using comparative relations as a model domain, we explore the possibility that bottom-up learning mechanisms applied to objects coded as feature vectors can yield representations of relations sufficient to solve analogy…

The 3 most often-used performance measures in the cognitive and decision sciences are choice, response or decision time, and confidence. We develop a random walk/diffusion theory--2-stage dynamic signal detection (2DSD) theory--that accounts for all 3 measures using a common underlying process. The model uses a drift diffusion process to account…

How do people select among different strategies to accomplish a given task? Across disciplines, the strategy selection problem represents a major challenge. We propose a quantitative model that predicts how selection emerges through the interplay among strategies, cognitive capacities, and the environment. This interplay carves out for each…

Depression is the primary emotional condition for which help is sought. Depressed people often report persistent rumination, which involves analysis, and complex social problems in their lives. Analysis is often a useful approach for solving complex problems, but it requires slow, sustained processing, so disruption would interfere with problem…

General intelligence (g) poses a problem for evolutionary psychology's modular view of the human brain. The author advances a new evolutionary psychological theory of the evolution of general intelligence and argues that general intelligence evolved as a domain-specific adaptation for the originally limited sphere of evolutionary novelty in the…

A theory of the lay epistemic process is outlined. An integrative framework is provided that allows consideration of diverse attributional models in common theoretical terms and derivation of the necessary applicability conditions of different such models. (Author/RL)

The importance of phonology in assigning words to the correct grammatical category in language processing is discussed. Correlations between phonology and grammatical class are discussed. Experiments demonstrating that adults and children have learned these correlations are proposed and evaluated. (SLD)

A number of models are considered that specify how children and adults solve single-digit addition problems. (Authors)

Although partially specified goals are sometimes thought to result from the uncertainties of ill-structured problems, analysis of human problem solving shows that indefinite goals are used in solving problems that are otherwise well structured. The example studied is taken from plane geometry and involves proving that two triangles are congruent.…

A new theory of subjective probability is presented. According to this theory, different descriptions of the same event can give rise to different judgments. Experimental evidence supporting this theory is summarized, demonstrating that the theory provides a unified treatment of a wide range of empirical findings. (SLD)

A processing model is presented that deals explicitly with both the text-comprehension and problem-solving aspects of word arithmetic problems. The model simulates construction of cognitive representations at various levels, distinguishes several information processing steps, and analyzes processing requirements that differ among types of…