A model of how working memory capacity influences insight problem solving in situations with multiple visual representations: An eye tracking analysis

ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect

Thinking

Skills

and

Creativity

jo u r n al hom e p ag e : htt p : / / w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / t s c

A

model

of

how

working

memory

capacity

influences

insight

problem

solving

in

situations

with

multiple

visual

representations:

An

eye

tracking

analysis

Yu-chu

Yeh

_,

_Jie-Li

_Tsai

_,

_Wei-Chin

_Hsu

_,

_Chun

_Fu

_Lin

a_{InstituteofTeacherEducation,NationalChengchiUniversity,No.64,ZhinanRoad,Section2,Taipei11605,Taiwan,ROC}

b_{ResearchCenterforMind,Brain&Learning,NationalChengchiUniversity,No.64,ZhinanRoad,Section2,Taipei11605,Taiwan,ROC} c_{DepartmentofPsychology,NationalChengchiUniversity,No.64,ZhinanRoad,Section2,Taipei11605,Taiwan,ROC}

d_{GraduateInstituteofAppliedScienceandTechnology,NationalTaiwanUniversityofScienceandTechnology,No.43,Section4,}

KeelungRoad,Da’anDistrict,Taipei106,Taiwan,ROC

e_{DepartmentofEngineeringScienceandOceanEngineering,NationalTaiwanUniversity,No.1,Section4,RooseveltRoad,Taipei10617,}

Taiwan,ROC

a

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t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Articlehistory: Received25June2013

Receivedinrevisedform24February2014 Accepted22April2014

Availableonline30April2014 Keywords: Attention Eyemovement Insightproblem Workingmemory

a

b

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Insightproblemsolving,whichinvolvestherestructuringofproblemsandinsights,should becloselyrelatedtoattentionandworkingmemory(WM).Thisstudyaimedtoemploy eye-trackingtechniquestounderstandtheprocessbywhichattentionandWMcapacitymay influenceinsightproblemsolvingwhensituationswithmultiplevisualrepresentationsare employed.Fourteengraduatestudentsparticipatedina70-minuteexperimentalsession inthisstudy.Theadaptedsituation-basedcreativitytask(SCT)andtheadapted situation-basedWMtask(SWMT)wereemployedtomeasureWMcapacityandinsightproblem solving.Usingsituation-basedvisualWMtasksandinsightproblemsolvingthefindings ofthisstudysuggestthefollowing.First,fixation,gazeduration,andsaccadestotargets areeffectiveeyemovementindicatorsthatcanaidintheunderstandingofthecognitive processesofWMandinsightproblemsolving.Second,attention,eyemovements,andWM capacityinteractivelyinfluenceinsightproblemsolving,andthatinfluencevarieswithWM capacityandtheinsightstage.Accordingly,weproposethreestagesofinsightprocesses basedoneyemovements.

©2014TheAuthors.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCC BY-NC-SAlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

1. Introduction

Insightistheprocessbywhichaproblemsolverreconstructsaproblemandsuddenlycomesupwithasolutionafter

systematicsearchesforsolutionshavefailed.Moreover,insightisusuallysporadicandunpredictable(DeDreu,Baas,&

Nijstad,2008).Incognitivepsychology,manyresearchersfocusontheprocessofinsightbystudyinginsightproblemsolving

becausethisapproachenablesresearcherstoexperimentallyexaminetheprocessofinsightwithinarelativelyshorttime

period(Abraham&Windmann,2007).Insightproblemstypicallyinvolveanopenproblemandclosedsolution,andthey

alsoinvolverestructuringtheproblembeforetheproblemcanbesolved(Abraham&Windmann,2007).

∗ Correspondingauthorat:InstituteofTeacherEducation,NationalChengchiUniversity,No.64,ZhinanRoad,Section2,Taipei11605,Taiwan,ROC. Tel.:+886229393091x66134;fax:+886229387765.

E-mailaddress:[email protected](Y.-c.Yeh).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2014.04.003

1871-1871/©2014TheAuthors.PublishedbyElsevierLtd.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBY-NC-SAlicense(http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Workingmemory(WM)isconsideredanonlinecognitiveprocessthroughwhichthelearneracquiresandprocessesnew

informationtosolvetheencounteredproblem(Baddeley&Logie,1999;Cowan,1999).WMcapacityisalsoconsideredasa

prerequisiteforcognitiveflexibility,strategicplanning,andthespeedwithwhichinformationistransferredtolong-term

memory(Baddeley,2000;Cowan,2010;Dietrich,2004).WMalsoallowsonetoholdinmindknowledgethatisrelevantto

solvingaparticularproblem(Dietrich,2004).StudyfindingshavesuggestedthatWMspanisrelatedtotheabilitytosolve

difficultproblems(Song,He,&Kong,2011)andthatWMcapacitybenefitscreativeinsightbecauseitenablestheindividualto

maintainfocusedattentiononthetaskandpreventsundesirablemindwandering(DeDreu,Nijstad,Baas,Wolsink,&Roskes,

2012).Thus,WMcapacityshouldhaveastronginfluenceoninsightproblemsolving.Previousrelatedstudies,however,have

seldommeasuredWMandinsightproblemsolvingusingtasksthatsharesimilarbutcomplexcontextsinwhichmultiple

visualobjectsarepresented(i.e.,fewstudieshavemeasuredWMthatrequiredsomecombinationofinstrumentsandthen

measuredhowparticipantsemployedtheseinstrumentcombinationstosolvesubsequentinsightproblemsinwhichmore

than10objectswerepresented).WilltherelationshipbetweenWMandinsightproblemsolvingbedifferentinsucha

complexsituation?Thisstudyseekstoanswerthatquestion.

Moreover,althoughafewstudieshaveinvestigatedtherelationshipbetweenWMandinsightproblemsolving,few

researchershaveexaminedtheprocessbywhichWMinfluencesinsightproblemsolvingusingeyemovements.Numerous

researcherssincethe1970shavedevelopedmethodsofrecordingeyemovementstofurthertheunderstandingofcognitive

processesduringlearning.Specifically,eyetrackinghasbeenusefulinrevealingtheon-lineprocessofdiagram-based

problemsolving(Grant&Spivey,2003).Recently,eyetrackinghasalsobeenappliedtofurtherunderstandinghowlearners

interactwithmultiplerepresentationsandhowtheirattentiontodifferentrepresentationsinfluenceslearning(vanGog&

Scheiter,2010).

Basedonthemeritsoftheeyetrackingtechnology,thisstudysoughttouseeyemovementdatatounderstandtheprocess

bywhichWMcapacityinfluencesinsightproblemsolvingthatinvolvestheemploymentofmultiplevisualrepresentations.

WesimultaneouslyinvestigatedwhetherindividualswithdifferentWMcapacitiesandinsightproblemsolvingabilities

wouldshowdifferenteyemovementpatterns,bywhichamodelthatdepictstherelationshipbetweenWMcapacity,eye

movements,andinsightproblemsolvingwouldbeproposed.

2. DefinitionsandtheoriesofWMandinsightproblemsolving

2.1. WM

AccordingtoBaddeley’s(2003)multicomponentmodelofWM,WMiscomposedofthefollowingfoursubcomponents:

(1)thecentralexecutive,whichisanattention-controllingsystemthatisresponsiblefordirectingattentiontorelevant

information,suppressingirrelevantinformation,andcoordinatingtwoslavesystems,i.e.,thephonologicalloopandthe

visuospatialsketchpad;(2)thephonologicalloop,whichconsistsofaphonologicalstorethatcanholdmemorytracesfor

afewsecondsandanarticulatoryrehearsalprocessthatisanalogoustosubvocalspeech;(3)thevisuospatialsketchpad,

whichhandlesvisualimagesandspatialinformation;and(4)theepisodicbuffer,whichisalimited-capacitystorethatbinds

informationtogethertoformintegratedepisodesthatisassumedtobeundertheattentionalcontroloftheexecutive.

TheothercommonlycitedWMtheoryisCowan’s(1999)embedded-processmodel.ThismodelassumesthatWMisa

partoflong-termmemoryandthatthememorysystemisoperatedviatheinteractionsbetweenattentionalandmemory

mechanisms.Inaddition,WMisorganizedintotwoembeddedlevels(Cowan,1999).Thefirstlevelconsistsofactivated

long-termmemoryrepresentations.Informationinthememorysystemcanbeheldinactivatedornon-activatedstates;

wheninnon-activatedstates,theseelementsrepresentlong-termmemory(LTM).Thesecondlevelisthefocusofattention.

AttentionalresourcesareusedtoretrieveinformationfromLTMintomeetcurrentneeds.Moreover,activatedunitscan

arisefrommulti-modalsensoryinputandsemanticandepisodicinformationfromLTM.Thoughtheserepresentationsmay

ormaynotbeinconsciousawareness,theyarereadilyaccessibleforusewhennecessary.Aportionoftheseitemscanfurther

becomethefocusofattention(Cowan,2010).Cowanalsosuggestedthatdeliberateactionsarebasedonthecontentsofthe

focusofattention.Accordingly,WMisusedtoindicateafunctionallevelatwhichactivatedmemory,thefocusofattention,

andcentralexecutiveprocessesworktogethertokeepitemsinmindandthusaddressvariouscognitivetasks.

2.2. Insightproblemsolving

Wakefield(1989)definedfourtypesofproblems:(1)closedproblemswithopensolutions;(2)openproblemswithclosed

solutions;(3)openproblemswithopensolutions;and(4)closedproblemwithclosedsolutions.Inanopenproblem,the

validsolutionpathisnotclearlydefined;thesolverneedstodiscoverit.Conversely,inaclosedproblem,theinformation

presentedisquiteclearandlogicallyentailsthesolution.Ofthesetypesofproblems,“openproblemswithclosedsolutions”

aretheclassicinsightproblems.Insighttaskstypicallyrequireamentalrestructuringofprobleminformationthatleadstoa

suddenunderstandingofthesolutiontotheproblem(Bowden,Jung-Beeman,Fleck,&Kounios,2005;DeDreuetal.,2008).

Pretz,Naples,andSternberg(2003)alsoproposedthatproblemscanbedividedintotwocategories:well-andill-defined.

Inawell-definedproblem,theproblemispresentedwiththeexpectationthatthecurrentstate,goalstate,andoperators

willbesufficienttoallowsteadyprogresstowardthegoal.Inanill-definedproblem,uncertaintyexistsnotonlyinwhether

problemrequiresanindividualtorestructurehisorherformulationbeforesolutionispossible.“Insight”typicallyindicates

themomentwhenanewandmoreeffectiveformulationappearsinmind.Accordingly,insightproblemsareoftenill-defined

problems(DeYoung,Flanders,&Peterson,2008).

Ininsightproblems,thereisalwaysonerightanswer,butthepathtoreachthatanswerisseldomclear.Theproblem

solvermustfirstrestructuretheinformationgivenintheproblembeforeheorshecanmakesenseoftheproblem.Some

researchers(e.g.Abraham&Windmann,2007)havesuggestedthattheprogressionthroughtheinsightproblemsolving

processisnotincrementalbutinvolvesasuddendiscoveryofasolution–aphenomenonthatiscommonlyreferredto

asthe“aha”experience.However,recentstudies(Cushen&Wiley,2012;Lin,Hsu,Chen,&Wang,2011)havefoundthat

thatbothinsight-likepatternsandincrementalpatternsmayoccurduringthesolutionprogress.Furthermore,theprocess

ofinsightproblemsolvingrequiresconvergentanddivergentthinking(DeYoungetal.,2008).Divergentthinkingrefers

tounboundsearchingor open-endedthinkingthatistypically evokedincreativitytaskswheresolutions donothave

anyrightorwronganswers.Convergentthinking,ontheotherhand,isrequiredforproblemsthataredesignedtohave

asingleandcorrectsolutionforithelpsconvergingtheactivatedcognitiveprocesses(Abraham&Windmann,2007).An

insightproblemthereforeisconvergentinthatitseekstoarriveatthesinglecorrectsolution.However,astheproblem

needstoberestructuredbymeansofflexiblethought,italsorequiresdivergentthinking(Abraham&Windmann,2007).

Therefore,insightproblemsmayinvolvebothinsight-likeandincrementalpatternsofproblemsolvingaswellasdivergent

andconvergentthinking.

3. Therelationshipamongeyemovement,WM,andinsightproblemsolving

3.1. WM,andinsightproblemsolving

ResearchfindingshavesuggestedarelationshipbetweenWMcapacityandtheabilitytosolveinsightproblems(Zhou,

Hoogenraad,Joels,&Krugers,2012).Forexample,Songetal.(2011)foundamaineffectofverbalWMspanonhigh-level

difficultywordproblemsolvingability,whichsuggeststhatWMspanisrelatedtotheabilitytosolvedifficultproblems.Fleck

(2008)foundthatdifferencesexistinthecognitiveprocessesunderlyinginsightvs.analyticproblemsolving;hesuggested

thatrestructuringininsightistheendresultofactivememorysearchorspontaneousprocesses.

ThecloserelationshipbetweenWMandinsightproblemsolvingisalsosupportedbyfindingsfromstudiesofcreative

insight.Forexample,DeDreuetal.(2012)claimedthatexecutivecontrolplaysanimportantroleinachievingcreative

insights,andtheyfoundthatundercognitiveload,participantsperformedworseonacreativeinsighttask.Moreover,these

authorsconcludedthatWMcapacitybenefitscreativitybecauseitenablestheindividualtomaintainfocusedattentiononthe

taskandpreventsundesirablemindwandering.Hirt,Devers,andMcCrea(2008)alsofoundthatprovidingaretrievalcuefor

positivematerialinmemoryleadstomultipleinterpretationsandorganizationsofmaterialinmemory,whichcontributes

tothecreativityofassociations.

3.2. Eyemovementindicatorsandtheirrelationshiptoattention

Manyresearchershaveemployedeyemovementstodevelopandtestcognitivemodelsinvariousdomains.Typically,

eyemovementsareanalyzedintermsofaggregatemeasures(e.g.,thenumberoffixationsonanitemorthetotaltimespent

fixatinganitem),andmanycognitivemodelsaretestedwithrespecttothesemeasures(Grant&Spivey,2003).Themost

frequentlyreportedinformationfromeye-trackingdataisactuallynotrelatedtomovementsbutinsteadtotheperiodsof

timeinwhichtheeyesremainstill.Thesetimeperiodsarecalledfixations,andtheylastfromtensofmillisecondstoseveral

seconds.Itisgenerallyassumedthatthelocationoffixationisthefocusofattentionandthatfixationdurationindicates

processingeffortsdirectedatthatlocation,althoughexceptionsexistthatseparateattentionandeyemovements(Holmqvist

etal.,2011).Manystudieshavedemonstrateddifferenteffectsofcognitiveprocessingonfixation-relatedmeasures,including

thefollowingexamples:moreoverallfixationsindicatelessefficientsearch(Goldberg&Kotval,1999);morefixations

onaparticularareaindicatethattheareaismorenoticeableorimportanttotheviewerthanotherareas(Poole&Ball,

2005);andlongerfixationdurationsindicatedifficultyinextractinginformationorthattheobjectisengaginginsomeway

(Rayner,1998).Fixationsconcentratedinasmallareaindicatefocusedandefficientsearching,andevenlyspreadfixations

reflectwidespreadandinefficientsearch(Cowenetal.,2002).Ineye-trackingstudies,gazeandsaccadesarealsofrequently

measured.Gaze,thesumofallfixationdurationswithinaprescribedareabeforemovingoutofthearea,isbestusedto

comparehowattentionisdistributed betweentargets(Mello-Thoms,Nodine,&Kundel,2002).Thenumber offixation

transitionsisdefinedasgazealternationsacrossthebordersofdifferentareasofinterest(Nitschke,Ruh,Kappler,Stahl,&

Kaller,2012);alowerratioofthenumberofon-targetfixationsdividedtothetotalnumberoffixationsindicateslower

searchefficiency(Goldberg&Kotval,1999).

Therelationshipbetweenattentionandeyemovementshasbeenextensivelyinvestigated.Thereisevidencesuggesting

thatattentionprecedessaccadestoagivenlocationinspaceandthatattentionalmovementsandsaccadesareobligatorily

coupled.Althoughwecandecouplethelocusofattentionandeyelocationinsimplediscriminationtasks,itishardto

decouplethetwoincomplexinformationprocessingtasks(Rayner,1998).Mostresearchers,however,supportthenotion

thatattentionandeyemovementsaredynamicallyinteractive.Forexample,Szinte,Jonikaitis,Rolfs,andCavanagh(2012)

saccadiceyemovementsandperceptualattentionworkcoordinatelytoallowselectionoftheobjectsorfeatureswiththe

greatestcurrentneedforlimitedvisualprocessingresources.TheeuwesandVanderStigchel(2009)alsoclaimedthatthe

processofmemorizingalocationisthesameastheprocessofprogrammingeyemovementstothatlocation.Accordingly,

attentionandeyemovementmayworkinteractivelyworkduringthecompletionofWMandofinsightproblemsolving

tasks.Thisstudythereforeassumesthatattentionandeyemovementsareinteractiveandthattherelationshipsamongeye

movements,WMandinsightproblemscanbeexplainedfromtheviewpointofattention.

3.3. Attention,eyemovements,andWM

ManytheoreticalargumentsandempiricalfindingssupportthestrongrelationshipbetweenattentionandWM.Cowan

(1988)declaredthat WMisbestunderstoodasa subsetofactivatedrepresentationsofthelong-termmemorythatis

currentlywithinthefocusofattention.Heclaimedthat“thereisnosingleseparatetheoreticalentitythatIwouldcallworking

memory...Whatarepotentiallymoremeaningfulinatheoreticalsensearethebasicmechanismsproposedtounderliethis

complexsystem,includingactivationofmemorycontentsofanattentionalprocess,andthecontextualorganizationof

memory”(Cowan,1999,p.88).InthemulticomponentmodelofWM,Baddeley(2003)alsoemphasizedthatthecentral

executiveisanattentional-controllingsystemthatisresponsiblefordirectingattentiontorelevantinformationandthatthe

episodicbufferisassumedtobeundertheattentionalcontroloftheexecutive.Ontheotherhand,Theeuwes,Belopolsky,

andOlivers(2009)claimedthatattentionisusedtomaintaininformationinmemoryandtostoreandretrieveinformation

fromWM.WMcapacityisthoughttoreflectthedomain-generalprocessingabilitiesofthecentralexecutiveWMcapacity,

andmoregenerallythecentralexecutive,predictsperformanceintasksinvolvingselectiveattention.

Inaddition,Theeuwesetal.(2009)declaredthateyemovement,attentionandWMarerelated.Theseauthorssuggested

thatattentionprecedesaneyemovementsandthatattentionisthemechanismbywhichinformationisstoredinWM.They

alsofoundthatkeepingalocationinmemorysystematicallyinfluencessaccadetrajectories.GodijnandTheeuwes(2012)

suggestedthatrehearsalduringmemoryretentioncanoperateequallywellovertlyviasequencesofeyemovementsand

covertlyviaattentionshiftsduringfixations.Theaforementionedfindingsleadtoourargumentthatattention,eye

move-ments,andWMareinteractiveandindividualswithdifferentWMcapacitymayshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovements

whilecompletingWMtasks.

3.4. Attention,eyemovement,andinsightproblemsolving

Researchfindingshavesuggestedthateyemovementrecordingsprovideanimportantnewwindowintoprocessesof

insightproblemsolving.Forinstance,Knoblich,Ohlsson,andRaney(2001)usedmatchstickarithmeticproblemsandeye

movementrecordingstoverifytherepresentationalchangetheoryofinsight,whichhypothesizesthatinsightproblemscause

impassesbecausetheymisleadproblemsolversintoconstructinginappropriateinitialrepresentationsandthatinsightis

attainedwhentheinitialrepresentationischanged.LitchfieldandBall(2011)investigatedwhetherfollowingthespecific

saccadesofanotherpersoncouldinducesimilarattentionalshiftsandincreasesolutionratesforinsightproblems;they

foundthatanotherperson’seyemovementscanpromoteattentionalshiftsthattriggerinsightproblemsolving.Inthe

samevein,ThomasandLleras(2009)usedDuncker’sradiationproblemtasksandfoundthataidingparticipantsinshifting

theirattentioninapatterncompatiblewiththesolutioncanfacilitateinsight.Moreover,HafedandClark(2002)declared

thatsmallsaccadesreflectattentionshifts.Notably,itisoftenthesituationthatattentionandeyemovementsarecoupled

together.Therefore,themeasurableeyemovementscanbeusedtoreflecttheattentionallocationincognitivetasks.As

aresult,eyemovementscanrepresentattentionaloperationstoshowthecognitiveprocessesindifferenttasks(Just&

Carpenter,1984).GrantandSpivey(2003)alsosuggestedthatthevisualenvironment,attention,andmentaloperationsare

interactiveandintertwined.Accordingly,eyemovementrecordingprovidesanopportunitytoexplorethedetailedprocesses

insolvinginsightproblems.

Althoughalimitednumberofstudieshavesuggestedthatattentionandeyemovementcanpredictinsightproblem

solving,fewstudieshaveemployedinsighttaskswithcomplexvisualrepresentations.Ithasbeensuggestedthattheshared

selectionofsaccadeandpursuittargetsisaneffectivewayofhandlingenvironmentscontainingmultipletargets(Kowler,

2011).Whetherindividualswithdifferentinsightproblemsolvingabilitiesshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovementswhen

solvinginsightproblemswasaconcernofthisstudy.

4. Hypothesesofthisstudy

Inthisstudy,wesoughttounderstandtherelationshipsamongeyemovements,WMcapacity,andinsightproblem

solvinginadditiontohowWMcapacityinfluencesinsightproblemsolvinginsituation-basedcontextswithmultiplevisual

representations.Basedontheaforementionedliterature,weproposedthatWMcapacitywouldinfluenceeyemovements

andthatWMcapacitywouldinfluenceinsightproblemsolvingviaattention,whichcanberevealedviaeyemovements.In

addition,paststudieshavesuggestedthattherestructuringofproblemsandtheachievementofinsightinvolvedifferent

typesofthinkingindifferentstages(Abraham&Windmann,2007)andthatvisualenvironment,attention,andmental

operationsareinteractiveandintertwined(Grant&Spivey,2003).Oneoftheadvantagesoftheeye-trackingmethodisthat

phrasescouldshowthetimecourseofdifferentstageswhileachievinginsights.Basedontheseassumptions,weproposed

thefollowinghypotheses:

1.IndividualswithdifferentlevelsofWMcapacitywillshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovementsduringthecompletionof

WMtasks.

2.IndividualswithdifferentlevelofWMcapacitywilldemonstratedifferentpatternsofeyemovementswhentheyrespond

correctlyvs.incorrectlyduringthecompletionofWMtasks.

3.Individualswithdifferentinsightproblemsolvingabilitieswillshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovementsduringthe

completionofinsightproblems.

4.Individualswilldemonstratedifferentpatternsofeyemovementswhentheyrespondcorrectlyvs.incorrectlyduringthe

completionofinsightproblems.

5.Individualswithdifferentlevelsof WMcapacity willdemonstratedifferentpatterns ofeyemovementsduring the

completionofinsightproblems.

6.IndividualswithdifferentlevelsofWMcapacitywilldemonstratedifferentpatternsofeyemovementsindifferentstages

ofsolvinginsightproblems.

5. Methods

5.1. Participants

Thisstudyemployedanexperimentaldesign.Twentygraduatestudentsregisteredtoparticipateinthisstudy.Since

sixparticipantscouldnoteitherpassthefirstcalibrationbeforetheexperimentorhadseriousheadmotionsduringthe

experiment,only14ofthem(sevenfemaleandsevenmale)wereincludedinthisstudy.Withameanageof23.07years

(SD=1.94years),allqualifiedparticipantshadanormalorcorrectedto-normalvisionaswellashadagoodsleepatthenight

beforeparticipatingintheexperiment.Writteninformedconsentwasobtainedfromallparticipantspriortotheexperiment.

Aftercompletingtheexperiment,theparticipantsreceivedcompensationofUS$7fortheirparticipation.

5.2. Stimuli

5.2.1. Situation-basedcreativitytask

ThisstudytriedtounderstandtheprocessbywhichWMcapacityinfluencessituation-basedinsightproblemsolving

thatinvolvestheemploymentofmultiplevisualrepresentations.Paststudieshaveseldomusedsituation-basedWMtasks

andinsightproblemtasks.Thesituation-basedcreativitytask(SCT)andthesituation-basedWMtask(SWMT)meetour

needsandtheyhavebeenprovedtobegoodinstrumentsforunderstandingthecognitiveprocessofcreativity(Lin,Yeh,

Hung,&Chang,2013).WethereforeadaptedtheSCTandtheSWMTtomeasureinsightproblemsolvingandWMabilityin

thisstudy.TheoriginalSCTiscomposedofsituation-basedinsighttasksdevelopedforFlash.TheSCTincludesthreerunsof

situation-basedtasks(30tasksintotal)inwhichthegoalistoescapefromthreesituations:thelivingroom,thekitchen,

andthebathroom.Consideringtheadaptabilityandtimelimitsoftheexperimentaldesign,weselectedeighttasksfromthe

kitchenandeighttasksfromthebathroomsituations;wealsoadaptedthetasksfromaflashinterfacetoanimageformat.In

ouradaptedSCT,twoinstrumentsprovidedinthesituationhadtobecorrectlycombinedtosolveeachoftheproblems.The

timelimitforeachproblemwas60s.Theparticipantwasaskedtoprovidethesolutionbymovingthemousepointerand

clickingontwoinstrumentsprovidedinthetask(Fig.1).Theselectedinstrumentscouldnotbechangedandtheparticipant

wouldnotknowthecorrectanswer,sotheparticipantwasencouragedtothinkcarefullybeforethedecisionwasmade.

TheselectedanswerswererecordedintheiViewXEye-trackingsystem.Incorrectanswerswerescoredas“0”points,and

correctanswerswerescoredas“1”point.Thehighestpossibletotalscorewas16points(8pointsineachrun).

5.2.2. Situation-basedWMtask

Thesituation-basedWMtask(SWMT)isrelatedtotheSCT,anditsuseasaninstrumenttoevaluateWMcapacitywas

developedbyYeh(2011).TheoriginalSWMTincludesthreeruns(fivetrialsineachrun)ofWMtaskscorrespondingtothe

insighttasksinvolvingthelivingroom,thekitchen,andthebathroom.Participantswereinstructedthatsomeanswersto

theSCTtaskswereprimedintheSWMTtasks.Tomatchtheadaptedinsighttasks,onlyfourtrialsfromthekitchenandfour

trialsfromthebathroomsituationswereincludedinthisstudy.Ineachtrial,threekeyinstrumentandaccessoryinstrument

pairs(e.g.,can+knife;can+clotheshanger;can+electricalscrewdriver)weredisplayedonthescreenfor10s.Therewere

atotaloffourkeyinstruments,so12pairsweredisplayedfortheparticipantstomemorize(Fig.2).Next,participants’WM

capacitiesweretestedusingafour-backtestwithamatrixof20instrumentsandonekeyinstrumentthatwasdisplayed

for10s.Theparticipantsgaveanswersbydirectingthemousepointertothethreeaccessoryinstrumentsthathadbeen

showninthematrix(Fig.3).Atotaloffourmatricesweredisplayed,andtheselectedanswerswererecordedintheiViewX

-trackingsystem.Ineachrun,anincorrectanswerreceived“0”points,andacorrectanswerreceived“1”point.Thehighest

Fig.1. Anexampleoftheadaptedsituation-basedcreativitytask.

Fig.2. Anexampleoftheinstrumentcombinations.

Fig.3. AnexampleoftheWMcapacitytest.

5.3. Apparatus

EyemovementswererecordedusinganiViewXHi-Speed1250eye-trackingsystemmanufacturedbySensoMotoric

Instruments(SMI).Eyepositionsweresampledat500samples/s.Inthisstudy,thevisualstimuli werepresentedona

screen(CRT19in.,1024×768pixels,39cm×29cm,85Hz)usingtheExperimentCenter2.5software(SMI).Thescreenwas

orthogonaltothelineofsightatadistanceof70cmandsubtended31◦(H)and23◦(V)ofthevisualangle.Therecordedeye

Fig.4. Procedureforthefirstrun.

5.4. Experimentaldesignandprocedures

Thisstudyincludedaninstructionsession,anexperimentalsessionwithtworuns,andadebriefingsession;the

partici-pantsweretestedindividuallyinthesesessions.Theentireproceduretookapproximately70mintocomplete.Thefirstrun

includedtheadaptedWMandinsighttasksfromthekitchensituation,andthesecondrunincludedthesametasksfrom

thebathroomsituation.Beforeusingtheeye-tracersystem,participantswereinstructedtoinformusoftheirdominanteye.

Next,participantswereinstructedtositataneye-to-screendistanceofapproximately57cminfrontofa19in.CRTmonitor

withtheirchinsandforeheadsonthereststhatwereintegratedintotheeye-trackingsystem.

Beforeeachrunofthetasks,astandardnine-pointcalibrationprocedurewasconducted.Duringthecalibration,the

participantviewedninerandomlypresentedsmallandwhitefixationcrossesonablackbackground.Thefixationcrosses

werethenremoved,andthefirstrunoftheWMtaskswasdisplayed.TheadaptedWMtasksconsistedofthememorization

ofthreedifferentpairsofinstrumentcombinationsdisplayedonfourconsecutivescreens(12pairsand40sintotal)and

therecognitionofthecorrectcombinationsfromfourmatrices(40sintotal).Then,theparticipantproceededtocomplete

theeightinsighttasksinthefirstrun.Themaximumresponsetimeforeachoftheinsighttaskswas60s,butwhenthe

participantsfinishedthetaskbeforethetimelimit,theycontinuedtothenexttask.Uponcompletionofthefirstrun,the

participantsrestedfor2min,followedbythesecondcalibrationandthesecondrun.Theprocedureforthesecondrunwas

thesameasthatofthefirstrun(Fig.4)TheonlydifferencebetweenthefirstandsecondrunswasthecontentoftheWM

andinsighttasks.

5.5. Dataanalysis

Duringtheexperiments,theaccuracy,responsetimes,andeyemovementsfortheWMandinsighttaskswererecorded

andpreprocessedusingtheExperimentCenter2.5andBeGaze2.4softwarefromtheiViewXEye-trackingsystem.

Subse-quentanalyseswereconductedinMATLAB.Toanalyzetheeyemovementdata,wefirstdefinedtheareaofinterest(AOI)to

analyzegazelocation.TheAOIsweretheobjectsdisplayedintherecognitionmatricesfromtheWMtasks(Fig.3)andthe

objectsdisplayedintheinsighttasks(Fig.1).Wethencategorizedthegazelocationsintoall-objectandtargetAOIs.

WeseparatelycalculatedthefollowingsixeyemovementparametersfortheAOIs:totalnumberoffixationsonall-object

AOIs(totalfixations),totalgazedurationonall-objectAOIs(totalgazeduration),totalnumberofsaccadestoall-objectAOIs

(totalsaccades),totalnumberoffixationsontargetAOIs(fixationsontargets),totalgazedurationontargetAOIs(gaze

durationontargets),andtotalnumberofsaccadestotargetAOIs(saccadestotarget).Inaddition,weanalyzedresponse

times.Basedontheseparameters,wefurtheranalyzedtheeffectsofWMcapacities,WMresponses(incorrectvs.correct),

insightproblemsolvingabilities,andinsightproblemsolvingresponses(incorrectvs.correct)withone-wayunivariate

analysisofvariance(one-wayANOVA)andrepeated-measuresanalysisofvariance(repeatedmeasuresANOVA).

6. Results

6.1. EffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsinWMtasks

WeusedthemedianWMscoresasathresholdtodividetheparticipantsintotheLowandHighgroups.Wethenusedthe

Table1

TheeffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsinWMtasks.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Responsetime Low 9.353 1.115 7 .192 .180 .679 .015 High 9.118 .942 7 Totalfixations Low 37.750 3.394 7 4.715 .646 .437 .051 High 36.589 1.755 7

Totalgazeduration

Low 9.365 .831 7 .145 .215 .651 .018 High 9.568 .807 7 Totalsaccades Low 37.500 3.895 7 1.215 .075 .789 .006 High 36.910 4.148 7 Fixationsontargets Low 1.125 .224 7 .240 4.918* _{.047 .291} High 1.386 .195 7

Gazedurationontargets

Low .540 .104 7 .131 6.934* _{.022 .366} High .733 .164 7 Saccadestotargets Low 6.464 1.859 7 11.161 4.044 .067 .252 High 8.250 1.436 7 *p<.05.

variablesinone-wayANOVAs.TheresultsrevealedsignificanteffectsofWMcapacityonfixationsontargets(F(1,12)=4.918,

p=.047,2

p=.291)andgazedurationontargets(F(1,12)=6.934,p=.022,2p=.366;Table1).

6.2. EffectsofWMresponseoneyemovementsinWMtasks

Weconductedwithin-subjectanalysestoexaminewhethertheparticipantsdisplayeddifferenteyemovementsduring

theWMtaskswhentheyrespondedincorrectlyvs.correctly.Specifically,weusedtheresponsegroup(incorrectvs.correct)

asanindependentvariableandeachofthesixeyemovementparametersandresponsetimesasdependentvariablesto

conductrepeated-measureANOVAs.TheresultsrevealedthatWMresponses(incorrectvs.correct)significantlyaffectedall

parameters,particularlygazedurationontargets(F(1,12)=5.402–20.195,p’s<.05,2

p=.294to.608;Table2).

6.3. Relationshipbetweeninsightproblemsolvingabilityandeyemovementsduringinsighttasks

Weconductedone-wayANOVAtoexaminewhethertheparticipantswithdifferentinsightproblemsolvingabilities

wouldshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovementsduringthecompletionofinsightproblems.Weusedthemedianinsight

problemsolvingscoreasathresholdtodividetheparticipantsintotheLowandHighgroups.Wethenusedthesegroups

asanindependentvariableandeachofthesixeyemovementparametersandresponsetimesasdependentvariablesin

one-wayANOVAs.Theresultsrevealednosignificanteffects(Table3).

6.4. Relationshipbetweeninsightproblemsolvingresponsesandeyemovementsduringinsighttasks

Weconductedwithin-subjectanalysestoexaminewhethertheparticipantsdisplayeddifferenteyemovementsduring

theinsighttaskswhentheyrespondedcorrectlyvs.incorrectly.Specifically,weusedtheresponsegroup(incorrectvs.correct)

asanindependentvariableandeachofthesixeyemovementparametersandresponsetimesasdependentvariablesto

conductrepeated-measureANOVAs.Theresultsrevealedthat,withtheexceptionoftotalgazeduration,thetypeofinsight

problemsolvingresponses(incorrectvs.correct)affectedalleyemovementparameters(F(1,12)=5.060–35.113,p’s<.05,

2

p=.280to.730;Table4).

6.5. EffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsduringinsighttasks

WeusedthemedianWMscoreasathresholdtodividetheparticipantsintotheLowandHighgroups.Wethenused

theWMgroupastheindependentvariableandeachofthesixeyemovementparametersduringinsightproblemsolving

Table2

TheeffectofWMresponsesoneyemovementsintheWMtasks.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Responsetime Incorrect 6.236 4.544 14 69.029 8.011* _{.014 .381} Correct 9.376 .977 14 Totalfixations Incorrect 26.464 17.67 14 844.082 6.340* _{.026 .328} Correct 37.445 2.767 14

Totalgazeduration

Incorrect 6.632 4.479 14 56.914 5.402* _{.037 .294} Correct 9.484 .710 14 Totalsaccades Incorrect 27.035 18.53 14 757.640 5.896* _{.030 .312} Correct 37.439 3.691 14 Correct Incorrect .813 .588 14 1.511 7.253* _{.018 .358} Correct 1.278 .292 14

Gazedurationontargets

Incorrect .207 .223 14 .539 20.195*** _{.001 .608} Correct .485 .154 14 Saccadestotargets Incorrect 4.839 3.681 14 49.806 6.493* _{.024 .333} Correct 7.506 1.997 14 *_p<.05. ***_p<.001. Table3

Theeffectsofinsightproblemsolvingabilityoneyemovementsduringinsighttasks.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Responsetime Low 20.081 5.820 6 2.744 .075 .789 .006 High 20.976 6.201 8 Totalfixations Low 62.573 19.706 6 14.555 .038 .848 .003 High 64.633 19.345 8

Totalgazeduration

Low 15.601 4.825 6 1.878 .079 .783 .007 High 16.341 4.894 8 Totalsaccades Low 59.470 18.176 6 89.221 .218 .649 .018 High 64.571 21.562 8 Fixationsontargets Low 2.553 .715 6 .086 .068 .798 .006 High 2.711 1.332 8

Gazedurationontargets

Low .712 .269 6 .013 .130 .725 .011

High .774 .352 8

Saccadetotargets

Low 9.677 2.737 6 5.790 .302 .593 .025

High 10.976 5.242 8

Note.Thegroupsizewasdifferentduetoidenticalscoresinthecalculationofthemedian.

ontargets(F(1,12)=8.173,p=.014,2

p=.405),gazedurationontargets(F(1,12)=5.923,p=.032,2p=.330),andsaccades totargets(F(1,12)=5.525,p=.037,2

p=.315).TheresultsrevealthatparticipantswithhigherWMcapacitiesmademore saccadestotargets,fixatedthetargetsmorefrequently,andlookedatthetargetsforlongertimesthanparticipantswith lowerWMcapacities(Table5).

Table4

Theeffectsofinsightproblemsolvingresponsesoneyemovementsduringinsighttasks.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Responsetime Incorrect 22.886 8.424 14 108.161 5.311* _{.038 .290} Correct 18.955 5.588 14 Totalfixations Incorrect 70.713 24.853 14 912.468 5.060* _{.042 .280} Correct 59.295 18.488 14

Totalgazeduration

Incorrect 17.564 6.596 14 49.633 3.854 .071 .229 Correct 14.902 4.509 14 Totalsaccades Incorrect 69.049 25.088 14 928.439 5.695* _{.033 .305} Correct 57.532 19.124 14 Fixationsontargets Incorrect 1.513 .780 14 36.828 35.113*** _{.000 .730} Correct 3.807 1.655 14

Gazedurationontargets

Incorrect .345 .211 14 4.359 33.309*** _{.000 .719} Correct 1.134 .536 14 Saccadestotargets Incorrect 7.872 4.717 14 204.978 9.970** _{.008 .434} Correct 13.283 5.918 14 * _p<.05. ** _p<.01. ***_p<.001. Table5

TheeffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsduringinsighttasks.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Responsetime Low 18.020 5.678 7 92.674 3.189 .099 .210 High 23.165 5.085 7 Totalfixations Low 55.607 17.986 7 928.449 3.054 .106 .203 High 71.894 16.864 7

Totalgazeduration

Low 13.824 4.498 7 67.764 3.727 .078 .237 High 18.224 4.015 7 Totalsaccades Low 53.404 17.616 7 1129.145 3.504 .086 .226 High 71.365 18.278 7 Fixationsontargets Low 1.982 .529 7 6.112 8.173* _{.014 .405} High 3.304 1.102 7

Gazedurationontargets

Low .576 .223 7 .412 5.923* _{.032 .330} High .919 .298 7 Saccadestotargets Low 8.116 2.826 7 74.290 5.525* _{.037 .315} High 12.723 4.347 7 * _p<.05.

6.6. EffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsduringinsighttasksacrossdifferenttimeintervals

TofurtherexaminewhetherparticipantswithdifferentWMcapacitiesdisplayeddifferenteyemovementspatterns

towardstargetsacrossdifferentstagesofinsightproblemsolving,wefirstexaminedtheeyemovementdatatowardstargets

Fig.5.Meaneyemovementsscoresduringinsighttasksacrosstimeintervals.

(Lowvs.High)onthethreetarget-relatedeyemovementsduringinsighttasks(i.e.,fixationsontargets,gazedurationon

targets,andsaccadestotargets)bydividingtheeyemovementdataintothreegroupsofintervals:(1)0–3s,4–18s,and

19–21s;(2)0–5s,6–16s,and17–21s,and(3)0–7s,8–14s,and15–21s.Becausenopreviousstudieshaveaddressedthis

question,wecomparedtheresultsoftheseanalysestoidentifythebesteyemovementpatternsforachievinginsights.

TheANOVAresultsshowedthattheintervalsof0–5s,6–16s,and17–21sbestdescribedtheinfluenceofWMcapacity

oninsightproblemsolving.Specifically,thereweresignificantWMgroupeffectson“fixationsontargets”duringthe6–16s

and7–21sintervals(F’s>5.920,p’s<.05,2

p>.331),“gazedurationontargets”inthe6–16sand7–21sintervals(Fs>5.266,

p’s<.05,2

p>.305),and“saccadestotargets”inthe7–21sinterval(F=6.155,p=.029,2p=.339;Table6).

7. Discussion

7.1. Therelationshipbetweeneyemovements,WMcapacity,andinsightproblemsolving

Thisstudyproposedsixhypotheses;withtheexceptionofthethirdhypothesis,whichstatedthatindividualswith

dif-ferentinsightproblemsolvingabilitieswillshowdifferentpatternsofeyemovementsduringthecompletionofinsight

problems,ourhypothesesweresupported.OurinvestigationoftherelationshipbetweeneyemovementsandWMcapacity

revealedthatparticipantswithhigherWMcapacitiesgazedatthetargetsmorefrequentlyandforlongertimesthan

par-ticipantswithlowerWMcapacities.Furthermore,whenparticipantsrespondedcorrectly,theytookmoretimetorespond,

mademorefixationson,moresaccadesto,anddisplayedlongergazedurationsonboththetargetsandallobjectsthan

whentheyrespondedincorrectly.BecausetheresponsetimesforcorrectanswersintheWMtaskswerelongerthanthose

ofincorrectanswersandbecauselongerfixationdurationsindicatedifficultyinextractinginformation(Rayner,1998),our

findingsrevealthattheWMtasksemployedinthisstudyweredifficultfortheparticipants.OurWMtaskswere,essentially,

four-backtaskswithmultiplevisualrepresentationsineachtrial.

Additionally,fixationsconcentratedinasmallareaindicatefocusedandefficientsearching(Cowenetal.,2002),and

saccadesarepartofasharedmechanismforselectingtargets(Krauzlis,2005).Thesignificanteffectsoftarget-relatedeye

movementsinWMtaskslendsupporttothefollowingclaims:WMandattentionareintricatelyrelated(Cowan,1999;

Majerusetal.,2006);therehearsalofvisuo-spatialinformationisachievedbyeyemovements(Tremblay,Saint-Aubin,& Jalbert,2006);visualWMandselectiveattentionbothoperateattheinterfacebetweenperceptionandaction(Awh,Vogel, &Oh,2006);andfocusedattentionisessentialforefficientinformationprocessinginWMbecausethisfocusedattention

helpsmaintaininginformationinmemoryandretrievinginformationfromWM(Theeuwesetal.,2009).Accordingly,eye

Table6

TheeffectsofWMcapacityoneyemovementsduringdifferenttimeintervalsofinsightproblemsolving.

Source Descriptives ANOVAF(1,12)

M SD N MS F p 2 p Fixationsontargets(1–5s) Low .239 .050 7 .000 .030 .866 .002 High .232 .097 7 Fixationsontargets(6–16s) Low .204 .057 7 .027 6.512* _{.025 .352} High .293 .071 7 Fixationsontargets(17–21s) Low .077 .044 7 .024 5.920* _{.031 .331} High .160 .078 7

Gazedurationoftargets(1–5s)

Low .063 .025 7 .000 .014 .909 .001

High .065 .023 7

Gazedurationoftargets(6–16s)

Low .057 .021 7 .003 5.266* _{.041 .305}

High .086 .024 7

Gazedurationoftargets(17–21s)

Low .020 .015 7 .004 8.796* _{.012 .423} High .053 .025 7 Saccadestotargets(1–5s) Low .448 .150 7 .002 .071 .795 .006 High .471 .175 7 Saccadestotargets(6–16s) Low .387 .126 7 .064 3.634 .081 .232 High .522 .139 7 Saccadestotargets(17–21s) Low .284 .118 7 .088 6.155* _{.029 .339} High .442 .120 7 * _p<.05.

Regardingtherelationshipbetweeneyemovementsandinsightproblemsolving,wefoundthatwhentheparticipants

respondedcorrectly,theytooklesstimetorespondandproducedmorefixationsandsaccadestoallobjectscomparedto

whentheyrespondedincorrectly.Moreover,participantsproducedmorefixationsandsaccadesandlongergazeduration

directedtowardthetargets.Thesesignificanteffectsofeyemovementsduringinsighttasksagainconfirmtheclose

rela-tionshipbetweeneyemovementsandattention(Cowenetal.,2002;Krauzlis,2005)andlendsupporttotheeye-mind

assumption(Just&Carpenter,1984),whichsuggeststhattheeyeremainsfixatedonapieceofvisualinformationaslong

asthatpieceofvisualinformationisbeingprocessed.Inaddition,oursignificantresultssupportthefindingsthatsaccades

reflectattentionalshiftsduringinsighttasks(Hafed&Clark,2002)andthatattentionandmentaloperationsareinteractive

(Grant&Spivey,2003).Interestingly,wealsofoundthat,comparedtoparticipantswithlowerinsightproblemsolving

abil-ities,participantswithgreaterinsightproblemsolvingabilitiesdidnotshowdifferenteyemovementpatternsintermsof

responsetimes,fixations,saccades,andgazedurationstowardseitherthetargetsoralloftheobjects.Basedonour

integra-tionoftheseresultswiththerepresentationalchangetheoryofinsight(Knoblichetal.,2001),thedifferenteyemovement

patternsthatweobservedduringinsightresponses,andtheeffectsofWMcapacityoninsightproblemsolvingthatwe

observed,wesuggestthatalthoughattentionisessentialforinsightproblemsolving,theabilitytoachievethe

“attention-insight”linkdependsonindividualdifferences,andthesedifferencesmayduetoWMefficiency.Achievingasuccessful

“attention-insight”linkrequirestheabilitytoeffectivelyrestructuretheproblemandchangeinappropriateinitial

repre-sentations,andtheseabilitiesaregreatlyinfluencedbythecentralexecutivefunctioninWM.Ourconclusionsherearein

linewiththefindingthatperformanceonthevisual-arraytaskdoesnotreflectamulti-itemstoragesystembutinstead

reflectsaperson’sabilitytoaccuratelyretrieveinformationinthefaceofproactiveinterference(Shipstead&Engle,2013).

Moreover,ourconclusionslendsupporttotheargumentthatWMcapacityreflectsthedomain-generalprocessingabilities

ofthecentralexecutiveWMcapacity,andmoregenerallythecentralexecutive,predictsperformanceintasksinvolving

selectiveattention(Burnham,Sabia,&Langan,2014).

7.2. TheinfluenceofWMcapacityoninsightproblemsolving

WefoundthatWMcapacityaffectedeyemovementsduringinsighttasks.Specifically,wefoundthatparticipantswith

Fig.6.TheprocessmodeloftheinfluenceofWMcapacityoninsightproblemsolving.

ThesefindingslendsupporttotheargumentthatWMcapacityfacilitatesproblemsolvingbecauseithelpsproblemsolversto

controltheirattention,resistdistraction,andnarrowtheirsearchthroughaproblemspace(Wiley&Jarosz,2012).Additional

supportcomesfromthefindingthatWMcapacitybenefitscreativeinsightbecauseitenablestheindividualtomaintain

attentiononthetaskandpreventsundesirablemindwandering(DeDreuetal.,2012).Inaddition,ithasbeensuggestedthat

individualswithhighWMcapacitiesaremorecapableofresistingsensorycaptureandthereforedisplayefficientstorage

ofinformationinWM(Fukuda&Vogel,2009).Theabilitytopreventhighcognitiveloadisespeciallyimportantforsolving

thecomplexinsightproblemspresentedinthisstudy.

Similarly,ithasbeensuggestedthattheabilitytodeliberatelydirectattentiontopertinentinformationisaprerequisite

forcreativeinsight(Dietrich,2004).Creativeinsightcanbetheresultoftwoprocessingmodes,deliberateandspontaneous.

Whilethedeliberatenodesearchesforinsightsthatareinitiatedbycircuitsintheprefrontalcortexandthustendtobe

structuredandrational,spontaneousinsightsoccurwhentheattentionalsystemdoesnotactivelyselectthecontentsof

consciousnessandallowscomparativelymorerandomandunfilteredinformationtoberepresentedinWM(Dietrich,2004).

Inaddition,findingssurroundingeyemovementshavesuggestedthatfixationsandgazeontargetsindicatefocusedand

effi-cientsearching(Cowenetal.,2002)andthatthegreatestvisualabilitiesregardingthinkingorseeingusuallyoccurbetween

successivesaccades(Kowler,2011).Accordingly,thesignificantdifferencesinfixations,gazedurations,andsaccadestoward

insighttargetsbetweentheWMgroupsobservedinthisstudysuggestthatparticipantswithhighWMcapacitiesmayemploy

attentionallytop-downanddeliberatesearchstrategiesthatselectandfindsolutions,whereascollegestudentswithlowWM

capacitiesmayunconsciouslyemploybottom-upandspontaneoussearchstrategiestoselectandfindsolutions.Accordingly,

WMcapacitymayinfluenceinsightproblemsolvingviaattentiontowardsolution-relatedinformation.

7.3. TheinfluenceofWMcapacityontheinsightprocess

TofurtherunderstandhowWMcapacityinfluencesinsightproblemsolving,wecomparedeyemovementdataacross

threedifferenttimeintervals(0–5s,6–16s,and17–21s)basedonthemeanresponsetimesandeyemovementspatterns

duringeachsecond(Fig.5).WefoundthatparticipantswithbetterWMcapacitiesgazedatthetargetsmorefrequentlyand

forgreaterdurationsthanparticipantswithlowerWMcapacitiesinthe6–16sinterval.Moreover,theparticipantswith

betterWMcapacitiesdisplayedmorefrequentsaccadestowardstargetsinthe17–21sinterval.Themeansalsorevealed

aninterestingpatterninwhichbothWMgroupsdecreasedthenumberoffixations,thegazeduration,andthenumberof

saccadestowardtargetsbetweenthe6–16sintervalandthe7–21sinterval.ThesefindingssuggestthathowWMcapacity

influencesthecognitiveprocessofinsightproblemsolvingisquitecomplicatedandtherearestagesofinsightproblem

solving.Furthermore,theseresultssuggestthatthereceiptofinsightisbasedontheinformationthatisactivatedbyattention

andselectedfromWM(DeDreuetal.,2012;Wiley&Jarosz,2012).

Inaddition,thecognitiveprocessofreceivinginsightmayincludethestagesofpreparation,incubation,andinsight(Yeh,

2004),andinsightproblemsolvingrequiresbothconvergentanddivergentthinking(Abraham&Windmann,2007;DeYoung

etal.,2008).Basedonoursituation-basedvisualtasksandtheliteraturereviewpresentedinthisstudy,thepresentfindings

suggestthatthe0–5sintervalisthestageofpreparationinwhichtheproblemisdefined,the6–16sintervalisthestageof

incubationinwhichtheproblemisreconstructedanddivergentthinkingisemployedtocreatepossiblesolutionsbasedon

theinformationretrievedfromWM,andthe7–21sintervalisthestageofreceivinginsightinwhichconvergentthinking

isemployedtomakedecisions.Therefore,thefindingsinthisstudyareinlinewiththeclaimsthatWMisimportantfor

determiningtheinadequacyofproblemformulation;whiledivergentthinkingmaybenecessarytogenerateelementsofa

Basedontheexperimentaldesignandfindingsofthisstudy,weconcludethatwheninsight-problemrelatedstimuli

attractattention,eyemovementsandWMinteractviathisattention,whichfurtherinfluencestheperformanceofWM

capacity.Subsequently,thosewithbetterWMcapacitiesmayemploytop-downsearchprocessesanddeliberatelydirect

attentiontopertinentinformationandsolveinsightproblemmoreefficiently.Conversely,thosewithpoorerWMcapacities

maybelesscapableofactivelyselectinganddirectingpertinentinformationandthereforeemploybottom-upsearch

pro-cessesthattakemoretime,astheseprocessesarebasedontrialanderror,andthereforeleadtolessefficientinsightproblem

solving.Notably,duringinsightproblemsolving,attention,eyemovementsandWMprocessingdynamicallyinteract(see

Fig.6).

8. Conclusionsandsuggestions

Recently,thestudyofeyemovementshasbecomeincreasinglypopularininvestigatingproblem-solvingbehavior.Eye

movementsprovidenumerousandspecificcluesabouttheunderlyingcognitiveprocessesandtheirinteractionswith

envi-ronmentalstimuli;theseclueshelpexplaintheovertbehaviororperformanceofcomplexthinking.Insightproblemsolving

thatrequirescritical“aha”momentsofinsighthasbeentheinterestofresearchers.Althoughafewstudieshavebeen

conductedthatinvestigatetherelationshipbetweenWMandinsightproblemsolving,todate,nostudieshaveemployed

situation-basedWMandinsighttaskswithmultiplevisualrepresentationstoexaminetheirrelationshipwitheyetracking

techniques.Usingsituation-basedvisualtasksofWMandinsightproblemsolving,thisstudyfirstsuggeststhatfixations,gaze

durations,andsaccadestowardstargetsareeyemovementparametersthatareeffectiveinincreasingourunderstanding

ofthecognitiveprocessesofWMandinsightproblemsolving.Second,attention,eyemovements,andWMcapacity

inter-activelyinfluenceinsightproblemsolving,andtheinfluencepatternsvarywithWMcapacityandinsightstages.Notably,

anoriginalandintegrativeprocessmodeloftheinfluenceofWMoninsightproblemsolvingthatisbasedonthefindings

inthisstudywasproposed.Thismodelhelpsuncoverthemysteriousprocessofreceivinginsight,anditshouldprovoke

thoughtsregardingfurtherstudies.

AsapioneeringstudyinthefieldofWMduringinsightproblemwithcomplexvisualrepresentationand

situation-basedtasks,thisstudyismoreanexploratorystudythanaconfirmatorystudy.Althoughthesamplesizeofthisstudy

wassmall,thefindingsweresignificantandstimulating.Furtherstudiesmaymanipulatetheincomingstimuli(e.g.,insight

problem-relatedvs.notinsightproblem-related)toinvestigatewhetherthepatternsofinfluenceoreyemovementspatterns

wouldbedifferent.Recently,theemploymentoffunctionalmagneticresonanceimaging(fMRI)hasbecomemorepopularly

incognitivestudies,andsomestudieshaveintegratedfMRIand eyetrackingtechniquestoexplorecomplexcognitive

processes.Furtherstudiesshouldconsiderintegratingthesetwocognitiveneurosciencetechniquestoprovideaclearer

picturetheinfluencesofWMoninsightandinsightproblemsolving.

Acknowledgments

ThisworkwassupportedbytheNationalScienceCounciloftheRepublicofChinainTaiwan(ContractNos.NSC

100-2511-S-004-002-MY3andNSC101-2420-H-004-014-MY2).WethankHanHsuanYangforhelpingcollectingthedata.

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