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Complex problem solving: Profiles and developmental paths revealed via latent transition analysis.

ABSTRACT: Complexity is one of the major demands of adolescents' future life as adults. To investigate adolescents' competence development in applying problem-solving strategies in complex environments, we conducted a 2-wave longitudinal study in a sample of Finnish adolescents (11-17 years old; N = 1,959 at Time 1 and N = 1,690 at Time 2, 3 years later). In this study, we aimed to: (a) determine the optimal number of strategy use profiles while solving complex problems, (b) determine the number of meaningful developmental paths for each profile, and (c) test the impact of reasoning abilities and learning-related motivational beliefs on the probability that an adolescent with a given strategy use profile will take a given developmental path. Using latent transition analysis, we found 4 meaningful strategy use profiles: Proficient Explorers, Rapid Learners, Emerging Explorers, and Low-Performing Explorers. Forty-three percent of the participants were classified as having the same strategy use profile in Time 1 and Time 2. The strategy use of 34% was assessed as having improved between Time 1 and Time 2, while that of 21% was assessed as having declined between Time 1 and Time 2. Verbal reasoning ability and learning-related motivational beliefs predicted whether the developmental path of Emerging Explorers' was more likely to remain stable, improve, or decline over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

SUBMITTER: Mustafic M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6768752 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Complex problem solving: Profiles and developmental paths revealed via latent transition analysis.

Mustafić Maida M Yu Jing J Stadler Matthias M Vainikainen Mari-Pauliina MP Bornstein Marc H MH Putnick Diane L DL Greiff Samuel S

Developmental psychology 20190725 10

Complexity is one of the major demands of adolescents' future life as adults. To investigate adolescents' competence development in applying problem-solving strategies in complex environments, we conducted a 2-wave longitudinal study in a sample of Finnish adolescents (11-17 years old; <i>N</i> = 1,959 at Time 1 and <i>N</i> = 1,690 at Time 2, 3 years later). In this study, we aimed to: (a) determine the optimal number of strategy use profiles while solving complex problems, (b) determine the nu ...[more]

PMID: 31343226

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Project description:In this paper we argue that a synthesis of findings across the various sub-areas of research in complex problem solving and consequently progress in theory building is hampered by an insufficient differentiation of complexity and difficulty. In the proposed framework of person, task, and situation (PTS), complexity is conceptualized as a quality that is determined by the cognitive demands that the characteristics of the task and the situation impose. Difficulty represents the quantifiable level of a person's success in dealing with such demands. We use the well-documented "semantic effect" as an exemplar for testing some of the conceptual assumptions derived from the PTS framework. We demonstrate how a differentiation between complexity and difficulty can help take beyond a potentially too narrowly defined psychometric perspective and subsequently gain a better understanding of the cognitive mechanisms behind this effect. In an empirical study a total of 240 university students were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. The four conditions resulted from contrasting the semanticity level of the variable labels used in the CPS system (high vs. low) and two instruction conditions for how to explore the CPS system's causal structure (starting with the assumption that all relationships between variables existed vs. starting with the assumption that none of the relationships existed). The variation in the instruction aimed at inducing knowledge acquisition processes of either (1) systematic elimination of presumptions, or (2) systematic compilation of a mental representation of the causal structure underpinning the system. Results indicate that (a) it is more complex to adopt a "blank slate" perspective under high semanticity as it requires processes of inhibiting prior assumptions, and (b) it seems more difficult to employ a systematic heuristic when testing against presumptions. In combination, situational characteristics, such as the semanticity of variable labels, have the potential to trigger qualitatively different tasks. Failing to differentiate between 'task' and 'situation' as independent sources of complexity and treating complexity and difficulty synonymously threaten the validity of performance scores obtained in CPS research.

Project description:Group problem solving is a prototypical complex collective intellectual activity. Psychological research provides compelling evidence that problem solving in groups is both qualitatively and quantitatively different from doing so alone. However, the question of whether individual and collective problem solving involve the same neural substrate has not yet been addressed, mainly due to methodological limitations. In the current study, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed to compare brain activation when participants solved Raven-like matrix problems in a small group and individually. In the group condition, the participant in the scanner was able to discuss the problem with other team members using a special communication device. In the individual condition, the participant was required to think aloud while solving the problem in the silent presence of the other team members. Greater activation was found in several brain regions during group problem solving, including the medial prefrontal cortex; lateral parietal, cingulate, precuneus and retrosplenial cortices; frontal and temporal poles. These areas have been identified as potential components of the so-called "social brain" on the basis of research using offline judgments of material related to socializing. Therefore, this study demonstrated the actual involvement of these regions in real-time social interactions, such as group problem solving. However, further connectivity analysis revealed that the social brain components are co-activated, but do not increase their coupling during cooperation as would be suggested for a holistic network. We suggest that the social mode of the brain may be described instead as a re-configuration of connectivity between basic networks, and we found decreased connectivity between the language and salience networks in the group compared to the individual condition. A control experiment showed that the findings from the main experiment cannot be entirely accounted for by discourse comprehension. Thus, the study demonstrates affordances provided by the presented new technique for neuroimaging the "group mind," implementing the single-brain version of the second-person neuroscience approach.

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Complex problem solving: Profiles and developmental paths revealed via latent transition analysis.

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Complex problem solving: Profiles and developmental paths revealed via latent transition analysis.

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