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PubMed1994

Performance of a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing students and a comparison group of hearing students on a series of problem-solving tasks.

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of a group of school-age deaf and hard-of-hearing students and a matched group of hearing students on a series of problem-solving tasks. The results indicated that the hearing group performed better than the deaf and hard-of-hearing group. As they got older, both groups made incremental gains in problem-solving ability, and the gap between the deaf and hard-of-hearing group and the hearing group narrowed. Possible reasons for the results are discussed and suggestions for intervention and future research are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Social problem solving in unsafe situations: implications for sexual abuse education programs.

Examined the impact of two subject variables (age and gender) and two contextual factors (antagonist age and nature of the social dilemma) on children's social problem solving (SPS). Preschoolers (N = 62) were individually presented with four stories that varied the antagonist age (peer vs. adult) and social dilemma (nonsexual vs. sexual). Responses were coded for three SPS variables: number of alternative solutions, solution content, and planfulness. Younger preschoolers were less competent problem solvers in all types of unsafe situations, and, compared to girls, some aspects of boys' problem solving were compromised in sexual encounters. Results also suggest that the nature of the social dilemma, but not the age of the antagonist, affects preschoolers' SPS. Children generated fewer alternative solutions and fewer effective strategies to the sexual encounters compared to the nonsexual dilemmas. Findings are discussed in relation to research on children's SPS and child sexual abuse prevention efforts.

Assertiveness↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Problem-solving communication in foster families and birthfamilies.

This study assessed child behavior problems and parent-child communication behaviors during problem solving in three groups of families with adolescent children: foster families, birthfamilies with a child at risk for behavior problems, and birthfamilies with a child not at risk. Levels of positive and negative communication behaviors in the foster families were similar to those in the lower-risk families and were significantly related to foster child behavior problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Using case studies to teach clinical problem-solving.

The case study method is a useful student-centered learning strategy that allows students to solve real-world problems in the safe environment of the classroom. The authors discuss the strengths and limitations of this method and strategies for developing and using case studies in the classroom.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1996

Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: hopelessness, depression, problems and problem-solving

This study looks at a group of adolescents who have taken overdoses and examines the type and severity of their problems. It measures hopelessness and depression, and whether these adolescents feel their parents understand them. The study also examines the ways in which these adolescents perceive their overdose as a problem-solving mechanism.The study shows that hopelessness in adolescent self-harm is an important independent variable over and above the level of depression. The adolescents report a wide range of problems with severe and significant problems particularly in the area of family relationships and school.Finally, the paper postulates links between severity of problems, hopelessness and deficits in problem-solving abilities, and suggests areas for potential therapeutic interventions.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Imparied maze performance in the rat caused by trimethyltin treatment: problem-solving deficits and perseveration.

Trimethyltin (TMT) produces cytological damage to several limbic-forebrain structures which is accompanied by behavioral changes including hyperactivity and aggressiveness. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the problem-solving capacity of the rat is affected by TMT treatment. Either 7.0 mg/kg of TMT ([CH3]3SnCl) or 0.9% saline was injected by gavage into the gastric lumen of each rat. The treated and non-treated animals were divided into two groups of nine each and tested subsequently on a series of Hebb-Williams maze problems. In comparison to the controls, the tin-treated rats made markedly more errors on all but one of the maze patterns. Moreover, the rate of error reduction across problems over the 10 daily trials was significantly retarded in the lesioned animals. In addition to these severe problem-solving deficits, the TMT-treated rat often exhibited a characteristic pattern of perseverative behavior while running in the maze. The pattern was not unlike stereotypies associated with the psychomotor pathology observed following treatment with certain drugs. Overall, the results of the performance of the animal in the Hebb-Williams task provides a corollary with the child afflicted with minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) and, thus, a model for MBD is suggested.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anxiety and problem solving in middle-aged and elderly adults.

This study was designed to examine effects of differences in age, health, education, and sex on state and trait anxiety, and to assess interrelations between anxiety and performance on reasoning and problem solving tests. A significant main effect of health status was obtained for trait anxiety, but age, education, and sex effects were nonsignificant for both anxiety variables. Anxiety ratings were inversely correlated with performance on tests of reasoning and problem solving (traditional and practical Piagetian tasks, matrices, and similarities), but the pattern of intercorrelations was stronger within the middle-aged (40-59 years) as opposed to the elderly (60-79 years) groups. The findings fail to support the hypothesis that anxiety increases with age, or that the elderly are disproportionately affected by anxiety in testing situations.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The strategic use of alternative representations in arithmetic word problem solving.

Multiple-step arithmetic problems can be solved by diverse strategies depending on the mental representation constructed by individuals from the situation described in the text of the problem. This representation will indeed determine the organization of sub-goals to be reached or in other words the order of completion of calculations. This study aims at determining the conditions under which specific strategies are set up by adults. Using a paradigm that allows us to assess when calculations are performed, we show that adults usually organize their sub-goals as they are explicitly mentioned in the problem, even though a strategy that is less demanding on working memory could have been used. However, we show that increasing the difficulty of the problem leads individuals to set up more economic strategies. Moreover, these economic strategies are even more likely to be used when the cognitive cost of the construction of the representation they rely on is low.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Diagnostic problem solving by computer: a historical review and the current state of the science.

The current scientific interest in medical diagnostic problem solving originates in human judgment research among psychologists, statisticians, computer scientists, and physicians. The present state of this research is described and traced to its beginnings in the 1950s. Although the pivotal importance of the computer is emphasized, its impact on medical information management is recognized as not having been as great as in some other spheres of intelligent reasoning. But its future important role in medical diagnostic problem solving is optimistically anticipated.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social problem-solving skills of children with traumatic brain injury.

Studies of specific social skill deficits in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have begun to appear [1,2], but there are few empirical studies of children with TBI. This study examined social problem-solving skills in boys and girls with TBI and a matched group of non-injured peers, ages 7-13. The TBI group generated fewer total solutions on a social problem-solving measure, largely reflecting situation-specific differences in generated solutions. The TBI group also generated fewer positive assertive, and more indirect responses to peer group entry situations than the comparison group. Implications are discussed for a model of social information processing in paediatric brain injury.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[Communication in problem solving by preschool children: effects of subject's familiarity with experimenter and task orientation of experimenter].

The purpose was to examine effects of subject's familiarity with experimenter, and the task orientation of experimenter towards preschool children's communication in a problem solving situation. After subjects were given one of three different information about a target card, they were asked to identify the target one. However, subjects were unable to identify the target one without questions. The main results were as follows: (1) 5-year-olds made more questions and chose the target more often than 4-year-olds, (2) High familiarity group made questions and chose the target more often than low one, (3) Task-oriented group made more questions and chose the target more often than non-oriented one, and (4) Interaction of familiarity and the task-orientation was not significant. These results suggested that familiarity and task-orientation affected rate of communication occurrence in problem solving by preschool children.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1985

Medical problem-solving: a critique of the literature.

Descriptive studies of clinical reasoning have been based primarily on an information-processing paradigm that has entailed microscopic analyses of the verbal behavior of small numbers of persons confronted with the task of making a diagnosis of a patient with symptoms of acute illness. From these studies, researchers have generally concluded: that medical problem-solving is an hypothetico-deductive process and that performance is not generalizable across problems. The author of the present paper argues that this narrow approach casts serious doubt on the validity of the conclusions and leaves unilluminated a large portion of the cognitive process involved in decisions about patient care. On the other hand, prescriptive, decision-analysis studies of medical problem-solving have generally been based on sophisticated decision theory that involves calculation and manipulation of complex probability and utility values in order to arrive at optimal decisions that will maximize patient benefits. While these prescriptive studies offer a methodology for improving clinical judgment, that methodology may not be one which decision-makers find attractive or feasible to employ.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1993

Reconstructing medical problem solving competence: MACCORD.

The building of medical knowledge-based systems involves the reconstruction of methodological principles and structures within the various subdomains of medicine. ACCORD is a general methodology of knowledge-based systems, and MACCORD its application to medicine. MACCORD represents the problem solving behavior of the medical expert in terms of various types of medical reasoning and at various levels of abstraction. With MACCORD the epistemic and cognitive processes in clinical medicine can be described in formal terminology, covering the entire diversity of medical reasoning. MACCORD is close enough to formalization to make a significant contribution to the fields of medical knowledge acquisition, medical didactics and the analysis and application of medical problem solving methods.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2005

A rugged landscape model for self-organization and emergent leadership in creative problem solving and production groups.

The process by which an initially leaderless group differentiates into one containing leadership and secondary role structures was examined using the swallowtail catastrophe model and principles of selforganization. The objectives were to identify the control variables in the process of leadership emergence in creative problem solving groups and production groups. In the first of two experiments, groups of university students (total N = 114) played a creative problem solving game. Participants later rated each other on leadership behavior, styles, and variables related to the process of conversation. A performance quality measure was included also. Control parameters in the swallowtail catastrophe model were identified through a combination of factor analysis and nonlinear regression. Leaders displayed a broad spectrum of behaviors in the general categories of Controlling the Conversation and Creativity in their role-play. In the second experiment, groups of university students (total N = 197) engaged in a laboratory work experiment that had a substantial production goal component. The same system of ratings and modeling strategy was used along with a work production measure. Leaders in the production task emerged to the extent that they exhibited control over both the creative and production aspects of the task, they could keep tension low, and the externally imposed production goals were realistic.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Solving the problem of how medical students solve problems.

Although gathering and processing information are essential to medical problem solving, little is known about what strategies students use to gather information or how they use their cognitive skills to solve problems. We have developed computer-based problem-solving exercises in immunology to determine how students gather and process information. Graphic representations of students' search paths through different problems were developed to visualize how organized and focused their knowledge was, how well their organization related to critical concepts in immunology, where serious misconceptions (confusion or erroneous models) occurred, and whether proper knowledge links between conceptual domains existed. With rapid generation and interpretation of information on patterns and difficulties in problem solving, it should become possible to develop a specific and personal approach to each student's educational needs.

California↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Problem solving, contention, and struggle: how siblings resolve a conflict of interests.

In a laboratory setting, 48 sibling dyads age 4 and 6 or 6 and 8 years negotiated the division of six toys. Findings revealed that, in general, children reached divisions while using a preponderance of constructive problem-solving strategies, rather than contentious tactics. The degree of conflict of interests and the quality of sibling relationships predicted the children's use of problem-solving and contentious negotiation strategies, and was related to the types of resolutions achieved. Dyads experiencing low conflict of interests resolved their differences quickly. High conflict of interests coupled with positive relationships and constructive negotiation resulted in longer negotiations and creative, agreeable resolutions. High conflict of interests coupled with more negative relationships and destructive negotiations resulted in children's failures to reach agreement. Developmental differences indicated that older siblings within the pairs took the lead in negotiation, and benefited slightly more from the divisions. Furthermore, children in older dyads were more sophisticated and other oriented in their negotiations.

Child↗
PubMed1990

The application of basic science concepts to clinical problem-solving.

This study looks at the relationship between anatomical concepts held by medical students and their clinical application, and develops a testable model of how students use basic science concepts for clinical problem-solving. According to the model, the essential prerequisites to solve a clinical problem using basic science information include the appropriate basic science knowledge, the ability to collect and interpret clinical information, with the key concept being the link that must then be made between clinical data and basic science. A detailed analysis of the individual components of the model should help to clarify and resolve some of the debate about the nature and balance of basic science and clinical education. A neurological diagnostic problem was used to test the assumptions of the model in a group of medical students who had minimal clinical experiences. There was no demonstrable relationship between anatomical knowledge as assessed by conventional tests and the diagnosis. There was a powerful relationship between measures of organization of knowledge and diagnosis, suggesting that the organization and development of concepts is the key to correct diagnosis. The findings have significant implications for assessment purposes and suggest that standard methods as generally practised may not measure the appropriate conceptual development and are not congruent with curricular objectives. Through the examination of its different learning outcome measures, the model may also be used to provide a profile of individual students or classes, which should help teachers and students deal with difficulties that may be experienced in learning to link clinical and basic science concepts.

Clinical Competence↗