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Results for “Problem Solving”

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PubMed1993

Coping modeling problem solving versus mastery modeling: effects on adherence, in-session process, and skill acquisition in a residential parent-training program.

This trial compared two approaches used to introduce parenting skills in a residential staff training program. Fifty staff were randomly assigned to: mastery modelling in which videotaped models demonstrated new skills, coping modelling problem solving (CMPS) in which participants formulated their own solutions to the errors depicted by videotaped models, or a waiting-list control group. In both, leaders used modelling, role playing, and homework projects to promote mastery and transfer of new skills. The skills of all groups improved, but CMPS participants attended more sessions, were late to fewer sessions, completed more homework, engaged in more cooperative in-session interaction, rated the program more positively, and reported higher job accomplishment scores. These data suggest that CMPS allowing participants to formulate their own solutions may enhance adherence and reduce the resistance observed in more didactic programs.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1978

The effect of restricted manipulative experience on problem solving.

The literature has described restricted active movement as a contributing factor to a general state of distress, behavioral disruption, and cognitive disturbance under experimental conditions and suggests similar effects may result from chronic illness or physical disability. In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the effect of short-term restructed active movement in the upper extremities, specifically with regard to object manipulation, on problem-solving ability. A two-factor design was employed involving 60 male college students ranging in age from 18 to 24. The variables were: restricted versus free manipulation, and easy versus difficult arrangements of a Dunker-type candle problem. An analysis of the variance revealed no significant interaction between problem difficulty and manipulative condition. The restricted manipulation condition produced significantly lower solution times than the free manipulation condition. Observations on the significance of sensory experience arising from active movement and relevant implications for the health care professions are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Quality of life research in patients with rectal cancer: traditional approaches versus a problem-solving oriented perspective.

The present paper critically appraises two recent overviews of the literature on rectal cancer and quality of life (QL). These reviews focus on the Anglo-American literature, largely neglect research from other countries, and provide little stimulus regarding future research directions. As an alternative perspective we propose the concept of problem-solving oriented QL research. The major theme is that the QL concept must be integrated into the clinical arena. To begin with, QL researchers must make themselves understandable. We outline several ways in which this can be achieved: (a) placing QL in a broader concept together with outcomes that are more familiar to clinicians; (b) depicting individual patients in the form of QL profiles; (c) clarifying the psychosocial/clinical correlates of particular QL scores of interest; and (d) conducting studies with a definitive practical goal in mind and integrating practitioners and patients into the study group. We illustrate the feasibility of such a research program by performance data from our Marburg-Biedenkopf field trial. Pursuing an ambitious research strategy that integrates experimental and applied research, the QL movement will have the chance to show that it is not merely l'art pour l'art, but indeed is beneficial to society.

Humans↗

PubMed2006

Responsive parenting: establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills.

Mothers whose infants varied in early biological characteristics (born at term, n = 120; born at very low birth weight [VLBW], n = 144) were randomized to a target group (n = 133) or developmental feedback comparison group (n = 131) to determine whether learning responsive behaviors would facilitate infant development. The target condition included videotaped examples, problem-solving activities, and mothers' critique of their own behaviors through video procedures across 10 home visits. All target versus comparison mothers showed greater increases across multiple responsiveness behaviors observed in 4 assessments conducted across 6-13 months of age; changes in emotionally supportive behaviors were strongest for target mothers of infants born at VLBW. Increased maternal responsiveness facilitated greater growth in target infants' social, emotional, communication, and cognitive competence, supporting a causal role for responsiveness on infant development. Although benefits were generally comparable across risk groups, aspects of social and emotional skills showed greater change for those born at VLBW. Evidence for responsiveness as a multidimensional construct was provided as well as the importance of different aspects of responsiveness mediating the effect of the intervention on different infant skill domains.

Child Development↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Nurse practitioners develop leadership in community problem-solving.

If nurse practitioners are to become agents of change within the community, a shift in focus from the individual/family/caseload to one that includes population/community will be required. The nurse practitioner will need to develop the skills of community coalition building and grantsmanship. Graduate preparation in primary care nursing can provide an opportunity to develop the necessary knowledge and skills for leadership in community problem-solving by incorporating reality-based learning experiences into the curriculum. A model for guiding graduate study is presented.

Community Participation↗

PubMed2003

[Reading span as an individual difference and cognitive problem solving performance].

This study investigated the performance on a computer game called Mastermind, playing of which consumes a large amount of working memory resource. First, 143 college students took a Japanese version of reading span test (RST). They then played Mastermine under two conditions: with or without display of past game records. There were 105 participants who relied under both conditions on a tactical strategy that caused high memory load, and their performance data were analyzed. Results indicated that low-span readers (87 students) were more constrained than high- and medium-span readers (18 students) under the condition without display, and performance of the low was affected by the content of display. It was argued that working memory resource that RST measured was involved in the process of cognitive problem solving.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Problem solving: a course for blood bankers.

A structured program for the training of blood bank personnel and students entitled "Problem Solving" is presented in its entirety. The explanation includes the primary objective for this program, course description, how to evaluate student results, a grading system used for errors, and preparation of specimens and practical examinations. An example of an actual problem is also presented.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

The Impact of Conflict Issues on Fixed-Pie Perceptions, Problem Solving, and Integrative Outcomes in Negotiation.

It is argued that a negotiator's fixed-pie perception, cooperative motivation, problem-solving behavior, and integrative outcomes are influenced by the content of the negotiation-the conflict issue. Negotiation involves conflicting interests, conflicting ideas about intellective problems, or conflicting ideas about evaluative problems. Study 1 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests have a stronger fixed-pie perception and have a lower cooperative motivation than individuals in an evaluative negotiation, with intellective negotiations taking an intermediate position. Study 2 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests made more trade-offs and reached higher joint outcomes than individuals in an intellective or evaluative negotiation. Study 3 replicated this finding in a field study. The studies bridge insights from negotiation research and decision-making research and show that the conflict issue has important effects on the negotiation process. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Frontal and parietal participation in problem solving in the Tower of London: fMRI and computational modeling of planning and high-level perception.

This study triangulates executive planning and visuo-spatial reasoning in the context of the Tower of London (TOL) task by using a variety of methodological approaches. These approaches include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional connectivity analysis, individual difference analysis, and computational modeling. A graded fMRI paradigm compared the brain activation during the solution of problems with varying path lengths: easy (1 and 2 moves), moderate (3 and 4 moves) and difficult (5 and 6 moves). There were three central findings regarding the prefrontal cortex: (1) while both the left and right prefrontal cortices were equally involved during the solution of moderate and difficult problems, the activation on the right was differentially attenuated during the solution of the easy problems; (2) the activation observed in the right prefrontal cortex was highly correlated with individual differences in working memory (measured independently by the reading span task); and (3) different patterns of functional connectivity were observed in the left and right prefrontal cortices. Results obtained from the superior parietal region also revealed left/right differences; only the left superior parietal region revealed an effect of difficulty. These fMRI results converged upon two hypotheses: (1) the right prefrontal area may be more involved in the generation of a plan, whereas the left prefrontal area may be more involved in plan execution; and (2) the right superior parietal region is more involved in attention processes while the left homologue is more of a visuo-spatial workspace. A 4CAPS computational model of the cognitive processes and brain activation in the TOL task integrated these hypothesized mechanisms, and provided a reasonably good fit to the observed behavioral and brain activation data. The multiple research approaches presented here converge on a deepening understanding of the combination of perceptual and conceptual processes in this type of visual problem solving.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Problem solving skills in young yellow-crowned parakeets (Cyanoramphus auriceps).

Despite the long divergent evolutionary history of birds and mammals, early avian and primate cognitive development have many convergent features. Some of these features were investigated with a series of tasks designed to assess human infant development. The tasks were presented to young parakeets to assess their means-end problem solving abilities. Examples of these early skills are: attaining and playing with objects, retrieving rewards through use of a stick or rake, or by pulling in rewards on supports or on the ends of strings. Twelve such tasks were presented to 11 young yellow-crowned parakeets ( Cyanoramphus auriceps) to investigate their natural abilities; there was no attempt to train them to do those tasks that they did not spontaneously perform. Six of the birds were parent-raised and five were hand-raised. The birds completed 9 of the 12 tasks, demonstrating all the Piagetian sensorimotor circular reactions, but they failed to hand-watch ("claw-watch"), to stack objects, or to fill a container. Their ordinality on the tasks differed from that of human infants in that locomotion to obtain objects occurred earlier in the avian sequence of development and the mid-level tasks were performed by the two groups of avian subjects in a mixed order perhaps indicating that these abilities may not emerge in any particular order for these birds as they supposedly do for human infants. The hand-raised group needed fewer sessions to complete these means-end tasks.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

Concept formation, problem-solving and the right hemisphere.

The pioneering work of Sperry in the 1960s presented a challenge to the traditional view that the right hemisphere is functionally limited to the processing of nonlinguistic, visual-spatial information on a perceptual level. Yet, the recent position of Gazzaniga (1983) is in support of the traditional view. This investigation tested further the hypothesis of right hemisphere concept formation and problem-solving. Right hemispherically strong children were compared with normal controls in terms of linguistic and nonlinguistic information processing. The results were in support of the right hemisphere as capable of cognitive processes beyond the level of simple nonverbal perceptual tasks.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Effectiveness in learning complex problem solving and salivary ion indices of psychological stress and activation.

Following Hinton et al. (1992, Biol. Psychol. 33, 63-71) and Richter et al. (1995, Biol. Psychol. 39, 131-142) ionic concentration of [K+] in unstimulated saliva was predicted to rise with perceived challenge, while lowered [Na+] was expected when experiencing psychological stress (PS). Subjects had to learn an engaging complex problem-solving 'game', via positive and negative feed-back on three 'games' lasting 2.5-3.0 h overall. Comparisons were made between three groups: (1) high success; (2) partial success ('strugglers'); and (3) total failure to learn. Saliva was sampled after resting and after each of three 'games'. Successful learners had a significant rise in [K+] on the first 'game' followed by a significant fall, consistent with task-challenge reaction followed by fast autonomic adaptation with successful learning. The 'strugglers' [Na+] fell significantly over the 'games', indicating mineralocorticoid-induced PS response of Na+ reabsorption. The 'total failure' subjects had generally significantly higher [K+] than the successful ones, showing raised tonic sympathetic relative to parasympathetic activity--this outcome being interpreted from interference theories. The 'failures' also had significantly higher tonic [Na+] on 'games'--indicating low PS as predicted from McGrath's (1976) theory.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Problem solving ability of parkinsonians.

The hypothesis to be verified is that the cognitive defects in nondemented and nondepressed Parkinsonians are due solely to a bilateral nigrostriatal disorder that causes motor slowing. It was tested on 26 mildly disabled patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease optimally controlled with L-Dopa, nondemented and nondepressed and not receiving anticholinergic. The test used was a simplified version of the London Towers Test of problem-solving ability, designed to measure a facet of prefrontally-induced bradyphrenia, already calibrated on 131 healthy subjects. The results revealed no significant difference between the Parkinsonians and controls, thus providing no support for the hypothesis in question.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

The effects of parents' assistance on middle school students' problem solving and achievement.

In this study the authors tested whether children's aptitudes in science were advanced in areas in which cognitive supports were generally present, particularly through interaction with more capable individuals. Mothers assisted their 7th-grade children in science activities. Differences in parent-child interaction were hypothesized to account for children's performance across 3 science tasks that differed in difficulty. A cooperative problem-solving style of interaction was identified through factor analysis. This interaction style was correlated significantly with the child's intellectual performance not only in the science tasks but also in school achievement. Development of science and other aptitudes in the context of activity variables that help bridge home and school cultures are discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed2002

Problem-solving orientation and attributional style: moderators of the impact of negative life events on the development of depressive symptoms in adolescence?

Followed up 733 adolescents, ages 12 to 14 years, from a community sample over a 1-year period. Depressive symptoms at 1-year follow-up, controlling for baseline depression levels, were predicted by negative life events (NLEs) in the previous 12 months, attributional style (AS), negative problem solving orientation (NPSO), and the interaction between NLEs and NPSO. In the presence, but not absence, of high NLEs, NPSO predicted increases in depressive symptoms. In contrast, pessimistic AS predicted future increases in depression irrespective of the occurrence of NLEs. The findings supported a congnitive diathesis-stress model of the development of depression for NPSO but not AS.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Self-regulation after traumatic brain injury: a framework for intervention of memory and problem solving.

Self-regulation of behavior is mediated by the frontal lobes and commonly disrupted after a traumatic brain injury. The rehabilitation field is only now beginning to understand self-regulation as a set of dynamic relationships between metacognitive beliefs and knowledge, ongoing self-monitoring or self-assessment during activities, and self-control (i.e., strategy decisions). This article provides a framework for understanding self-regulated learning and problem solving, along with a summary of the existing intervention literature. We conclude by providing clinicians with principles that emphasize accurate self-monitoring and explicit instruction to connect self-monitoring to strategy decisions.

Amnesia↗

PubMed2001

Transportation for maternal emergencies in Tanzania: empowering communities through participatory problem solving.

Inadequate health care and long delays in obtaining care during obstetric emergencies are major contributors to high maternal death rates in Tanzania. Formative research conducted in the Mwanza region identified several transportation-related reasons for delays in receiving assistance. In 1996, the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began an effort to build community capacity for problem-solving through participatory development of community-based plans for emergency transportation in 50 villages. An April 2001 assessment showed that 19 villages had begun collecting funds for transportation systems; of 13 villages with systems available, 10 had used the system within the last 3 months. Increased support for village health workers and greater participation of women in decision making were also observed.

Community Health Planning↗

PubMed1985

Medical problem-solving: some questionable assumptions.

This paper questions the idea that expert doctors use the hypothetico-deductive method when developing diagnoses of routine clinical cases. Up to now, this has not been justified by empirical evidence but by two indirect arguments. The first is that it is the standard procedure of scientific method. The second is that it is supported by research in cognitive psychology comparing the problem-solving behaviour of experts and novices. It is argued in this paper that both areas have been misinterpreted. In particular, the evidence from research in cognitive psychology on expert-novice comparisons indicates that the use of the hypothetico-deductive method is a characteristic of novices rather than experts. Experts use what are called strong methods, which are dependent on a highly elaborated and structured knowledge base. It is concluded that a considerable amount of research on the nature of such strong methods in expert clinical reasoning is needed before any confident claims can be made regarding the use of the hypothetico-deductive or any other method.

Cognition↗