Problem Solving: Perspectives from Cognition and Neuroscience

by S. Ian Robertson

The way that we assess and overcome problems is an essential part of everyday life. Problem Solving provides a clear introduction to the underlying mental processes involved in solving problems. Drawing on research from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, it examines the methods and techniques used by both novices and experts in familiar and unfamiliar situations.



This edition has been comprehensively updated throughout, and now features cutting-edge content on creative problem solving, insight and neuroscience. Each chapter is written in an accessible way, and contains a range of student-friendly features such as activities, chapter summaries and further reading. The book also provides clear examples of studies and approaches that help the reader fully understand important and complex concepts in greater detail.



Problem Solving fully engages the reader with the difficulties and methodologies associated with problem solving. This book will be of great use to undergraduate students of cognitive psychology, education and neuroscience, as well as readers and professionals with an interest in problem solving.

274 pages, Unknown Binding

Published November 10, 2016

Reviews

[Arash · Rating 1 out of 5]

نسخه الکترونیک/فیدیبو
احتمالا ترجمه تحت اللفظی اثر اصلی بوده، یا قرار بوده باشه.کلمات بی معنا و آشفته در هم ریخته شدن.انگار گوگل ترانسلیت اونم نه با حوصله بلکه همه ی متن رو یک جا ترجمه کرده باشه. شاید هم کار اکستراکوریکولار دانشجوها بوده و یا چیزهایی از این دست...

[Weltengeist · Rating 4 out of 5]

It always surprises me how few books discuss general human problem solving from a scientific perspective. Most books on the topic are about specific applications like business, but when you are looking for the basics, you have to resort to textbooks on general psychology. So I was very happy when I discovered this book by S. Ian Robertson.

Most of the book, I found very useful. With the exception of a few sections, the book was readable also to a non-psychologist like myself (the exceptions typically being sections that seem to have been included for completeness sake, either listing a lot of references or describing concepts that the author himself does not seem to be convinced of). Overall, I got quite a few insights on how our brain works when trying to solve problems, especially novel ones. I also found it easy to derive lots of real-world examples from my own experience where I could immediately apply or recognize the material presented.

Only towards the end, I started to lose interest. In particular, the last chapter (about the neuroscience of problem solving) had little to offer but "this kind of task seems to be done by that part of the brain". Here, I had hoped more for explanations of how the algorithmic-level concepts of the earlier chapters are implemented by neurons, synapses etc. on a physical level. But this question has to be answered elsewhere (being no psychologist, I'm not even sure they've really been answered at all).

[Lakmus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet introduction to problem-solving research, suitable for undergrads or anyone generally interested in the more science/research end of things. This is a second edition and it does seem well-updated, but some of the references seem to be quite old still - I can't tell if nothing much has been done with those lines of research since, or it's because they were not updated. But as a starter it's pretty good and covers all the basics.

Bonus point for providing a lot of examples of the kind of tasks used in experiments, it's always so much easier to understand what is going on if you know what the tasks actually look like.

[Jessie Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is next on my reading list. Nowadays, problem-solving is a very important skill or thing. There are so many issues nowadays, which can be called problematical sometimes, and it's important to know how to solve them and do something to solve them. And sometimes, it cannot be that easy.