Problem isomorphs with identical structure differ greatly in difficulty; Monster Change took 16 times as long to solve as the standard problem¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 1991 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Tower of Hanoi isomorphs with the same structure differ in solution difficulty, with rules that are harder to learn and apply producing much longer solution times. → Ahmad Tarmizi 1991 q2 i? Isomorphs with readily encoded rules imposed less working-memory load, and intensive rule training decreased problem difficulty via rule automation. → Ahmad Tarmizi 1991 (2)

Evidence¶

Ahmad Tarmizi 1991¶

Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani. (1991). Guidance During Mathematical Problem Solving. Doctoral thesis, University of New South Wales. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/69310

q2 · i? · causal · r?

The thesis reports, citing Kotovsky, Hayes and Simon's series of experiments on Tower of Hanoi isomorphs, the printed solution-time ratios across isomorphs. The review attributes the difficulty differences to learning and applying rule operators. No effect size is printed.

"Taking this problem as a standard, it took 16 times as long to solve a Monster Change problem, 8 times as long for the Monster Move problem, 5 times as long for the Reverse-Acrobat problem and 3 times as long for the Acrobat problem."

Ahmad Tarmizi 1991 (2)¶

Ahmad Tarmizi, Rohani. (1991). Guidance During Mathematical Problem Solving. Doctoral thesis, University of New South Wales. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/69310

q2 · i? · causal · r?

The thesis reports, citing Kotovsky et al., that isomorphs with readily encoded rules required less working-memory load and that "intensive training on the.rules decreases the difficulty of the problems", explained as rule automation. No effect size is printed.

"They also found that intensive training on the.rules decreases the difficulty of the problems. Kotovsky et al. explained this result to be due to rule automation."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

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