ABSTRACT
The ‘business as usual’ approach to insight problem solving suggests that working memory processes would have a prominent role in solving insight problems, as they do in non-insight (incrementally solvable) problems. The alternate ‘special process’ view would be compatible with a reduced role for working memory processes and postulates a large role for unconscious processes not limited by working memory capacity. This chapter systematically reviews available studies to assess their implications for working memory functions in insight problem solving. Results indicate that working memory has a somewhat lesser role in insight compared to non-insight problems, which is consistent with a role for special processes in insight problem solving, but the effect is small, indicating considerable overlap between the processes involved in insight and non-insight problem solving. An integrative view is that the solution of typical insight problems involve both business as usual and special processes, but that problems differ in the degree to which each type of process is involved. Some problems may involve very little in terms of business as usual and mainly depend on special processes, while others may require considerable business as usual (for example to reach impasse) and then involve special processes as a final brief stage.
