ABSTRACT
The present study investigated the role of restructuring in the solution of insight and incremental problems. Participants were presented with a series of insight and algebra word problems in a hindsight bias paradigm (Fischoff, 1975). Those who solved the insightful problems correctly showed increases in importance ratings on the key problem components. However, no increases in importance ratings were detected for the key problem components of algebra problems. These results are consistent with theories that propose that representational restructuring plays a fundamental role in the insightful problem solving process (Davidson & Sternberg, 1984; Ohlsson, 1992).
