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Cognition Beyond the Brain pp 115–132Cite as

Interactivity and Embodied Cues in Problem Solving, Learning and Insight: Further Contributions to a “Theory of Hints”

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Abstract

This chapter addresses the situated, embodied and interactive characteristics of problem solving by focusing on the cues that arise within a solver’s external environment. In examining the influence of external cues on problem solving we have been heavily influenced by Kirsh’s (The Cambridge handbook of situated cognition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009) “theory of hints”. We extend this theory to include hints that derive from the communicative properties of other people’s eye movements, focusing on the role of eye gaze in directing attention and conveying information that can be beneficial for problem solving. A particularly interesting aspect of eye gaze is its capacity to facilitate the perceptual priming of motor simulations in an observer. This gives rise to the potential for an expert problem solver’s eye movements to cue imitative perceptual and attentional processing in less expert observers that can promote effective problem solving. We review studies that support the hypothesised role of gaze cues in scaffolding problem solving, focusing on examples from insight tasks and diagnostic radiography. Findings reveal that eye gaze can support a variety of decisions and judgments in problem solving contexts. In sum, knowing where another person looks provides hints that can act both implicitly and explicitly to cue attention and to shape thoughts and decisions.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter is based on a paper presented at the Symposium on Distributed Cognition , University of Kingston, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK, held in July 2010, and sponsored and organised by Kingston Psychology and the Distributed Language Group. We are grateful for David Kirsh’s invaluable feedback on this presentation, which inspired the connection between his sketch of a theory of hints and our interest in embodied and interactive eye movement cues in problem solving. We are also grateful to Stephen Cowley and Frédéric Vallee-Tourangeau for follow-up discussions on the work we presented at the symposium as well as for their critical comments on the present chapter.

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  1. University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK

    Linden J. Ball

  2. Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK

    Damien Litchfield

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  1. Linden J. Ball
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Correspondence to Linden J. Ball .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark, Slagelse, Denmark

    Stephen J. Cowley

  2. Department of Psychology, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

    Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau

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Ball, L.J., Litchfield, D. (2017). Interactivity and Embodied Cues in Problem Solving, Learning and Insight: Further Contributions to a “Theory of Hints”. In: Cowley, S., Vallée-Tourangeau, F. (eds) Cognition Beyond the Brain. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49115-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49115-8_6

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