Intelligent problem-solvers externalize cognitive operations

Bruno R. Bocanegra (), Fenna H. Poletiek, Bouchra Ftitache and Andy Clark
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Bruno R. Bocanegra: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Fenna H. Poletiek: Leiden University
Bouchra Ftitache: Institute for Mental Health Care GGZ Rivierduinen
Andy Clark: University of Edinburgh

Nature Human Behaviour, 2019, vol. 3, issue 2, 136-142

Abstract: Abstract Humans are nature’s most intelligent and prolific users of external props and aids (such as written texts, slide-rules and software packages). Here we introduce a method for investigating how people make active use of their task environment during problem-solving and apply this approach to the non-verbal Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices test for fluid intelligence. We designed a click-and-drag version of the Raven test in which participants could create different external spatial configurations while solving the puzzles. In our first study, we observed that the click-and-drag test was better than the conventional static test at predicting academic achievement of university students. This pattern of results was partially replicated in a novel sample. Importantly, environment-altering actions were clustered in between periods of apparent inactivity, suggesting that problem-solvers were delicately balancing the execution of internal and external cognitive operations. We observed a systematic relationship between this critical phasic temporal signature and improved test performance. Our approach is widely applicable and offers an opportunity to quantitatively assess a powerful, although understudied, feature of human intelligence: our ability to use external objects, props and aids to solve complex problems.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0509-y

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