title: Insightful Imagery is Related to Working Memory Updating.
abstract: Available body of evidence concerning the relationship between insight problem solving and working memory (WM) is ambiguous. Several authors propose that restructuring of the problem representation requires controlled search processes, which needs planning and involvement of WM. Other researchers suggest that the restructuring is achieved through the automatic spread of activation in long-term memory, assigning a limited role to WM capacity. In the present study we examined the correlations between insight problem solving performance and measures of WM updating function (n-back task), including general intelligence (as measured by Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices). The results revealed that updating function shared up to 30% of variance with the insight problem task performance, even when the influence of general mental ability was controlled for. These results suggest that insight problem solving is constrained by individual ability to update the content of WM.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University in KrakowKrakow, Poland; The University of Social Sciences and HumanitiesWarsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nęcka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Żak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gruszka
keywords: creativity; imagery; insight; n-back; working memory