Studies of Thinking

Kenneth J. Gilhooly is Research Professor of Quantitative Gerontology at Brunel University, UK and Emeritus Professor at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. He is former Chair of the Cognitive Section of the BPS and has served on the ESRC Research Grants Board and the ESRC College of Assessors.

"Ken Gilhooly has been highly influential in the study of thinking, from his early research on concept learning and hypothesis testing right up to his recent work on creativity and insight problem solving. His research has been driven by a consistent underpinning theme, which is to understand people’s thinking strategies and the ways in which they are adapted to the constraints of working memory. This book conveys many important findings relating to this theme that have had a major impact in defining the current theoretical landscape." - Linden J. Ball, Department of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, UK"Kenneth Gilhooly has made a substantial contribution to the field of thinking and reasoning throughout his distinguished career, and this book gathers together many of his most fascinating and significant works. The breadth of theoretical and applied problems addressed by his research is truly impressive. This collection is essential reading for anyone interested in what helps or hinders how we think and reason about the world." – David Pearson, Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK"Kenneth Gilhooly’s erudition, his first-hand experience of the development of modern cognitive psychology following the ‘cognitive revolution’, and his extensive research contributions on topics relating to thinking, including problem solving, working memory, expertise, the effects of aging on cognition, insight, incubation and creative cognition, make this collection of his papers an important read." – Paul Sowden, School of Psychology, University of Surrey, UK

• PART ONE: PROBLEM FEATURES AND PROBLEM SOLVING 1. Response times and inspection times in n value concept learning 2. Concrete and abstract terms and relations in testing a rule 3.Effects of solution word attributes on anagram difficulty: a regression analysis PART TWO: EXPERTISE 4. Skill in map reading and memory for maps 5. Biomedical knowledge in diagnostic thinking: the case of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation 6. Diagnostic thinking processes: evidence from a constructive interaction study of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation PART THREE: WORKING MEMORY AND THINKING 7. Working memory and strategies in syllogistic reasoning tasks 8. Syllogistic reasoning tasks, working memory and skill 9. Visuo-spatial and verbal working memory in the five-disc Tower of London task: an individual-differences approach PART FOUR: AGEING AND COGNITION 10. Planning processes and age in the 5 disk Tower of London task 11. The effects of age and induced positive and negative mood on planning 12. Cognitive aging: activity patterns and maintenance intentions PART FIVE: CREATIVE THINKING AND INSIGHT PROBLEM SOLVING 13. Differentiating insight from non-insight problems 14. Divergent thinking: strategies and executive involvement in generating novel use for familiar objects 15. Don’t wait to incubate: Immediate v. delayed incubation in divergent thinking 16. Incubation and creativity: Do something different