The Origins and Development of Domain General Problem Solving Strategies

Despite the central role of problem solving in cognition and despite the extensive study of problem solving in young children, we do not have a clear answer to the basic developmental question of the origins of broadly applicable "domain general" problem solving strategies. Do these strategies emerge gradually or all at once? Are these strategies innate or are they learned? This experiment teases apart some domain general strategies by presenting infants two types of toy-retrieval problems that differ only in which strategies may solve the problem. In each problem, a toy was placed on a cloth that extended through the entire length of a canal. When infants pulled on the cloth in the obtuse-canal problem, the toy continually moved closer to them. When they pulled the cloth in the acute-canal problem, the toy moved further away before moving closer to them. The obtuse-canal problem is solvable by hill-climbing or means-ends analysis. The acute-canal problem is solvable only by means-ends analysis, because it involves moving further from the goal. Results show that 9 months olds could not use either strategy and 16 month olds were comparatively better at using both strategies. The 12 month old infants could use hill-climbing just as well as the 16 month old infants but they were no better at using means-ends analysis than the 9 month old infants. This suggests that domain general problem solving strategies develop gradually throughout infancy. Twelve month old infants showed that with experience, they were able to solve the problem as well as 16 month olds. This suggests means-ends analysis can be learned within a particular context.