Representation and function of subliminal information used in problem solving

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500327
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Aoyama Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI Hiroaki 青山学院大学, 教育人間科学部, 教授 (50192620)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): FUKUDA Haruaki 東京大学大学院, 総合文化研究科, 助教 (40615100) ; SUZUKI Satoshi 成蹊大学, 理工学部, 助教 (70516377) ; MIYATA Hiromitsu 東京大学, 大学総合教育研究センター, 准教授 (80726696)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 洞察 / 問題解決 / 閾下情報 / ワーキングメモリ / 二重課題

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Previous studies have revealed that subliminal hint information facilitates performance in insight problem solving. Our research aims at specifying which memory system the subliminal information is stored, and examining whether this information is static visual image or manipulated flexibly. In order to specify the memory system, we posed a visual search task when presenting subliminal hint information. The results showed that subjects' performance would not affected by a dual task which is expected to interfere the retention of the subliminal hint information. This suggests that subliminal information should be stored in a storage system other than working memory. In the second experiment, we presented subjects with a series of partial hint information subliminally. However, this experimental manipulation would not affect subjects' performance at all. The results suggest that subliminal information could not be manipulated flexibly, unlike information in working memory.

Free Research Field

認知科学