I think that an experiment would produce much valuable information. The richest source, I think, would come from puzzles rated as impossible which actually are not. The reasons given for why they where impossible would be intrinsically flawed, but analyzing them would allow one to see what sorts of assumptions the subject made, and more interestingly, how it was that the subject posed the 'issue' central to the problem. The cases where the person solved the puzzle and identified the insights required are bunk, as far as the research is concerned. Everyone knows that a problem seems easy once one has seen the solution.
Most people still have trouble remembering, though, that the problem was difficult.
I dismiss most backward analysis as meaningless. Then tell me why . Back to menu. Back to menu. Back to menu.