Similarly, regardless of whether one thinks that memory rehearsal processes have different degrees of depth and elaboration or that there are two different kinds of rehearsal processes, each associated with a different memory store, it is clear that elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal in insuring that the information will be accessible in memory for a long period of time. A problem exists when we have a gap between an initial state and a goal state. The means of solving the problem involves applying the appropriate set of operators required to complete a series of state transformations that will eliminate the gap. These transformations must be accomplished without violating any of the conditions on the operators. As a result of repeated experience with problems, solvers build up an organized body of knowledge or information about the properties of a particular type of problem and the operations or steps required to solve it.
Some schemas are so familiar they are activated almost automatically and without much thought.
Typically, the effect of problem solving schemas is to help provide reasonably efficient methods of solving frequently encountered kinds of problems. Sometimes, however, a schema can interfere with the problem solving process. Since it influences the problem solver's early analysis of the problem and determines which schema, or schemas, will be brought to bear in solving a particular problem, the way in which that problem is represented can make a vital difference in how easily the problem can be solved. When a problem is not solved as easily as expected. While the size of those chunks can be affected by the development of additional new knowledge structures, that growth of knowledge requires that the user be actively engaged in elaborating and assimilating that knowledge.