Editing Problem solving (section)

=== Cognitive sciences ===
Among the first experimental psychologists to study problem solving were the [[Gestalt psychology|Gestaltists]] in [[Germany]], such as [[Karl Duncker]] in ''The Psychology of Productive Thinking'' (1935).<ref name=Duncker>{{cite book | last= Duncker|first=Karl |year=1935 |title=Zur Psychologie des produktiven Denkens |trans-title=The psychology of productive thinking |location=Berlin |publisher=Julius Springer |language=de}}</ref> Perhaps best known is the work of [[Allen Newell]] and [[Herbert A. Simon]].<ref name="Newell">{{cite book |last1=Newell|first1= Allen |last2=Simon|first2= Herbert A. |year=1972 |title=Human problem solving |location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J. |publisher=Prentice-Hall}}</ref>

Experiments in the 1960s and early 1970s asked participants to solve relatively simple, well-defined, but not previously seen laboratory tasks.<ref>For example:
* X-ray problem, by {{cite book | last= Duncker|first= Karl |year=1935 |title=Zur Psychologie des produktiven Denkens |trans-title=The psychology of productive thinking |place=Berlin |publisher=Julius Springer |language=de}}
* Disk problem, later known as [[Tower of Hanoi]], by {{cite journal | last1=Ewert | first1=P. H. | last2=Lambert | first2=J. F. | title=Part II: The Effect of Verbal Instructions upon the Formation of a Concept | journal=The Journal of General Psychology | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=6 | issue=2 | year=1932 | issn=0022-1309 | doi=10.1080/00221309.1932.9711880 | pages=400–413 | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221309.1932.9711880 | url-access=subscription | access-date=2019-06-09 | archive-date=2020-08-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806135752/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221309.1932.9711880 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last= Mayer|first= R. E. |year=1992 |title=Thinking, problem solving, cognition |edition=Second |location=New York |publisher=W. H. Freeman and Company}}</ref> These simple problems, such as the [[Tower of Hanoi]], admitted [[optimal solution]]s that could be found quickly, allowing researchers to observe the full problem-solving process. Researchers assumed that these model problems would elicit the characteristic [[cognitive process]]es by which more complex "real world" problems are solved.

An outstanding problem-solving technique found by this research is the principle of [[Decomposition (computer science)|decomposition]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. Scott|last1=Armstrong|first2=William B. Jr.|last2=Denniston|first3=Matt M.|last3=Gordon |year=1975|title=The Use of the Decomposition Principle in Making Judgments |url=http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/ideas/pdf/armstrong2/DecompositionPrinciple.pdf  |journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Performance |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=257–263 |doi=10.1016/0030-5073(75)90028-8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620221713/http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/ideas/pdf/armstrong2/DecompositionPrinciple.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-20 |s2cid=122659209}}</ref>