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problem solving

·June 11, 2025·8 min read

How the Brain Solves Problems When It Can’t Be Perfect

A new study reveals how humans use flexible problem-solving strategies like hierarchical and counterfactual reasoning when faced with complex tasks. Researchers had participants predict a hidden ball’s path through a maze, requiring them to make real-time decisions based on sound cues and memory.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 10, 2024·4 min read

Can AI Tackle Abstract Reasoning? Study Tests Cognitive Limits

Researchers tested artificial intelligence’s ability to solve abstract visual puzzles similar to human IQ tests, revealing gaps in AI’s reasoning skills. Open-source AI models struggled, while closed-source models like GPT-4V performed better, but far from perfectly.

$This drawing represents counting fish.$

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 7, 2024·7 min read

Drawings Shape Math Problem-Solving Skills

Researchers uncovered the connection between individuals' drawings and their arithmetic problem-solving strategies. By analyzing the illustrations produced by both children and adults when tasked with solving simple mathematical problems, the research team discovered that certain types of drawings correlate with the most efficient calculation methods.

This shows a drawing of bees having a meeting

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·March 7, 2023·3 min read

Puzzle-Solving Behavior Spreads Through Bumblebee Colonies

Bumblebees are able to learn to solve puzzles by watching more experienced bees complete a task. This new behavioral preference then spreads throughout the entire colony. The bees that learned from others became more adept and began to prefer the learned solution over alternatives.

This shows a light bulb with a paint splash

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 12, 2023·4 min read

How to Unlock Your Creativity, Even if You See Yourself as a Conventional Thinker

Whether you realize it or not, creative thinking is something even the most conventional thinkers engage in every day. Researchers say creativity can be enhanced by reinterpreting frustrating situations.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·October 13, 2022·4 min read

Early Deprivation Continues to Affect Brain Development Well Into Adolescence

Children removed from institutional care and placed into well-supported foster care by the age of three had changes in brain areas that support high-order problem-solving by age 16. In those who were placed in supportive foster care, brain areas associated with emotional processing, language, and executive function developed typically. However, this pattern was altered in those deprived of family-based care.

This shows a woman sitting on top of a hill, looking at a sun set

Featured Psychology

·July 28, 2022·4 min read

Put Down Devices, Let Your Mind Wander

Rather than spending your free time browsing through social media or staring at your cell phone, researchers suggest taking a moment to just sit and think. Spending time alone with your thoughts can help problem-solving, enhance creativity, and improve overall well-being.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 17, 2022·5 min read

How Problems Are Mapped in the Brain

Study explores how the brain utilizes learning by inference by generating cognitive maps.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 4, 2022·4 min read

Long-Term Personality Traits Influence Problem-Solving

Zebra finches have stable personality traits and some of the traits enabled the birds to come up with innovative solutions to complex foraging tasks, a new study reports.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 19, 2022·7 min read

How Good Are We at Finding Optimal Solutions to Complex Problems? People May Not Be as Apt as Generally Assumed

Pure free exploration may not be the most efficient route to solving a complex problem or learning, a new study reports.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 22, 2021·4 min read

Key Neural Mechanism Believed to Support Advanced Cognitive Abilities Identified

Researchers have identified a neural mechanism that supports advanced cognitive functions such as planning and problem-solving. The mechanism distributes information from a single neuron to larger neural populations in the prefrontal cortex.