Can Contraries Prompt Intuition in Insight Problem Solving?

This paper aims to test whether the use of contraries can facilitate spatial problem solving. Specifically, we examined whether a training session which included explicit guidance on thinking in contraries would improve problem solving abilities. In our study, the participants in the experimental condition were exposed to a brief training session before being presented with seven visuo-spatial problems to solve. During training it was suggested that it would help them to find the solution to the problems if they systematically transformed the spatial features of each problem into their contraries. Their performance was compared to that of a control group (who had no training). Two participation conditions were considered: small groups and individuals. Higher success rates were found in the groups exposed to training as compared to the individuals (in both the training and no training conditions), even though the time required to find a solution was longer. In general, participants made more attempts (i.e., drawings) when participating in groups than individually. The number of drawings done while the participants were trying to solve the problems did not increase after training. In order to explore if the quality (if not the number) of drawings was modified, we sampled one problem out of the seven we had used in the experiment (the “pigs in a pen” problem) and examined the drawings in detail. Differences between the training and no training conditions emerged in terms of properties focused on and transformed in the drawings. Based on these results, in the final discussion possible explanations are suggested as to why training had positive effects specifically in the group condition.


Figure 1
It's not necessary to remember the formula relating to the area of a parallelogram. You simply need to look carefully at the figure. Let's analyze it together: the figure has two long, horizontal, parallel sides and two short, oblique, parallel sides. The two long horizontal sides are not "aligned" one above the other since the figure "leans" to the right. In order to find the solution, we must find a way to "straighten" the figure out. This can be done by drawing two perpendicular, vertical lines down from the top two vertices of the parallelogram (see Figure 2). We can see that the triangle that now stands out on the left is exactly the same size as the triangle that seems to be missing on the right. If we move the triangle on the left so that it covers the triangle on the right, we obtain a rectangle. It is then relatively easy to calculate the area of the figure by multiplying the horizontal side by the vertical side.

Figure 2
Operationally speaking, a strategy that we can apply is to start with the evident properties of the figure and then reason by seeing if it is possible to transform these into their contraries.
-The figure has long horizontal sides. Can I find the solution by making them vertical? (In this case no, I can't.) -The figure has parallel sides. Can I find the solution by making them diverge or converge? (In this case, no I can't.) -The figure leans to one side. Can I find the solution by straightening the figure? (In this case, yes I can) -The long sides are misaligned. Can I find the solution by aligning them? (In this case, yes I can) Note that the FIRST transformation that comes to mind may not necessarily be the one that leads to success. But by applying this strategy, it helps us to overcome a block in our reasoning process and to discover the critical transformation which will lead to the solution.
Another example is the nine dots problem (Figure 3). The task is to connect all the dots using four straight lines, without taking the pencil from the paper and without passing twice over the same dot.

Figure 3
Look at the figure. The nine dots are lined up in three rows and three columns. Together they form a square. When we start to look for the solution to the problem, we tend to think we must join the dots either horizontally or vertically while remaining inside the square. Instead the solution requires us to do the opposite, i.e. draw lines that are oblique as well as horizontal or vertical and use lines which also go outside the square (see Figure 4).

Figure 4
Again, operationally speaking, a strategy that we can apply is to start from the evident properties of the figure and then reason in terms of contraries.
-I see horizontal and vertical rows of dots. Can I find the solution by drawing oblique lines as well as horizontal and vertical lines? (In this case yes, I can) -The dots are inside the square. Can I find the solution by drawing lines which go outside the square? (In this case, yes I can) A third problem is the so-called Altar window problem. Workers are painting and decorating the inner walls of a church. There is a circular window a little above the altar.
As a decoration, the painters have been asked to draw two vertical lines tangentially to and of the same height as the circular window; they are then to add half circles above and below, closing in the figure.
This area between the lines and the window is to be covered with gold. For every square inch, a certain amount of gold is needed. How much gold will be needed to cover this space (given the diameter of the circle)?
The problem therefore requires us to find out how to calculate the area to be covered, as shown below (the shaded area,  Let's try to apply the strategy that we have learnt. -The figure is curvilinear. What if the solution requires us to draw straight lines? -The circle in the middle is empty. What if the solution involves filling that empty space? -The figure develops vertically above and below the circle. What if the solution requires us to draw horizontal lines?
-The area to be covered is uniform. What if the solution requires us to divide it into parts?
The solution is shown in Figure 6: if we draw two horizontal lines, tangential to the circle and the same width as the diameter of the circle, we see that a square is formed. And we also see that the semicircles above and below the square together form a circle of exactly the same area as the circle in the center.
The area to be covered with gold thus coincides with the area of the central circle plus the four pieces outside the circle at the corners of the square. Therefore the curvilinear area to be covered with gold coincides exactly with the area of the square.

Appendix 2-Classification grid with pairs of visual contraries
The classification grid used in the study is based on a list of 37 basic dimensions characterizing direct spatial experience (Bianchi et al., 2011b), adapted to the "pigs in a pen" problem. This adaptation was needed to make a good fit with the contents of the drawings done by participants during their search for a solution to this specific problem. The pairs of properties (dimensions) in the classification grid do not refer to linguistically canonical antonyms, but to properties which are visually contrary. For example, the transformation of a typically oriented square into a square rotated 45° (straight-oblique in the classification grid) is a transformation that is frequently perceived as being contrary both by children aged 7-9 and adults (see Bianchi andSavardi, 2006, 2008c).
In this appendix, we first list the properties that make up the classification grid, then we present some examples of their application to drawings done by the participants in the study. Most of the dimensions in the classification grid concern characteristics relating to the pig pens (shape, extension, localization and orientation), others are related to characteristics regarding the pigs (number and localization), one refers to the shape of the overall configuration and one refers to the localization of both pigs and pens. The classification not only takes into account the final product (drawing) but also how it was done (e.g. the direction of the gestures made while drawing which were observed by means of the video-recordings). Table 3. List of properties forming the classification grid.
ORIENTATION OF PENS: standing-lying down; vertical-horizontal; oblique-straight; same orientation as the original-different orientation as compared to the original (e.g.rotated); lined up with the original frame-uneven/misaligned with respect to the original frame; parallel-perpendicular.

NUMBER OF PIGS:
full-empty; dense-sparse; many (i.e. the pigs are many, as in the original pen)few (i.e. in each of the added pens the pigs are few, namely one).

LOCALIZATION OF PIGS:
widespread-localized; united-separated; still-shifted (this pair of contraries refers to whether the pigs were kept in the same position as in the initial figure or whether they had shifted).

LOCALIZATION OF PENS AND PIGS: aligned-non-aligned.
In order to exemplify the coding system that we used, below are six of the 313 drawings produced by participants during the search for a solution and the related properties as coded by the two independent judges [see Section Behavior during the search for a solution: spatial features manipulated in the drawings done by the groups when trying to solve the "pigs in a pen" problem (in the Baseline and Training conditions)].
The first drawing represents the solution. The properties relevant to the solution appear first in the