To solve problems, you must first have a basic knowledge of it, which is obtained through thinking.
That is why problem-solving is one of the most complex parts of intellectual operations that some sources describe as an essential cognitive process that requires the integrating of some basic and advanced skills. Problem-solving is when a human agent or artificial intelligence system cannot go from one situation to another.
Self-awareness is the key to achieving problem-solving skills.
According to the simplest definition, self-awareness is the voluntary extraction of information and thoughts that defines the nature of the mind and originates from the unconscious; and is the personal experience of thoughts and feelings and being aware of internal or external existence, and is one of the most critical discussions in the philosophy of mind currently The issue of the day is the issue of self-awareness or the nature of the mind.
Although self-awareness (the nature of the mind) has been the focus of scholars for centuries, today’s science elites are still unable to provide a single and coherent definition that is acceptable to each other. Self-awareness, in general, is the human knowledge of his whole nature. Understanding the mechanism of memory is the key to solving the process of self-awareness.
Among the existing definitions for self-awareness, we can mention “awareness of incoming sensory information, thoughts, and emotions”; Therefore, we can conclude that the concept of “I” is fundamental in defining self-awareness.
A problem is completed based on what stages?
To solve this problem, the appropriate steps should be taken as follows:
- Understanding the problem: At this stage, a complete understanding of the problem should be obtained. In more precise terms, we must understand what information the problem has given us and what things have been asked of us.
- Choosing the method: In this step, we select one of the problem-solving methods suitable for the problem using our knowledge about the situation.
- Implementation of the method: We execute it when the appropriate way is selected.
- Backtracking: We compare the obtained answers with the problem statement and review the above steps once more to ensure we did not miss a part of the problem. One of the methods that help us in the stage of understanding the problem and helps to analyze the situation well and from a systemic point of view is the analysis of the problem with the iceberg approach.
Problem-solving strategies
Among the problem-solving strategies, the following can be mentioned:
- Algorithms (is a problem-solving strategy that requires following a specific rule, method, or method and necessarily leads to the correct solution)
- Insight (sudden understanding of how to solve a problem )
- experimental methods (informal intuitive and conjectural strategies that sometimes lead to a practical solution and sometimes do not reach an effective solution.
Experimental methods include four methods:
- Analysis of means of purpose
- Work forward
- Work backward
- Production and testing
Analysis of means of purpose
- The problem solver analyzes the problem by looking at the end of the searched goal and tries to reduce the distance between the current position and the final destination in that space.
Work forward
- The problem solver starts from the beginning and tries to solve the problem from the beginning to the end.
Work backward
- The problem solver starts at the end and tries to work backward from there.
Production and testing
- The problem solver selects different actions, not necessarily systematically, and then notices which will work.
Critical cognitive psychology, a path to self-awareness
Cognitive psychology is a science that studies information processing processes in mind, such as attention, perception, memory, language, problem-solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology, like psychoanalysis, focuses on internal processes. But in this perspective, rather than emphasizing desires, needs, and motivation, it highlights how people acquire and interpret information and use it to solve problems.
Unlike psychoanalysis, cognitive support is not based on hidden motivations, feelings, and conflicts but on mental processes that we can easily be aware of. This approach is opposed to learning theories that consider the external environment as the leading cause of behavior. A cognitive perspective on thoughts and problem-solving methods is more concerned with personal history.
Cognitive psychology is the birth of Gestalt psychology, which was proposed in the 1920s. His perspective reveals the relationships between emotions, motivations, and mental processes and, as a result, the overlap between the cognitive perspective and other approaches. The characteristic feature of the cognitive perspective is relatively little attention to the stimulus-response relationship and neural activities.
The main focus of this approach is on issues such as perception, problem-solving through intuition, decision-making, and understanding.
In all these processes, cognition is of central importance. Cognition is a general concept that includes all forms of awareness, perception, thinking, imagination, reasoning, judgment, etc.
The cognitive revolution includes all the views that are important to these topics. Issues such as how and with what structure humans understand, diagnose and solve problems and how the mind understands the information received from the senses (such as vision or hearing) or how human memory works and what is its structure; It is one of the significant problems of scientists in this field.
Cognitive psychology researchers look at the mind as an information processing device. Their approach to studying the brain and reason is based on the similarity of the brain’s function with a computer.
Unlike classical psychology schools such as Freudian psychology, it uses the scientific research method and examination of observable cases and does not use methods such as introspection.
The role of implicit memory in cognitive psychology and self-awareness
Implicit memory is one of the two types of long-term human memory in humans, and it is a memory in which we remember all kinds of information unconsciously. Hidden memories are present outside of the person’s consciousness, and we are not aware of the existence of these memories.
One of the most common forms of it is procedural memory, which makes a person perform many tasks correctly and unconsciously; for example, a person driving will be able to talk on the phone or make decisions on various matters.
It can also subconsciously affect our thoughts and behavior; we notice implicit memory when we show improvement in doing perceptual, motor, or mental tasks, without remembering which experiences led to better performance.
Other aspects of implicit memory include classical conditioning, in which the learning method of the current stimulus is related to previous stimuli and previous learning. For example, when this type of conditioning occurs in memory, when you hear a news song, you expect to see the news; another type of implicit memory is the “perceptual representation system,” which is best characterized by priming properties.
When you see the word ra, you probably remember the word Reza and not Rasa. The stimuli that have happened more recently are prioritized. Another type of implicit memory is non-associative learning (Non-associative learning), which is related to habits and sensitivities.
The formation of habits in humans is a continuous and unconscious thing related to the memory of unplanned learning.
For example, when this type of conditioning occurs in memory, when you hear a news song, you expect to see the news; another type of implicit memory is the “perceptual representation system,” which is best characterized by priming properties. When you know the word ra, you probably remember Reza and not Rasa; the stimuli that have happened more recently are prioritized.
Another type of implicit memory is non-associative learning (Non-associative learning), which is related to habits and sensitivities. The formation of patterns in humans is a continuous and unconscious thing related to the memory of unplanned learning.
For example, when this type of conditioning occurs in memory, when you hear a news song, you expect to see the news; another type of implicit memory is the “perceptual representation system,” which is best characterized by priming properties. When you know the word ra, you probably remember Reza and not Rasa; the stimuli that have happened more recently are prioritized.
Another type of implicit memory is non-associative learning (Non-associative learning), which is related to habits and sensitivities.
The formation of habits in humans is a continuous and unconscious thing related to the memory of unplanned learning.
When you see the word ra, you probably remember Reza and not Rasa; li thathaves happy sore recently are prioritized. Another type of implicit memory is non-associative learning (Non-associative learning), which is related to habits and sensitivities.
The formation of habits in humans is a continuous and unconscious thing related to the memory of unplanned learning. When you see the word ra, you probably remember Reza and not Rasa; the stimuli that have happened more recently are prioritized.
Another type of implicit memory is non-associative learning (Non-associative learning), which is related to habits and sensitivities. The formation of patterns in humans is a continuous and unconscious thing related to the memory of unplanned learning.
Focus on the concept of self-awareness to achieve problem-solving skills
Since the end of the 20th century, self-awareness entered the field of neuroscience for the first time and was proposed as a product of complex synaptic function in nerve cells. Today, it is stated that three brain events occur to have conscious perceptions of the environment.
In the first step, sensory data from different organs enter the cortex through the thalamus. Then, these data are transferred to the prefrontal areas and processed there.
Finally, the formation of a retrograde wave towards the occipital regions of the cortex causes a conscious experience. One of the ways to study consciousness in neuroscience is to investigate the mechanism of the effect of anesthetic drugs.
With these drugs, significant physiological events occur, including the predominance of delta waves in the brain (frequency 0.5 to 4 Hz) and the depreciation of breathing rate, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood supply to the cerebral cortex.
Also, at the cellular level, action potentials and vesicular transfers are stopped in nerve cells.
Despite having all this information, the way these drugs work is in an aura of uncertainty. At first, it was said that these drugs affect the neural networks in the cortex, limbic system, and spinal cord, causing loss of consciousness, memory impairment, and immobility, respectively. But investigating the behavior of paramecia, which is a single-celled organism without any synapses and neural networks, violated this hypothesis.