Guiding Attention Produces Inferences in Diagram-Based Problem Solving

Many eye-tracking studies have shown that visual attention patterns during diagram-based problem solving, measured by eye movements, reveal critical aspects of the problem solving process that traditional measures like solution time and accuracy cannot address. In our first experiment (n = 14), we use this method during the solution of a widely-studied high level reasoning problem, Duncker’s (1945) radiation problem, to show that differences in visual attention to a particular diagram feature corresponds with correctly solving the problem. We then extend these findings in a second experiment (n = 81) to evaluate cognitive sensitivity to perceptual changes in the diagram. We show that problem solvers are highly sensitive to the diagram structure, and that the shifts in attention that result from subtle perceptual changes in the diagram appear to have a dramatic positive effect on reasoning.