Abstract

Analogical reasoning relies on subprocesses of long-term memory and problem-solving. Stress, with its accompanying hormones dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol, has been shown to impair memory retrieval but potentially enhance problem solving. The present study combined Gick and Holyoak’s Duncker’s Radiation Problem with stress induction to determine the influence of stress on these two components of analogical reasoning. Participants (N = 131) learned an analog story and returned a day later for a stressful or non-stressful task. They then completed three consecutive tests: a spontaneous attempt at Duncker’s Problem, a recall test for the analog, and another attempt at Duncker’s Problem using analogical reasoning. Stress did not influence spontaneous problem-solving or story recall but did improve performance on the second attempt at Duncker’s Problem. Further, performance trended toward a positive association with DHEA. Thus, stress and increases in DHEA may enhance identification and use of an analog to solve a problem.

摘要

类比推理依赖于长期记忆和解决问题的子过程。压力及其伴随的激素脱氢表雄酮（DHEA）和皮质醇已显示出会削弱记忆力的恢复能力，但可能会增强解决问题的能力。本研究将Gick和Holyoak的Duncker辐射问题与压力感应相结合，以确定压力对类比推理的这两个组成部分的影响。参加人数 = 131）学到了一个类似的故事，并在一天后返回进行有压力或无压力的任务。然后，他们完成了三个连续的测试：对Duncker问题的自发尝试，对类似物的回忆测试，以及使用类推推理的对Duncker问题的另一尝试。压力不会影响自发的问题解决或故事回忆，但会在第二次尝试Duncker问题时提高性能。此外，性能趋向于与DHEA呈正相关。因此，DHEA的压力和增加可能会增强类似物的识别和使用以解决问题。