The role of executive functions and working memory subsystems in the formation of the mental set

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Abstract

The present paper investigates the problem of mechanisms of the development of the effect of mental set, which is at the core of the processes of the implicit learning, development of the experience and solving creative tasks. As such mechanisms we investigate the change of the parameters of functioning of executive control and working memory subsystems. As a result of an experimental study, based on modified tasks by A. Luchins, it was found that mechanisms of the development of the effect of mental set have a systematic nature and include such factors as the change of the parameters of the executive functions and the specifics of the processing and storage of information in modality-specific blocks of the working memory. The role of the executive control is dual: it is necessary for keeping in the sphere of the attention the operations during their automatization, and at the same it, it makes the automatized scheme conscient by destructing the developed effect of the mental set. The executive control plays a role of the element which sets the structure of mechanisms of the development and overcoming of the mental set effect. Processes which proceed during the information processing in working memory subsystems also play an important role in the development of the mental set effect, however their nature requires supplementary research.

General Information

Keywords: mental set, executive functions, working memory subsystems, insight, implicit learning, expert knowledge

Journal rubric: Cognitive Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2018110303

For citation: Vladimirov I.Y., Karpov A.V., Lazareva N.Yu. The role of executive functions and working memory subsystems in the formation of the mental set. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2018. Vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 36–50. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2018110303. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Iliya Y. Vladimirov, PhD in Psychology, associate professor, Department of General Psychology, P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Yaroslavl, Russia, e-mail: kein17@mail.ru

Anatoliy V. Karpov, Doctor of Psychology, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Head of the Department of Labor Psychology and Organiza-tional Psychology, P. G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Professor, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education, member of the editorial boards of the scientific journals “Experimental Psychology” and “Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics", member of the editorial board of the scientific journal "Methodology and History of Psychology"., Yaroslavl, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4547-2848, e-mail: anvikar56@yandex.ru

Natalia Y. Lazareva, Assistant of the Department of General Psychology, Researcher of Laboratory for Cognitive Research, Junior Researcher, P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Yaroslavl, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3807-8773, e-mail: lazareva_natasha93@mail.ru

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