Erika Branchini

University of Verona | UNIVR · Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology

With reference to Wason’s 2-4-6 rule discovery task, this study investigated the effects of a simple training session that prompted participants to “think in opposites”. The results showed a significant improvement in performance under the training condition when compared to the control condition, both in terms of the proportion of participants who...

In this paper, we focus on the link between thinking in opposites and creativity. Thinking in opposites requires an intuitive, productive strategy, which may enhance creativity. Given the importance of creativity for the well-being of individuals and society, finding new ways to enhance it represents a valuable goal in both professional and persona...

This study investigates the link between the personality profiles and socio-demographic characteristics of wine consumers and the sensory characteristics of the wines they prefer. This was measured in terms of a self-reported list of the wines they like and buy. The 1,176 Italian adults who participated were asked to complete an online form. Inform...

This study examines the cognitive and affective commonalities and differences between humour and insight problems, focusing on the reasons given by the participants to explain their preferences. For both cartoons (study 1) and insight problems (study 2), the participants gave more reasons for liking than disliking something and the motivations for...

Three studies investigate adults’ naïve intuitions about what constitutes an “opposite process”. In Study one, the task involves iconic stimuli, that is, simple diagrams showing a transformation. In Study two, the participants were asked to produce a written description of the transformation process shown in the diagram and then to write what they...

Our aim in this paper is to contribute toward acknowledging the general role of opposites as an organizing principle in the human mind. We support this claim in relation to human reasoning by collecting evidence from various studies which shows that “thinking in opposites” is not only involved in formal logical thinking, but can also be applied in...

Expert wine tasters have a greater ability than non-experts to discriminate between and evaluate the sensory properties of wine. In this paper we explore non-experts’ understanding of a set of 64 terms which are frequently used as descriptors of the sensory properties of wine. These terms can be found in guidebooks on Italian wine, in production sp...

We presented participants with simple diagrams representing a transformation from x to y, and asked them to draw what they considered to be the opposite process/es. The focus of the study was on the participants’ naïve idea of opposites and on whether asking them to write a verbal description of the stimulus prior to the task (implying more conscio...

This study aims to investigate the hypothesis that “thinking in opposites” might facilitate insight problem solving. For example, if the image relating to a problem is oriented horizontally, it may be that making it vertical makes it easier to see the solution. We focus on visuo-spatial insight problem solving and study four conditions (training vs...

In this paper, a parallel analysis of the enjoyment derived from humor and insight problem solving is presented with reference to a “general” Theory of the Pleasures of the Mind (TPM) (Kubovy, 1999) rather than to “local” theories regarding what makes humor and insight problem solving enjoyable. The similarity of these two cognitive activities has...

This study adds to the existing literature on the ability to understand irony of typically developing versus gifted students (aged 12–15). In addition to the canonical condition of polarized statements applied to oppositely polarized situations, we also considered the case of intermediate statements and situations. The results showed a significant...

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 b...

A focused review of the literature on reasoning suggests that mechanisms based upon contraries are of fundamental importance in various abilities. At the same time, the importance of contraries in the human perceptual experience of space has been recently demonstrated in experimental studies. Solving geometry problems represents an interesting case...