A Laboratory Study on Distributed Problem Solving by Taking Different Viewpoints

In this study, we investigated effects of having different perspectives in solving collaborative tasks. A simple reasoning task was given to several pairs of participants, each of whom discussed their views with their partner. Protocol analysis was performed to reveal how people exchange information with a partner who has a different perspective to achieve successful collaboration. In the experiment, we controlled participants’ perspectives, where the appearance of visual images was manipulated based on Gestalt psychological theory. Three conditions were set up: (1) the distributed-view condition, where one of two different perspectives was presented separately to each of the participants in a pair; (2) the dualview condition, where two equivalent perspectives were presented together to both participants; and (3) the single-view condition, where only a single perspective was presented to both participants. The experimental results showed no significant differences in problem-solving performance between the distributedand dual-view conditions; however, the participants in the distributed-view condition performed significantly better than those in the single-view condition. The protocol analysis also indicated that the participants in the distributedview condition engaged in the task with their partner in complementary interactive ways, highlighting the nature of successful interaction style in collaboration.