The Role of Emotion in Problem Solving: First Results from Observing Chess

TL;DR

This study explores how emotions influence chess problem solving, revealing rapid emotional shifts in players and proposing a cognitive model of emotion-guided decision making during gameplay.

Contribution

It introduces a novel instrument for capturing multimodal signals and presents a cognitive model linking emotions to problem-solving strategies in chess.

Findings

Players exhibit rapid emotional changes during challenging problems

Emotional associations influence search and planning in chess

Initial results support the proposed cognitive model

Abstract

In this paper we present results from recent experiments that suggest that chess players associate emotions to game situations and reactively use these associations to guide search for planning and problem solving. We describe the design of an instrument for capturing and interpreting multimodal signals of humans engaged in solving challenging problems. We review results from a pilot experiment with human experts engaged in solving challenging problems in Chess that revealed an unexpected observation of rapid changes in emotion as players attempt to solve challenging problems. We propose a cognitive model that describes the process by which subjects select chess chunks for use in interpretation of the game situation and describe initial results from a second experiment designed to test this model.