Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

In the triangle of coins problem coins are arranged tocreate a triangle pointing down and the solution involvesmoving a few coins to change its orientation. The taskecology can be designed such that participants can workon it in a low interactivity environment, maintaining amental representation of simulated moves, or in a highinteractivity environment, thinking with and through aphysical model of the problem. These task ecologiesinvolve working memory to a different degree: Problemsolving draws more on working memory the lower thedegree of physical interaction. Participants first engagedin a writing task that required vigilance to inhibitcommon word choices, a degree of self regulationdesigned to induce a so-called ego depletion;participants then worked on the ToC problem in either alow or high interactivity environment. Solution rateswere determined by level of interactivity; the precedingdepletion experience did not impact performance.