Insightful problem solving and social learning in children's tool making: Exploring the role of napping, night sleep, age, and gender

Insight and innovation are two crucial components of our problem-solving capacity to create novel tools. In this study, we explored the possible contribution of task break (napping or wakeful), age (3-to-5-year-olds), gender, napping duration, and night sleep problems and durations on 69 habitually napping preschoolers' tool-innovation and tool-manufacture abilities. Beyond gaining immediate insight in a pre-test, the contribution of insightful or social learning was also tested in three further post-test conditions: innovation and two social learning conditions. Only four children could solve the task in the pre-test, spontaneously. Age, napping duration, and gender (boys) significantly predicted tool-making scores, including pre-test. Two further children showed insight into the task in the post-test, both in the task break groups. Age, napping (short durations), and gender (boys), but not task break group, predicted children's success in the post-test phases. We suggested some hypotheses (to be tested in the future) related to the role of insight, culture and gender, development, and nap durations on the tool innovation capacity.