Lecture Notes: Problem
Solving
October 25
In today's lecture we will examine the topic of problem
solving, including some focus on older work (as outlined for last Tuesday) and then
the "modern" period of problem-solving research. The
slides
are the same as the slides from the previous lecture click here.
New work: the Simon and Newell (CMU!) part of the cognitive revolution
in the 1950's. We will be focusing on these issues, having already
started
with the first two below:
-
Problem solving as search and the size of the search space,
-
Methodology: Verbal protocols and computer simulation.
-
Algorithms and heuristics, including some common heuristics or weak
(general)
methods, such as total enumeration or trial and error, hill climbing,
means-ends-analysis,
working backwards, fractionation or subgoaling, etc.
-
Problem difficulty and the kind of representation the problem-solver
uses
in solving the problem,
-
Cognitive processing limitations and our ability to solve difficult
problems.
We will also examine the related issue of expertise, basing our
analysis
on ideas that arise from the study of problem-solving. We will examine
the role of practice in the development of expertise and how we become
able to circumvent limitations imposed by immediate memory constraints.
Some particular ideas we will examine are as follows:
-
Work with Chess expertise & chunking. (Chase & Simon)
-
The 10 year rule for acquiring world-class expertise. (Hayes)
-
Expert memory & Deliberate practice. (Chase and Ericsson)
-
The beginnings of expertise: becoming better problem solvers.
(Kotovsky,
Hayes & Simon)
The final issue we will examine (given time) is the role played by
non-conscious
processes in problem solving.
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