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Psychology of Thinking: Embedding Artifice in Nature. Perceived Complexity. Many things that appear complex are result of simple mechanism acting on a complex environment Consider the path of ant on seashore or skier on slope - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Psychology of Thinking: Embedding Artifice in Nature
Perceived Complexity
• Many things that appear complex are result of simple mechanism acting on a complex environment
• Consider the path of ant on seashore or skier on mountain slope– Path might be mistaken
for a student’s path through problem/solution space when solving a complex problem
• Complexity largely due to not being able to anticipate obstacles
Perceived Complexity
• “An ant, viewed as a behaving system, is quite simple.”
• Controversial hypothesis?– “Human beings [minus emotions
and memories], viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple.”
• Do you believe Simon?• Why does Simon believe this? • How does it relate to theory of computing?
Understanding Thinking
• Examine results from cognitive psychology– What do they tell us about capabilities?– What do they tell us about limits?
• Look at– Problem solving– Concept attainment– Memory skills– Natural language processing
Problem Solving as Search
• Generalizing search (e.g. cryptoarithmetic problems)– Brute force solutions – Pruning tree based on
contradictions– Algebraic solution based on design constraints
• “the more sophisticated the search strategy, the less search was required”
Problem Solving as Search
• My take: the more domain knowledge applied, the less search is required– Is search the right word?– Generate and test vs. compute value
• People change strategies – is this just searching for a search strategy?
• Lesson: watching people solve problems can provide information about cognitive processes
Concept Attainment
• Example with cards– Determining which cards show things in a class of items
and which are not in the class– Experiments show
• People do not always discover strategies that could be taught• People do not have sufficient memory unless process is slowed
down
• 7 +/- 2 elements in short-term memory
• 5-10 seconds to move chunk to long-term
Patterns in Experimental Results• Problem in reporting experimental results in variety of metrics
– # of trials, # of errors, time to criterion• Learn unrelated nonsense syllables (Task A)
– 10-15 seconds each• Learn unrelated words or related nonsense syllables
– 1/3 time of Task A• Learn continuous prose
– 1/10 time of Task A• Modeling experience with EPAM
– Approximately predicts times found in studies• Simon suggests 2 chunks of short-term memory
– Only 7 to 10 if no interruptions to task
Organization of Memory• Recall of randomized characters show chunking (at multiple levels)
– Three to four at each level?– Simon hypothesizes list structure (LISP)
• Recall of chess boards– All are slow on randomly placed chess
pieces– Experts faster on boards that made
sense• In practice, problem solving occurs
in a combinations of verbal, mathematical, and diagramatic reasoning
• Potential issues with Simon’s interpretation– Simple problems -> simple solutions– What about perception?
Natural Language Processing
• Connection between transformational linguistics and information-processing psychology
• I saw the man on the hill with the telescope– SAW ((I, WITH (telescope)),
(man, ON (hill)))• Only the expressible
thinkable? (vice versa?)
What does it mean to know?
• Searle’s Chinese Room
Lessons / Summary
• “the system is basically serial in its operation”– Do you agree?– Where is this true? Where might it be false?
• Experimental work can provide insight into cognitive processes
• “we should not expect it [cognition] to become essentially more complex”– Why not? Should we expect for it to remain
simple?