8- Information Processing Approaches Flashcards
What is involved in the problem space?
Initial state, goal state, problem constraints, operators
What are the characteristics of the problem space?
It is reactive and responsive
What 2 concepts are involved in heuristics?
Hill climbing and means-end analysis
Why are heuristics used?
There are limited problem solving capacities
How are some problems solved instead of being solved by insight?
By working through the problem space
What does successful problem solving require?
Domain specific knowledge and general problem solving strategies
What is the problem space?
The set of all possible states
What do problem solvers do?
Use strategies to explore the space until a solution is found
What did Newell and Simon show by running computer stimulations?
Humans and computers solve problems in the same way
What did Novick and Bassok say about the problem space?
It is more like an environment than a programme
What did Novick and Bassok say are important when creating the environment of the problem space?
Individual differences
What are the 3 reasons that problems can be difficult?
- Problem space may be large and exceed working memory capacity
- Operators may be difficult to apply
- Constraints can be hard to define
What are heuristics?
Shortcuts that simplify the need to think about the whole problem space
What is hill climbing?
Choosing a move that takes you towards the goal one step at a time
What does the best move for problem solving often involve?
Temporarily moving away from the goal
What do we do in means-end analysis?
Identify the goal state and work backwards identifying each problems that needs to be solved in order to reach the goal state
How do we divide problems?
Into sub-problems
Why do we divided problems into sub-problems?
Sub-problems can be solved more efficiently than the whole problem
When is the availability heuristic employed?
When people are asked to assess the frequency of a class or the plausibility of a particular development
When is a representativeness heuristic employed?
When people are asked to judge the probability that an object or event belongs to class or process
What are cognitive biases?
Systematic errors in cognitive processes
What do cognitive biases lead to?
Heuristics
What is a confirmation bias?
Tendency to focus on information that supports your opinion
What is the sunk cost effect?
We continue a behaviour because of previous investment when no longer sensible to do so
What is the disposition effect?
Sell shares that have gone up and keep shares that have gone down
Why are past experiences helpful? (3 points)
- Problem space has previously been successful, so strengthened and stored for later recall
- Expertise
- Heuristics
Why are past experiences not helpful?
They create cognitive biases
