Problem Solving

Question 1

What are Syllogisms?

Answer 1

• logical reasoning task often used in
  philosophy
• Organize steps (premises) that represent
  “truth” in a given order
• Use those truths to determine if a
  conclusion is valid (logical)

Question 2

What is the belief bias in syllogisms?

Answer 2

people are more likely to judge a plausible situation as valid than something strange.

Ex. it is hard to imagine students as millionaires

Question 3

What is Conditional Reasoning?

Answer 3

If some condition is true, then we will observe X
* Hypothesis testing
* “If P then Q” statements
* P is the antecedent and Q is the consequence
* “If it is raining, I will get wet”
* To test conditional statements
* What happens if Q is true? If I am wet, is it raining?
* What happens if P is false? If it isn’t raining, am I wet?
* What happens if Q is false? If I am not wet, is it raining?

Question 4

Explain Wason’s task in Conditional reasoning:

Answer 4

• If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number onthe other side, which cards should you flip?
• Conditional statement: If ‘vowel’ then ‘even’

People often fall for the confirmation bias
* A tendency to seek confirmatory evidence for a hypothesis

Question 5

What is the confirmation Bias?

Answer 5

Seek information to confirm what we already belief

Question 6

What is the Falsification principle in the Wason’s task?

Answer 6

Look for situations that would falsify a rule

Ppl don’t really look for things that falsify the rule.
Tend to just look for confirmation

Question 7

How does Familiarity affect judgement?

Answer 7

• It even affects our judgment of time …. people are more likely to gravitate toward the option they are familiar with, or at least more familiar with, than the other alternatives.

Question 8

What is the The return trip effect?

Answer 8

Time judged returning on a route
(now familiar) is rated as shorter than initial route

Question 9

How do we problem solve?

Answer 9

Going from a problem to goal state
* Problem solving is a multi-step cognitive process that involves three aspect

1. Recognizing and representing problem
   Focus on relevant information
2. Analyzing and solving it
   Problem solving cycle
3. Assessing the solution’s effectiveness
   and store it in an appropriate form

Question 10

What is Recursive in the problem solving cycle?

Answer 10

Repeat this cycle as many times as
necessary to find a solution

Question 11

What is Applicable in the problem solving cycle?

Answer 11

Apply successful cycles (solutions)
to new problems (must be able to
generalize)

Question 12

How does generalization Ensure a solution’s effectiveness?

Answer 12

Generalization is important for adaptive behaviour
* For problem solving, it involves storing specific solutions
without detail to apply to new scenarios
* Memory for solutions should include ‘essence’ and not specific
details for generalization to occur

Ex. Learn vaguely how to fix a dishwasher, and apply it in future situations

Question 13

What are Well defined problems?

Answer 13

Requirements are unambiguous
All information needed to solve the
problem is present
Applying Algorithms
Puzzles

Question 14

What are Ill defined problems?

Answer 14

How to overcome problem / the goal
is ambiguous
Requires added information
Situational
My laptop is broken

• Ambiguous situations
  Or Social problem solving

Question 15

When do we see Greater activity in the right lateral prefrontal cortex?

Answer 15

ill-defined anagrams

Question 16

Do ill defined problems carry more cognitive load then well defined problems?

Answer 16

Solving ill-defined problems carries a greater ‘cognitive load’
-Cognitive load: the amount of information held in mind at one time

Question 17

What is the Moravec’s paradox

Answer 17

Artificial intelligence (AI) can solve well-defined problems
well, but not ill-defined problems and simple skills
* “Everything that’s easy is hard, and everything that’s hard is
easy”
* AI defined by the use of algorithms, deep neural networks,
that work well with certainty but not with uncertainty

Question 18

Is the The Tower of Hanoi a well defined problem?

Answer 18

Yes

Question 19

What are task constraints in problem solving?

Answer 19

Task constraints are usually defined as those specified by the task to be performed(e.g., ball size and shape, specific goals to be achieved, boundary lines, playing field length, number of opponents and teammates involved, situational characteristics of opponents such as players’ relative position, and approach speed)

Question 20

What is the Brute force method to problem solving?

Answer 20

Systematic algorithm that represents all the possible steps from the problem to goal state
* Guaranteed to find a solution, but
inefficient

Question 21

What is Combinatorial explosion?

Answer 21

computing too many alternatives

Question 22

What is the Trial and Error method to problem solving?

Answer 22

Considered “lower-level thinking”
* Try out a number of solutions, rule out what doesn’t work
* Good for limited outcome problems
* What color of my shirt matches these pants?
* Not good for multi-outcome problems
* Solving a Rubik Cube
via trial and error doesn’t work!

Question 23

What is the Hill climbing strategy method to problem solving?

Answer 23

Select the operation that brings you closer to the goal without
examining the whole problem space
* This strategy can lead to a false outcome, a ‘local maxima’
(subgoal) is mistaken as the final goal
* Does not always work because some problems require you to
move away from the goal in order to solve it

Question 24

What is the Means end analysis method to problem solving?

Answer 24

• More flexible approach than hill-climbing
• What “means” do I have to make the current state look like the
  goal state I want to be in?
• Identifying sub-problems to complete the goal
• Includes forward and backward movements and constantly
  evaluating the difference between current and goal states

Question 25

What is the best way to solve Rubik cube?

Answer 25

algorithms or steps, not trial and error