A Generative Theory of Problem Solving

Christopher J. MacLellan, Pat Langley, Collin Walker

Proceedings of the First Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems: Poster Collection

2012

Abstract

Problem-solving strategies exhibited by humans are diverse and vary along a number of dimensions. In this paper, we attempt to address the problem of understanding and reproducing the great variety of problem-solving strategies observed in humans and existing artificial intelligence systems. To accomplish this task we propose a generative theory of problem solving, which defines the orthogonal dimensions over which problem-solving strategies can differ. Once the dimensions are defined, we suggest a number of possible values that each dimension can take, creating a space of strategies. This space covers problem-solving systems from multiple paradigms and provides a framework for combining these strategies in novel ways.

Topics:Problem Solving

BibTeX

@inproceedings{maclellan-acs-2012,
  title     = {A Generative Theory of Problem Solving},
  author    = {MacLellan, Christopher J. and Langley, Pat and Walker, Collin},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the First Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems: Poster Collection},
  year      = {2012},
}

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