THE SIMULATION OF LEARNING AND DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIOR.

Abstract

The paper examines the peculiar difficulties of simulating the learning behavior of man, certain animals, and those mechanical artifacts in which forms of organization evolve. The basic difficulty is due to the fact that these physical structures are adequately representable to an imperfect observer only as self-organizing systems in the sense of a definitive paper by Von Foerster, rather than as systems in the rigidly interpreted sense of Ashby. Consideration is given to an underlying mechanism called 'conceptual home-ostasis' which appears to characterize physical assemblies said to 'learn' and, since it is argued that the currently used experimental methods are unsuitable for investigations of learning, alternative methods and some practical applications are illustrated. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1962
Accession Number
AD0638845

Entities

People

  • Gordon Pask

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artifacts
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assembly
  • Buildings And Structures
  • Learning
  • Museums
  • Observers
  • Self Organizing Systems
  • Simulations
  • Switzerland

Readers

  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Theoretical Analysis.