A Theory of the Acquisition of Cognitive Skills.

Abstract

The paper describes the ACT theory of learning. The theory is embodied as a computer simulation program that makes predictions about human learning of various cognitive skills such as language fluency, study skills for social science texts, problem-solving skills in mathematics, and computer programming skills. The learning takes place within the ACT theory of the performance of such skills. This theory involves a propositional network representation of general factual knowledge and a production system representation of procedural knowledge. Skill learning mainly involves addition and modification of the productions. There are five mechanisms by which this takes place: Designation, strengthening, generalization, discrimination, and composition. Each of these five learning mechanisms is discussed in detail and related to available data in procedural learning.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 08, 1978
Accession Number
ADA052671

Entities

People

  • Charles M. Beasley Jr
  • John R. Anderson
  • Paul J. Kline

Organizations

  • Yale University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computer Languages
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Fish
  • Geography
  • Human Behavior
  • Information Processing
  • Language
  • Linguistics
  • Natural Languages
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Theoretical Analysis.