Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/2123
Title: Learning perceptual chunks for problem decomposition
Authors: Lane, PCR
Cheng, PCH
Gobet, F
Keywords: CHREST;chunking;learning;physics;diagrammatic representations;problem solving;conceptual learning;AVOW diagrams;electric circuits;decomposition
Issue Date: 2001
Publisher: Erlbaum
Citation: Lane, P. C. L., Cheng, P.C.-H., & Gobet, F. (2001). Learning perceptual chunks for problem decomposition. Proceedings of the 23rd Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 528-533. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Abstract: How students learn to use diagrammatic representations is an important topic in the design of effective representations for problem solving or conceptual learning, but few good models of their learning exist. In this paper, we explore the learning process with an experiment using AVOW diagrams as a representation for solving problems in electric circuits. We find that the participants decompose each circuit into a similar set of groups when solving the problems. The natural question is whether these groups are an artifact of the visual form of the circuit, or indeed the result of prior learning. We argue that the decompositions are a result of perceptual chunking, and that they are (at least partly) a result of learning. In support of this, we describe a computational model of perceptual learning, CHREST+, and show that it predicts the decomposition of problems evident in the participants' data.
URI: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/2123
Appears in Collections:Psychology
Dept of Life Sciences Research Papers

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