Human Problem Solving

by Allan Newell and Herbert Simon
Prentice-Hall, 1972

1 Introduction

Information Processing Theory, p 4

Within the last dozen years a general change in scientific outlook has occurred, consonnant with the point of view represented here. One can date the change roughly from 1956: in psychology, by the appearance of Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin's Study of Thinking and George Miller's "The magical number seven"; in linguistics, by Noam Chomsky's "Three models of language"; and in computer science, by our own paper on the Logic Theory Machine.

Part one: Preliminaries

2 Information Processing Systems

Definition of an IPS, p 20
STM: Short-Term Memory, p 22

Elementary Processes

eip: Elementary Information Process, p 29

Conclusion, p 47

The basic hypothesis proposed and tested in this volume: that human beings, in their thinking and problem solving activities, operate as information processing systems.

3 Task Environments, p 53

If there is such a thing as behavior demanded by a situation, and if a subject exhibits it, then his behavior tells us more about the task environment than about him.

Internal Representations: The Problem Space

Example of an Internal Representation

Recording of Representations

Fig 3.3 magic square for tic-tac-toe, p 62

    2 | 7 | 6
   ---+---+---
    9 | 5 | 1
   ---+---+---
    4 | 3 | 8

Some classes of problem spaces

Further examples of problems, p 77

• Finding the Combination of a Safe
• Designing a Machine
• Programming a Computer to Invert a Matrix
• Translating a German Article to English

4 Problem Solving

The Logic Theorist: An Example, p 105

LT: Logic Theorist

Part Two: Cryptarithmetics

6 Behaviour of a Single Subject, S3 on DONALD + GERALD = ROBERT

The Subject's Problem Space

PBG: Problem Behavior Graph (p 173)

Summary of the Analysis

S3's Memory, p 229

If the reader felt somewhat stifled by the extended series of investigations of the bits and pieces of S3's protocol, we can admit to a good deal of empathy.

    DONALD
    GERALD
    ------------
    ROBERT

     CROSS
     ROADS
    -----------
    DANGER

     LETS
     WAVE
    ---------
    LATER

EMA: Eye Movement Analysis

Part Three: Logic

8 Task Analysis, p 415-416

GPS, the General Problem Solver

• Transform Goal Type
• Apply Goal Type
• Reduce Goal Type: Reduce the difference between object.1 and object.2 by modifying object.1

Planning as a Problem Solving Technique, p 428-432

(1) abstracting by omitting certain details of the original objects and operators, (2-4) [...]

[...] Like the other heuristics, the planning heuristic offers no guarantees that it will always work.

10 A Broader View

Plans and the Organization of Episodes, p 557

The GPS planning routine was developed, inductively, after examining some [...] human protocols.

Part Four: Chess

11 Task Analysis, p 664

Chess is particularly attractive:

1. Selecting a move in chess is generally acknowledged to be a difficult problem solving task [...]
2. The vast amount of recorded experience [...] makes it relatively easy to evaluate the quality of a chess-playing program [...]
3. The task has already been used in previous researches [...]
4. The irregularity of the structure of chess gives the task some of the flavor of everyday [...] problem solving [...]

13 A Broader View

Perceptual Aspects of Chess Analysis

Reproduction of Positions from Memory
Proposed Explanation, p 781

Feigenbaum EPAM (Elementary Perceiver and Memorizer)

Seeing Continuations, p 783

Pattern of symptom-remedy [...] as "A headache? Take aspirin."

Part Five: The Theory

14 The Theory of Human Problem Solving

Epilogue

Historical Addendum

Pre-History

The Post-War Setting

The Critical Years: 1954-1958

Past Into Future