How individuals learn simple Boolean systems and diagnose their faults [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3986944
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Goodwin, Geoffrey P
- Online Version:
- http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3208885
Broken link? let us search Trove , the Wayback Machine , or Google for you.
- Description:
- 176 p.
- ISBN:
- 9780542572357
- Summary:
-
The aim of the present thesis is to understand how individuals diagnose faults. It uses as a "test bed" a domain of simple Boolean systems. Systems of this sort differ in their complexity, and so the first experiments were designed to discover the factors underlying the difficulty of Boolean concepts. Participants were presented with a simple task in which they needed to work out how three switches controlled a light. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that the number of possibilities that turned on the light, and the number of switches required to turn on the light (relational complexity) influence conceptual difficulty, but showed no effect of minimal Boolean complexity. Experiments 3 and 4 highlighted individuals' use of learning strategies that extend beyond the syntax of Boolean algebra. These initial experiments illustrated why minimal complexity is a limited theoretical framework for understanding Boolean concept learning.
The next experiments investigated how conceptual difficulty affects fault diagnosis. Participants diagnosed faults in Boolean networks composed out of units which functioned according to the logic of conjunction (and), inclusive disjunction (or), and exclusive disjunction (or else). Experiments 5 and 6 first established that or else units are more difficult to process than and and or units. Experiments 7 and 8 showed that or else units are also more liable to be diagnosed as faulty. Individuals also tended to diagnose as faulty those components that were closest in causal proximity to an observed failure. Moreover, they did so more often when the proximal component of the system produced a miss than when it produced a false positive. Both biases may be due to representational simplifications that ease processing load. Experiment 9 identified which of the factors guiding diagnosis are explicit in conscious awareness.
In sum, the experiments on fault diagnosis showed that when individuals diagnose a fault in a simple Boolean system, they are influenced by the causal structure of the system, by their experience in processing it, and by the nature of the error it produces. But, they are rarely aware of the sources of their diagnostic intuitions.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI3208885
- Adviser: Phil Johnson-Laird.
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-02, Section: B, page: 1176.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Princeton University, 2006.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive
- Other authors/contributors:
- Princeton University
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
Contact us for information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2006
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.