An Inference Model for Conceptual Rule Learning 1
Lyle E. Bourne · 2024
A variety of cognitive events and processes characterize the performance of human beings as they attempt to solve conceptual problems. Many of us have been engaged, in recent years, in an attempt to identify and to isolate some of the most important of these processes for examination in the laboratory. In this paper I wish to summarize one line of research which has developed from this approach. My purpose will be to develop a specific model of performance in one kind of conceptual task, the rule-learning problem. The route to that goal will be a bit circuitous for, to place this model in proper context, a number of general matters must be addressed. Thus we shall consider some definitions, some matters of methodology, and some global theoretical issues, all before coming to grips with concrete questions about rule learning.