Learning Adaptation Strategies by Introspective Reasoning about Memory Search
David B. Leake · 1993
In case-based reasoning systems, the case adaptation process is traditionally controlled by static libraries of hand-coded adaptation rules. This paper proposes a method for learning adaptation knowledge in the form of 6dapLaLioa strategies of the type developed and hand-coded by Kass [90]. Adaptation strategies dif-fer from standard adaptation rules in that they encode general memory search procedures for finding the infor-mation needed during case adaptation; this paper fo-cuses on the issues involved in learning memory search procedures to form the basis of new adaptation strate-gies. It proposes a method that starts with a small li-brary of abstract adaptation rules and uses introspec-tive reasoning about the system’s memory organiza-tion to generate the memory search plans needed to apply those rules. The search plans are then packaged with the original abstract rules to form new adaptation strategies for future use. This process allows a CBR system not only to learn about its domain, by storing the results of case adaptation, but also to learn how to apply the cases in its memory more effectively.