An Extended Theory of Human Problem Solving
Pat Langley, Lorenzo Magnani, Christian Dieter Schunn, Paul R. Thagard · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · 2005
Human problem solving has long been a central topic in cognitive science. We review the established theory in this area and note some phenomena it does not ad-dress. In response, we present an extended framework, cast within a theory of the cognitive architecture, that provides one account of these phenomena and that we illustrate using the familiar Tower of Hanoi puzzle. We conclude by discussing other extensions to the standard theory and directions for future research. Introductory Remarks Research on human problem solving has a venerable his-tory that played a central role in the creation of cognitive science. Early studies of problem-solving behavior on puzzles and other novel tasks led to many insights about