"Working Memory"

[Tony J. Simon]

Having now worked with both Soar and ACT I did initially have trouble with
the use of the term chunk but, as Christian mentioned in his first message,
I felt I adapted quite quickly. However, I am convinced that the points
that have been made argue strongly against its adoption in a new
formulation for ACT-R terminology. Why adopt something that already has a
meaning that may (or may not) conflict with what it is intended to mean. As
cognitive psychologists, we should know that we interpret new information
in terms of what we already know. If there is anything that could confuse
that interpretation it should be avoided. That suggests a vote against
"chunk". Whimsical and amusing as clod, wad (or even splod) may be, I guess
the same argument might apply. Therefore, by the same token, we should
probably go with dme. As Pete Pirolli points out (how alliterative!), dme
would inherit exactly the required meaning if any past knowledge can be
bought to bear. By analogy from wme, it is a declarative memory element.

Besides, it gives us all a great deal of fun comparing how the diverse
cultures that make up this community choose to pronounce it. As they kept
telling me when I first got to CMU, my "English" English led me to put the
emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle. So it could me d'mee or demmy (as in
Moore), dimmee (as in wimee), deemee (as in Mimi (as in Recker)) {whoops
got into lisp there}, etc etc etc.
--Tony



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Tony J. Simon
Assistant Professor of Psychology & Cognitive Science
School of Psychology                                    (Tel) (404) 894-2681
Georgia Institute of Technology                     (FAX) (404) 894-8905
Atlanta, GA 30332-0170          Internet: tony.simon at psych.gatech.edu
WWW page  http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~as53/
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