List Memory and Alphabetic retrieval

[Niels Taatgen]

Todd,

The fact something goes faster in one direction than in the other
direction,
directional assymetry, is often quoted as evidence for production rules.
So I feel the
explanation has to be sought in the fact that something is
proceduralized in one
direction but not in another. The most simple solution is that people
have rules like
IF f THEN g, but not IF g THEN f.
This simple solution is not entirely satisfactory, of course. In ACT-R,
a rule needs to
match a specific goal, so we cannot have a general purpose IF f THEN g
rule.
The answer should be more in line with John's idea that people are only
accostumed to
read the alphabet in one direction (or even lists in general). They
might have some
general purpose plan to read the alphabet, and use this plan along with
other plans to
do your task. If they have to read the alphabet backwards, they do not
have a clear-cut
plan, and have to create something new. This may be a
not-yet-proceduralized
(=declarative) plan of what to do, which is slow and prone to errors.

Niels.


--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Niels Taatgen
Technische Cognitiewetenschap/Cognitive science & engineering
Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS Groningen, Netherlands
050-3636435 / +31503636435
niels at tcw2.ppsw.rug.nl  http://tcw2.ppsw.rug.nl/~niels
-------------------------------------------------------------