VanLehn, K., Brown, J.S. & Greeno, J.G. (1984). Competitive argumentation in computational theories of cognition. In W. Kintsch, J. Miller, & P. Polson (Eds.), Methods and tactics in cognitive science. Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.

During the past two · decades, artificial intelligence and linguistics have had a major impact on the form of theories in cognitive psychology. Prior to about 1960, most theories in cognitive psychology considered information in relatively abstract terms, such as features, items, and chunks. Starting in the 1960s, and increasing during the 1970s, an additional theme in psychological theory has been to take into account the specific information that is present in the tasks that provide the material for theoretical analyses. The difference can be seen, for instance, in psychological analyses of problem solving that were developed in the 1950s, compared with analyses that have been worked out in the 1970s. In the earlier analyses, problem solving was considered as seLection of a response (solution) that initially had low probability. Factors in the situation were examined for their facilitating or inhibiting effect on selection of the needed response. In computational models, specific task situations are represented, and programs are written that use the information in those representations to simulate processes of actually constructing solutions to specific problems.

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