Adaptive Character of Thought

• Contents: Part I:Introduction. Preliminaries. Levels of a Cognitive Theory. Current Formulation of the Levels Issues. The New Theoretical Framework. Is Human Cognition Rational? The Rest of This Book. Appendix: Non-Identifiability and Response Time. Part II:Memory. Preliminaries. A Rational Analysis of Human Memory. The History Factor. The Contextual Factor. Relationship of Need and Probability to Probability and Latency of Recall. Combining Information From Cues. Implementation in the ACT Framework. Effects of Subject Strategy. Conclusions. Part III:Categorization. Preliminaries. The Goal of Categorization. The Structure of the Environment. Recapitulation of Goals and Environment. The Optimal Solution. An Iterative Algorithm for Categorization. Application of the Algorithm. Survey of the Experimental Literature. Conclusion. Appendix: The Ideal Algorithm. Part IV:Causal Inference. Preliminaries. Basic Formulation of the Causal Inference Problem. Causal Estimation. Cues for Causal Inference. Integration of Statistical and Temporal Cues. Discrimination. Abstraction of Causal Laws. Implementation in a Production System. Conclusion. Appendix. Part V:Problem Solving. Preliminaries. Making a Choice Among Simple Actions. Combining Steps. Studies of Hill Climbing. Means-Ends Analysis. Instantiation of Indefinite Objects. Conclusions on Rational Analysis of Problem Solving. Implementation in ACT. Appendix: Problem Solving and Clotheslines. Part VI:Retrospective. Preliminaries. Twelve Questions About Rational Analysis.

"Anderson has made an important methodological contribution by forcefully bringing the rational approach to the attention of cognitive psychologists."—American Journal of Psychology"This substantive book may give new direction to much research in cognitive science....Perhaps the most encouraging implication of this volume is that by its very departure from traditional approaches to cognitive science, it helps enforce the breadth and, by implication, the potential for adaptability of the discipline."—Contemporary Psychology