Skill Acquisition: Compilation of Weak-Method Problem Situations.

: Cognitive skills are encoded by a set of productions, which are organized according to a hierarchical goal structure. People solve problems in new domains by applying weak problem-solving procedures to declarative knowledge they have about this domain. From these initial problem solutions, production rules are compiled which are specific to that domain and that use of the knowledge. Numerous experimental results follow from this conception of skill organization and skill acquisition. These experiments include predictions about transfer among skills, differential improvement on problem types, effects of working memory limitations, and applications to instruction. The theory implies that all variety of skill acquisition, including that typically regarded as inductive, conforms to this characterization. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Cognitive science; Skill acquisition; Production system; LISP.