Chapter 7: Section 7.1
Chapter 7: Section 7.1
What is the goal of expert systems research and machine learning research?
Use decision rules to process complex information
Decision rules are IF-THEN rules
One point of interest to notice:
Many systems work the same way to control behavior: IF condition, THEN actionIn what way do expert systems research and machine learning research instantiate physical symbol systems?
There are two symbol structures in machine learning systems:
The original data base of observations
The emerging decision rules
The system works to transform the former into the latter, using heuristic search
A Side Trip: Production Systems
A production is an IF-THEN rule: IF condition THEN action
A production system is a set of productions arranged in hierarchical order
Start with the first production
Go down the list until a condition is satisfied
Execute the action
Return to the top
An action can call another production system
Example of a Production System: How to play tic-tac-toe
Assume player is X, opponent is O
Define a stimulus pattern [- - -] as a straight line of three symbols, X, O or ? (blank)
Rule 1: [X?X] or [?XX] or [XX?] ? [XXX]
Rule 2: [O?O] ? [OXO], [?OO] ? [XOO], [OO?] ? [OOX]
Define a pattern [-- - --] of two intersecting lines
Rule 3: [X? X ??] ? [X? X ?X]Production Systems
Production systems make for a valuable, general-purpose method of representing algorithms
For many psychologists they form the basis of procedural knowledge knowledge of skills
Procedural knowledge is clearly independent of declarative knowledge: Knowing How versus Knowing That
Why do we believe they are modular?
The Structure ofKnowledge
Data for Production Systems
Where does a PS look to see if a condition is satisfied? Where do the actions take place?
For tic-tac-toe we use an external register
For much of our thinking, the register is internal
We call it working memory
Where does working memory find its data?
Sometimes in an external stimulus, sometimes in long term memoryRepresenting Information in Long Term Memory
LTM is clearly associational, but what format do the associations use?
For most adherents to the PSS hypothesis, there is a close connection between language and memory
Information is stored as propositionsAssociations and Activation
Memory is a network of associations
The network is organized in meaningful patterns
Some of those associations will be active at any one time (this is working memory)
We retrieve information by allowing the activation to spread through the network of associations
This might be automatic, or controlled by a production systemMemory Processes
This framework can be used to understand memory phenomena
Encoding: Establishing certain associations
Storage: The organization of the associations
Interference from other associations
Retrieval: Spreading activation may, or may not, activate the intended memoryOther Relevant Findings
Bransford-Franks Study:
Test sentences:
The red jelly was on the table
The jelly was on the plate on the table
The ants were in the kitchen
The ants ate the jelly
Recognition:
1. The jelly was sweet
2. The ants ate the red jelly on the plate
Greater confidence for #2 than for #1Reaction Time Studies
Test questions:
1. Does a canary have wings?
2. Does a fish swim?
3. Does a sparrow eat?
4. Is a cardinal red?
5. Does a bird have wings?
Typical Findings: #5 faster than #1, #4 faster than #3
These findings led to the development of numerous association network theories
Tests of the Model: The Fan Effect
Subjects study the following sentences:
The lawyer is in the park
The painter is in the boat
The lawyer is in the chair
The sailor is in the house
The student is in the park
The lawyer is in the house
The sailor is in the park
Later they are tested for recognition of a sentence (Was the lawyer in the park?)Predictions
Notice the varying size of fans of associations
Compare Lawyer-Park with Painter-Boat
The response time is longer if the fan is larger
Activation is divided among more associations
Chapter 7: Section 7.3
Explain the basics of how WHISPER works?
The behavior of blocks in a world where gravity exists
How does WHISPER differ from other physical symbol systems?
The symbols are diagrams, not words
WHISPER deals with an analog system
PSSH can apply to both digital and analog representations
Representation of the world in terms of symbols
Manipulation of symbols using heuristic search
Chapter 7: Section 7.4
What sort of knowledge does SHAKEY have about its environment and itself?
Robot research has been a major area for development of physical symbol systems
SHAKEY: Statements represent rooms and objects in the environment, and the robot itself
The knowledge is the kind of knowledge that Lashley described in accounting for planning behaviorWhat are the levels of SHAKEYs software?
1. The physical vehicle and connections
2. Low Level Activities: Basic physical capabilities
3. Intermediate: Operate on specific object
4. Planning mechanisms (reminiscent of intentional level actions)
5. Executive program: Capable of means-end analysisIntelligence in SHAKEY
At the abstract level, SHAKEY can reason using the predicate calculus
Predicate calculus: an extension of propositional calculus
Propositional calculus deals with simple propositions. Example: if p then q, q is false, therefore p is false
Predicate calculus adds in the notion of quantification: Some, all, none
SHAKEY uses the STRIPS planner: Purely mechanical algorithms (operators) for identifying ILAs that lead to a goal state
Closely related to Simon & Newells general problem solver
Heuristic search using means-end analysis
ILAs are the operators that move SHAKEY through the problem solving spaceIs it significant that SHAKEY inhabits a real world rather than a virtual one?
Real world, but SHAKEY is still limited in application
After seeing the illustrations of physical symbol systems given in Chapter 7, what do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the physical symbol system approach?
Lets summarize the difficulties with physical symbol systems
Later chapters will explore some alternatives
Physical Symbol Systems
The systems are rule based
Problem space needs to be explicitly represented
Processing involves axioms and inference rules operating one at a time (serially)
Rules and axioms operate on the syntactic structure of physical symbolsPlausibility of PSS
The major objections:
Symbol-grounding problem and the Chinese room (Is this a serious problem?)
Frame problems
The frame problem: How can a formal system represent the changes brought about by an action without explicitly representing all the things that the action does not bring about?
Frame Problems and PSS
Some commentators have argued that frame problems present an in-principle objection to PSS
(Alleged) impossibility of formalizing commonsense reasoning
Often accompanied by emphasis on situatedness and embodiment of real cognitive agents (see later chapters)Practical Problems with PSS: Many cognitive abilities are difficult to model in a rule-based way
Context effects in perception (produces an explosion of rules)
Pattern completion
Language (particularly languages such as English with many irregular forms)Soft Constraints
Much of cognition is governed by soft constraints
Rules that hold for the most part" and dont fully determine outcomes
They are often in conflict with each other
Hard to formulate rules governing which constraints should taken precedence in which circumstancesBiological Plausibility
PSS are serial in operation
Far too slow for many cognitive processes
Graceful degradation vs brittlenessLearning:
Typically PSS models consist of completed cognitive abilities
Not easy to see how programs could emerge in the normal course of development
Related to lack of flexibility and lack of a real-time dimension