2 - Resources

Abstract

Resources are the foundations on which problem-solving performance is built. A description of these foundations—an inventory of what individual problem solvers know and the ways in which they access that knowledge—is essential if one is to understand what takes place in a problem-solving session. The questions, what is the nature of the knowledge that individuals have at their disposal and how such knowledge is organized and accessed for use, are central issues in cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. They are the primary focus of information-processing (IP) psychology and of interest to fields as diverse as linguistics, philosophy, and neurobiology. This chapter presents some major trends in the research. It discusses three issues: (1) routine access to relevant knowledge, (2) the broad spectrum of resources, and (3) flawed resources and consistent error patterns. An inventory of resources characterizes the knowledge possessed by individual problem solvers and the means by which such knowledge is accessed. Much work in IP psychology has been devoted to elucidating the nature of routine access to relevant knowledge, which comprises the foundation upon which competent problem-solving performance is built. The premise underlying virtually all characterizations of routine competency is that—in the case of experienced problem solvers—stereotypical circumstances evoke stereotypical responses.