The Cognitive Function of Theoretical Knowledge in Procedural Learning

Abstract : The present project continuous work began under a previous project, 'Knowledge-based revision of cognitive procedures in response to changing task demands: Toward a theory of the nature and function of principled knowledge'. In the course of the previous project, a theory of skill acquisition was developed. The basic principles of this theory are that (1) skill acquisition consists of encoding the results of problem solving for future use, and (2) that skill acquisition consists of the correction of errors, where an error is defined as a contradiction between the outcomes of problem solving steps and prior domain knowledge. The theory was embodied in a simulation model called the Heuristic Searcher (HS). The HS model was used to clarify various phenomena in the learning of elementary arithmetic.