Generic tasks and task structures: history, critique and new directions

We have for several years been working on an approach to knowledge system building that argues for the existence of a close connection between the tasks which the knowledge system is intended to solve, the methods chosen for them and the vocabulary in which knowledge is to be modeled and represented. We trace the historical origins of the idea that we have called Generic Tasks, and outline their evolution and accomplishments based on them. We then critique their original implementations from the perspective of flexible integration. We follow this with an outline of our current generalization of the view in the form of a theory of task structures. We describe the architectural implications of this view and outline some research directions.

[1]  Paul R. Cohen,et al.  Design for Acquisition: Principles of Knowledge-System Design to Facilitate Knowledge Acquisition , 1987, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[2]  Ashok K. Goel,et al.  Complexity in Classificatory Reasoning , 1987, AAAI.

[3]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Generic Tasks in Knowledge-Based Reasoning: High-Level Building Blocks for Expert System Design , 1986, IEEE Expert.

[4]  Harry E. Pople,et al.  An Experimental Computer-Based Diagnostic Consultant for General Internal Medicine , 1982 .

[5]  Bob J. Wielinga,et al.  KADS: a modelling approach to knowledge engineering , 1992 .

[6]  Judea Pearl,et al.  Probabilistic reasoning in intelligent systems - networks of plausible inference , 1991, Morgan Kaufmann series in representation and reasoning.

[7]  J W Smith,et al.  RedSoar--a system for red blood cell antibody identification. , 1991, Proceedings. Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care.

[8]  H. E. Pople,et al.  Internist-I, an Experimental Computer-Based Diagnostic Consultant for General Internal Medicine , 1982 .

[9]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Generic Tasks for Knowledge-Based Reasoning: The "Right" Level of Abstraction for Knowledge Acquisition , 1987, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[10]  Larry Eshelman,et al.  MOLE: A Knowledge-Acquisition Tool for Cover-and-Differentiate Systems , 1988 .

[11]  Philip Rademakers,et al.  Mapping a Knowledge Level Analysis onto a Computational Framework , 1990, ECAI.

[12]  Fernando Gomez,et al.  An Approach to Medical Diagnosis Based on Conceptual Structures , 1979, IJCAI.

[13]  Sandra Marcus,et al.  Automating Knowledge Acquisition for Expert Systems , 1988 .

[14]  M. C. Tanner.  Explaining knowledge systems: justifying diagnostic conclusions , 1989 .

[15]  Luc Steels,et al.  Components of Expertise , 1990, AI Mag..

[16]  Sanjay Mittal,et al.  CRSL: A Language for Classificatory Problem Solving and Uncertainty Handling , 1986, AI Mag..

[17]  Jon Sticklen,et al.  Mdx2: an integrated medical diagnostic system , 1987 .

[18]  John E. Laird,et al.  The soar papers : research on integrated intelligence , 1993 .

[19]  Bob Wielinga,et al.  Models of Expertise in Knowledge Acquisition , 1989 .

[20]  Dean Allemang,et al.  The Computational Complexity of Abduction , 1991, Artif. Intell..

[21]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  A Mechanism for Forming Composite Explanatory Hypotheses , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[22]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  A Representation for the Functioning of Devices That Supports Compilation of Expert Problem Solving Structures: An Extended Summary, , 1984 .

[23]  David Christopher Brown.  Expert systems for design problem-solving using design refinement with plan selection and redesign , 1984 .

[24]  William F. Punch,et al.  Peirce: a tool for experimenting with abduction , 1990, IEEE Expert.

[25]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Conceptual Representation of Medical Knowledge for Diagnosis by Computer: MDX and Related Systems , 1983, Adv. Comput..

[26]  Ashok K. Goel,et al.  An Experience-based Approach To Navigational Route Planning , 1992, Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[27]  G. Reeke.  The society of mind , 1991 .

[28]  W. F. Punch,et al.  A diagnosis system using a task integrated problem solver architecture (TIPS), including causal reasoning , 1989 .

[29]  Ashok K. Goel,et al.  Structured matching: a task-specific technique for making decisions , 1989, [Proceedings 1989] IEEE International Workshop on Tools for Artificial Intelligence.

[30]  Todd R. Johnson,et al.  Task-specific architectures for flexible systems , 1993 .

[31]  Ashok K. Goel,et al.  Case-based design: A task analysis , 1992 .

[32]  Yorick Wilks,et al.  A Preferential, Pattern-Seeking, Semantics for Natural Language Inference , 1975, Artif. Intell..

[33]  Allen Newell,et al.  The Knowledge Level , 1989, Artif. Intell..

[34]  Sandra Marcus,et al.  SALT: A Knowledge-Acquisition Tool for Propose-and-Revise Systems , 1988 .

[35]  Todd R. Johnson.  Generic tasks in the problem-space paradigm: building flexible knowledge systems while using task-level constraints , 1991 .

[36]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Models versus rules, deep versus compiled content versus form: some distinctions in knowledge systems research , 1991, IEEE Expert.

[37]  William J. Clancey,et al.  From Guidon to Neomycin and Heracles in Twenty Short Lessons: ORN Final Report 1979-1985 , 1986, AI Mag..

[38]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Explaining control strategies in problem solving , 1989, IEEE Expert.

[39]  Jon Sticklen,et al.  Patrec: A Knowledge-Directed Database for a Diagnostic Expert , 1984, Computer.

[40]  Judea Pearl,et al.  Chapter 2 – BAYESIAN INFERENCE , 1988 .

[41]  David C. Brown,et al.  Design Problem Solving: Knowledge Structures and Control Strategies , 1989 .

[42]  Fernando Gomez,et al.  Knowledge Organization and Distribution for Medical Diagnosis , 1981, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[43]  B. Chandrasekaran.  Task-Structures, Knowledge Acquisition and Learning , 2005, Machine Learning.

[44]  David Y. Y. Yun,et al.  A Model-Based Framework for Characterization of Application Domains for the Expert System Technology , 1987, ISMIS.

[45]  Kris Van Marcke,et al.  A Generic Tutoring Environment , 1990, ECAI.

[46]  Roger C. Schank,et al.  Conceptual dependency: A theory of natural language understanding , 1972 .

[47]  William B. Bean.  Differential Diagnosis: The Interpretation of Clinical Evidence. , 1956 .

[48]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Towards a Taxonomy of Problem Solving Types , 1983, AI Mag..

[49]  William J. Clancey,et al.  Heuristic Classification , 1986, Artif. Intell..

[50]  Raymond Reiter,et al.  A Theory of Diagnosis from First Principles , 1986, Artif. Intell..

[51]  Dean Allemang,et al.  Acquiring Knowledge of Knowledge Acquisition: A Self-Study of Generic Tasks , 1992, EKAW.

[52]  Ramesh S. Patil,et al.  Causal representation of patient illness for electrolyte and acid-base diagnosis , 1981 .

[53]  B. Chandrasekaran.  Towards a Functional Architecture for Intelligence Based on Generic Information Processing Tasks , 1987, IJCAI.

[54]  B. Chandrasekaran,et al.  Design Problem Solving: A Task Analysis , 1990, AI Mag..

[55]  J. Reggia,et al.  Abductive Inference Models for Diagnostic Problem-Solving , 1990, Symbolic Computation.

[56]  V. Richard Benjamins,et al.  Criteria for dynamic method selection in diagnostic reasoning , 1992, Proceedings ICCI `92: Fourth International Conference on Computing and Information.

[57]  M. Weintraub.  An explanation-based approach to assigning credit , 1991 .

[58]  Allen Newell,et al.  SOAR: An Architecture for General Intelligence , 1987, Artif. Intell..

[59]  David Herman.  An extensible, task-specific shell for routine design problem-solving , 1992 .

[60]  Harry E. Pople,et al.  Session 6 Theorem Proving and Logic: I I ON THE MECHANIZATION OF ABDUCTIVE LOGIC , 2006 .

[61]  Ashok K. Goel,et al.  Computational Feasibility of Structured Matching , 1989, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[62]  Mark Alan Musen.  Generation of model-based knowledge-acquisition tools for clinical-trial advice systems , 1988 .

[63]  N. Hari Narayanan,et al.  Reasoning Visually about Spatial Interactions , 1991, IJCAI.

[64]  John McDermott,et al.  Preliminary steps toward a taxonomy of problem-solving methods , 1993 .