[Next] [Up] [Previous]

Production Systems: Simulating the Black Box

We have shown how subjects may solve problems by examining the current problem state and then choosing an appropriate and applicable rule to transform that state into a new state in the search for a solution. A production system is a means of codifying this rule-based knowledge. It has three major components that are analogous to the knowledge states, mental operations, and decision-making of the human problem solver:

1. a database of facts called the working memory,
2. a set of production rules, called the rulebase, that operate on those facts, and
3. a program called the production system interpreter that decides which rule to use in a particular problem state.

• The Working Memory
• The Rulebase
• The Production System Interpreter