Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This collection is an excellent example of the extension of theory to a broader, more practical, and more complex domain. The theory is the generalized network model of cognitive psychology, for example, like that of J.R. Anderson in The Architecture of Cognition (CH, Nov '83). Typically these networks have been tested with relatively simple and artificial ``yes/no'' question answering. Here, however, the material and questions about it come closer to the problems of the real world. The reports range from an examination of children answering questions about stories and the development of that ability to a description of a user-friendly computer program named Explorer that makes Hal seem right around the computational corner. Taken together, all but one of these articles give a rich picture of the status and potential of cognitive theory. The role of questioning in teaching, persuading, and even misleading is examined through the assessment of question quality and the latency and accuracy of answers. A valuable state-of-the-art treatise on an important topic in cognition science for students at upper-division undergraduate level and above.-P.L. Derks, College of William and Mary