What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to identify heuristics used by subjects when judging the relevance of text in problem-solving.

July 1, 1977Open Access

Identifying the Relevant Aspects of a Problem Text*

Key Points

This research aims to identify heuristics used by subjects when judging the relevance of text in problem-solving.
Forty-nine subjects evaluated relevance of sentence parts in the Allsports problem.
Analyzed patterns of judgment to distinguish between SETS, TIME, and QUESTION heuristics.
Developed the ATTEND computer program to simulate human behavior in relevance judgments.
Subjects' judgments and ATTEND program outcomes agreed for 87% of the items.
Presentation of questions before a problem suppresses certain heuristics like SETS and TIME.
Identified three main heuristics that influence how problems are solved.

Abstract

Forty‐nine subjects judged the relevancy of sentence parts of a word problem (the Allsports problem). Patterns of subjects' judgments suggest three problem‐solving heuristics: a SETS heuristic, a TIME heuristic, and a QUESTION heuristic. Presentation of the question before the problem tends to suppress SETS and TIME heuristics. A computer program (ATTEND) is presented to simulate subjects' behavior on the Allsports problem. The program is context‐sensitive in that it can change a relevance judgment upon the acquisition of further information. Averaged subject judgments and ATTEND judgments agree for 87% of the items.

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