CONTENT EFFECTS IN PROBLEM CATEGORIZATION AND PROBLEM-SOLVING

In many domains, the content of a problem (i.e., its surface cover sto ry) provides useful clues as to the type of problem it is and to its s olution. Five experiments examined this role of problem content on the problem solution and categorization of algebra word problems with exp erienced participants. In the first experiment, when problem content w as atypical for the problem's deep structure, people were worse at sol ving the problem. Differences were also detected in the problem soluti on where the problem's content was highly correlated with its deep str ucture versus problems where content was neutral to their deep structu re. In the other experiments, problem categorization and determination of information relevance depended on how closely the problem's conten t matched its deep structure. These results suggest that content may b e influential even for experienced problem solvers. The discussion exa mines the implications for problem schema access and application.