The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Acquisition of cognitive skill
Abstract
A framework for skill acquisition is proposed in which there are two major stages in the development of a cognitive skill--a declarative stage in which facts about the skill domain are interpreted and a procedural stage in which the domain knowledge is embodied directly in procedures for performing the skill. This general framework has been instantiated in the ACT system in which facts are encoded in a propositional network and procedures are encoded as productions. Two types of interpretive procedures are described for converting facts in the declarative stage into behavior--general problem-solving procedures and analogy-forming procedures. Knowledge compilation is the process by which the skill transits from the declarative stage to the procedural stage. It consists of the subprocesses of composition which collapses sequences of productions into single productions and proceduralization which embeds factual knowledge into productions. Once proceduralized, further learning processes operate on the skill to make the production more selective in their range of applications. These learning processes include generalization, discrimination, and strengthening of productions. Comparisons are made to similar concepts from past learning theories. It is discussed how these learning mechanisms apply to produce the power law speed-up in processing time with practice. Much of the evidence for this theory of skill acquisition comes from work on acquisition of proof skills in geometry but other evidence is drawn from the literature on automatization, language acquisition, and category formation. (Author)
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In our study, we focused on declarative and procedural learning as cognitive abilities underlying the acquisition of cognitive skills (Anderson, 1982(Anderson, , 1983)).”
From Testing the three-stage model of second language skill acquisition (2025) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
In the citing paper
“Skill acquisition in ACT-R begins by acquiring declarative knowledge about a skill through instruction or observing someone else's performance.”
From Testing the three-stage model of second language skill acquisition (2025) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
In the citing paper
“In fact, ACT-R includes a mechanism of declarative strengthening at work in the later two stages, which functions to increase the accuracy and speed of retrieving declarative knowledge (Anderson, 1982(Anderson, , 1983)).”
From Testing the three-stage model of second language skill acquisition (2025) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
In the citing paper
“Drawing on cognitive perspectives, engaging in routine or familiar work tasks reinforces and refines what is already known (Anderson 1982).”
From Workplace participatory practices: Conceptualising workplaces as learning environments (2004) · cites this paper as Anderson 1982
In the citing paper
“Contemporary theories of skill acquisi- tion (Anderson, 1982 ; Fitts & Posner, 1967) are consistent with Galton's general assump- tions about basic unmodifiable capacities and with observations on the general course of professional development.”
From The Influence of Experience and Deliberate Practice on the Development of Superior Expert Performance (2006) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
In the citing paper
“Cognitive learning theories hold that in overcoming problems, new learning arises (Anderson 1982).”
From Workplace participatory practices: Conceptualising workplaces as learning environments (2004) · cites this paper as Anderson 1982
In the citing paper
“That is, the effects of practice are greatest at earlystages of learning, but theyeventuallyreach asymptote.”
From FREQUENCY EFFECTS IN LANGUAGE PROCESSING: A Review with Implications for Theories of Implicit and Explicit Language Acquisition (2002) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
In the citing paper
“It is a form of learning that follows well-established principles of the acquisition of complex skills (Anderson, 1982; Fitts & Posner, 1967; Taatgen, 2013).”
From Working memory training involves learning new skills (2019) · cites this paper as Anderson, 1982
Citations
Cites
Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.2.127 · Cited by 7,335
Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention.
Schneider, W., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.1.1 · Cited by 5,902
Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications
Anderson, J. R. (2014) · Cited by 4,121
Self-citationBrown, R. W. (1960) · Language · doi:10.2307/411065 · Cited by 3,525
Context theory of classification learning
Medin, D. L., & Schaffer, M. M. (1978) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.85.3.207 · Cited by 3,061
Controlled and automatic human information processing: I
Schneider, W. E., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977) · Cited by 2,228
Anderson, J. R. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203780954 · Cited by 2,180
Self-citationExpert and Novice Performance in Solving Physics Problems
Larkin, J., McDermott, J. P., Simon, D. P., & Simon, H. A. (1980) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.208.4450.1335 · Cited by 2,112
Memory-scanning: mental processes revealed by reaction-time experiments.
Sternberg, S. (1969) · PubMed · Cited by 1,943
Mechanisms of skill acquisition and the law of practice
Newell, A., & Rosenbloom, P. S. (2018) · Figshare · doi:10.1184/r1/6607196 · Cited by 1,501
Mechanisms of skill acquisition and the law of practice
Newell, A., & Rosenbloom, P. S. (2018) · Figshare · doi:10.1184/r1/6607199.v1 · Cited by 1,365
Brown, R. (1973) · Cited by 1,293
Mechanization in problem solving: The effect of Einstellung.
Luchins, A. S. (1942) · Psychological Monographs · doi:10.1037/h0093502 · Cited by 1,143
Toward a statistical theory of learning.
Estes, W. K. (1950) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0058559 · Cited by 1,010
Plans And The Structure Of Behavior
Galanter, & Eugène (1960) · Cited by 966
Adams, J. A., & Welford, A. T. (1970) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1421343 · Cited by 864
Fitts, P. M. (1964) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-1-4832-3145-7.50016-9 · Cited by 683
Accretion, Tuning and Restructuring: Three Modes of Learning
Rumelhart, D. E., & Norman, D. A. (1976) · doi:10.21236/ada030406 · Cited by 609
Repair Theory: A Generative Theory of Bugs in Procedural Skills
Brown, J. S., & VanLehn, K. A. (1980) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1207/s15516709cog0404_3 · Cited by 547
Melton, A. W. (1964) · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · Cited by 501
On the Reduction of Choice Reaction Times with Practice
Mowbray, G. H., & Rhoades, M. V. (1959) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470215908416282 · Cited by 277
Snoddy, G. S. (1926) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0075814 · Cited by 275
Abstraction of visual patterns.
Franks, J. J., & Bransford, J. D. (1971) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0031349 · Cited by 265
Concept learning and the recognition and classification of exemplars
Hayes‐Roth, B., & Hayes-Roth, F. A. (1977) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(77)80054-6 · Cited by 261
Maratsos, M. P. (1980) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 245
Knowledge Compilation: Mechanisms for the Automatization of Cognitive Skills.
Neves, D. M., & Anderson, J. R. (1980) · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · Cited by 245
Self-citationReasoning, problem solving and decision processes : the problem space as a fundamental category
N. (2018) · KiltHub Repository · doi:10.1184/r1/6608837 · Cited by 245
Searching for Ten Targets Simultaneously
Neisser, U., Novick, R., & Lazar, R. (1963) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1963.17.3.955 · Cited by 232
On learning the grammatical order of words.
Braine, M. (1963) · Psychology Review · doi:10.1037/h0047696 · Cited by 230
Manufacturing Progress Functions
Hirsch, W. Z. (1952) · The Review of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.2307/1928465 · Cited by 229
Memorial consequences of automatized encoding.
Kolers, P. A. (1975) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Learning & Memory · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.1.6.689 · Cited by 219
Klatzky, R. L., & Cotton, J. W. (1978) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 216
The effects of category generalizations and instance similarity on schema abstraction.
Elio, R., & Anderson, J. R. (1981) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.7.6.397 · Cited by 205
Self-citationRetrieval of Information from Long-Term Memory
Anderson, J. R. (1983) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.6828877 · Cited by 194
Self-citationRigidity of Behavior: A Variational Approach to the Effect of Einstellung
Pierce, I. R., Luchins, A. S., & Luchins, E. H. (1961) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1419434 · Cited by 160
OPS: a domain-independent production system language
Forgy, C. L., & McDermott, J. P. (1977) · International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence · Cited by 156
Continuous versus non-continuous interpretations of discrimination learning.
Spence, K. W. (1940) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0054336 · Cited by 130
A General Learning Theory and its Application to Schema Abstraction1
Anderson, J. R., Kline, P., & Beasley, C. M. (1979) · The Psychology of learning and motivation/The psychology of learning and motivation · doi:10.1016/s0079-7421(08)60085-7 · Cited by 124
Self-citationInductive inference of VL decision rules
Larson, J. B., & Michalski, R. S. (1977) · ACM SIGART Bulletin · doi:10.1145/1045343.1045369 · Cited by 115
Memory retrieval and central comparison times in information processing.
Briggs, G. E., & Blaha, J. (1969) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0026936 · Cited by 85
A Component Model for Stimulus Variables in Discrimination Learning
Burke, C. J., & Estes, W. K. (1957) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02289049 · Cited by 81
Indefinite goals in well-structured problems.
Greeno, J. G. (1976) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.83.6.479 · Cited by 78
INDUCTIVE LEARNING OF RELATIONAL PRODUCTIONS
Vere, S. A. (1978) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-737550-2.50018-x · Cited by 49
Theories of language acquisition
Vetter, H. J., & Howell, R. W. (1971) · Journal of Psycholinguistic Research · doi:10.1007/bf01066935 · Cited by 30
Anderson, J. R., Kline, P., & Beasley, C. M. (2021) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003163145-21 · Cited by 28
Self-citationTuning of search of the problem space for geometry proofs
Anderson, J. (1981) · Cited by 19
Self-citationA Theory of the Acquisition of Cognitive Skills.
Anderson, J. R., Kline, P., & Beasley, C. M. (1978) · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · Cited by 16
Self-citationApproaches to knowledge acquisition : the Instructable Production System Project
Rychener, M. D. (2018) · KiltHub Repository · doi:10.1184/r1/6603542 · Cited by 9
Concept learning by feature value interval abstraction
Brown, D. J. (1977) · ACM SIGART Bulletin · doi:10.1145/1045343.1045375 · Cited by 6
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning
Sweller, J. (1988) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1016/0364-0213(88)90023-7 · Cited by 11,048
The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.100.3.363 · Cited by 9,564
Conflict monitoring and cognitive control
Botvinick, M. M., Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Carter, C. S., & Cohen, J. D. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.3.624 · Cited by 7,351
The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1
SCHMIDT, R. W. (1990) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/11.2.129 · Cited by 5,435
“Some authors theorize that all procedural knowledge develops from declarative knowledge and requires awareness in the early stages (Anderson 1982), while others do not (Lewicki et al. 1987; Reber et al. 1985).”
BackgroundA distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming.
Seidenberg, M. S., & McClelland, J. L. (1989) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.96.4.523 · Cited by 3,909
Metadata
- Authors
- Anderson, J. R.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Anderson, John R.
- ORCID
- Anderson, John R.
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1982-07
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 369-406
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W2044754442
- Cited by
- 3,663
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 114 · 2025: 93 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 83 · 2021: 93 · 2020: 109 · 2019: 147 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 101 · 2016: 123 · 2015: 103 · 2014: 131 · 2013: 140 · 2012: 146
- FWCI
- 47.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › AI-based Problem Solving and Planning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- cognitive skill acquisition, procedural stages, production systems, knowledge compilation, composition, proceduralization, discrimination, power law of practice, automation, category formation, language acquisition
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
