A general learning theory and its application to schema abstraction

This chapter focuses on ACT system that embodies the extremely powerful thesis that a single set of learning processes underlies the whole gamut of human learning—from children learning their first language by hearing examples of adult speech to adults learning to program a computer by reading textbook instructions. The computer simulation is called ACT. The ACT theory describes its application to research on abstraction of schemas. In ACT, knowledge is divided into two categories: declarative and procedural. The declarative knowledge is represented in a propositional network similar to semantic network representations.