Skilled perception in Go: Deducing memory structures from inter-response times

Abstract

Experts appear able to handle much larger amounts of specialized information than nonexperts, and handle it without an apparent superior memory capacity. This finding, based on research on chess players with chess information, was replicated on Go players with Go information. Assuming this superiority occurs because the experts process chunks of information through their limited capacities rather than individual elements, the question then becomes one of defining what the chunks are and how they are related. To this end, the technique of partitioning recall and reproduction data into chunks on the basis of inter-response times (IRTs) (introduced in their work on chess by Chase and Simon, 1973) was applied to the reproduction and recall of Go patterns by a Go Master and a Go beginner. Unlike its application in chess, no single IRT was able to produce consistent, veridical chunks for either Go player. Subsequent analysis of the underlying assumptions of the technique showed it to be limited to only those patterns that can be partitioned into a linear set of chunks, not nested chunks, and to situations in which retrieval and overt recall of each chunk is completed before retrieval of the next chunk. In a supplementary task, the Master Go player indicated that the Go patterns were not seen as linear chunks nor as strictly nested hierarchies, but rather as overlapping clusters. IRTs were found to be correlated with this structure, but were not reliable enough to reflect its details.