Abstract

This paper gives a method to determine a person's hypothetical conceptualization of an object -- its breakdown into subassemblies, subsubassemblies, and so on -- from the person's sequence of requests for pieces used in constructing it. A technique is given to determine whether, given a group of conceptualizations, there is a typical one. The hypothesis that assembly instructions presenting a typical conceptualization will yield better structural and functional performance than those presenting a minority one is supported experimentally. Conceptualizations are derived from objects built from memory (and incorrectly) by people who first studied typical or minority instructions. A new distance measure determines how far these conceptualizations are from those presented in the instructions.

Citations