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Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning pp 1638–1640Cite as

Introspective Learning and Reasoning

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Synonyms

Metacognition; Metareasoning; Self-regulated learning

Definition

Introspective reasoning is a form of metareasoning in which an agent reasons about the mental objects and actions involved in its own internal reasoning processes. Introspective reasoning may guide adjustments of domain-level reasoning processes, based on internal performance goals and self-knowledge about the agent’s reasoning capabilities. Introspective learning is learning an agent performs, using introspective reasoning, to improve the future performance of its reasoning processes. The study of introspective reasoning and learning focuses on how intelligent systems – human or machine – can monitor and understand their own reasoning processes, and can exploit the resulting self-awareness to improve the performance of those processes.

Theoretical Background

Metareasoning has been studied in many disciplines, including psychology, education, computer science, and artificial intelligence. As Herbert Simon...

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References

  • Cox, M. T. (2005). Metacognition in computation: A selected research review. Artificial Intelligence, 169(2), 104–141.

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  • Cox, M. T., & Raja, A. (Eds.). (2011). Metareasoning: Thinking about thinking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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  • Flavell, J. H. (1987). Speculation about the nature and development of metacognition. In F. Weinert & R. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation, and understanding (pp. 21–29). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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  • Leake, D., & Fox, S. (2001). Introspective reasoning for index refinement in case-based reasoning. Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 13(1), 63–88.

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  • Ram, A., & Leake, D. (Eds.). (1995). Learning, Goals, and Learning Goals. Goal-driven learning (pp. 1–37). Cambridge: MIT Press.

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  • Russell, S., & Wefald, E. (1991). Principles of metareasoning. Artificial Intelligence, 49(1–3), 361–395.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Prof. David B. Leake

Authors
  1. Prof. David B. Leake
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David B. Leake .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Education, University of Freiburg, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Norbert M. Seel

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Leake, D.B. (2012). Introspective Learning and Reasoning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1802

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1802

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1427-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1428-6

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

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