Abstract
To investigate experts’ imagery in chess, players were required to recall briefly presented positions in which pieces were placed on the intersections between squares (intersection positions). Position types ranged from game positions to positions in which both the piece distribution and the location were randomized. Simulations were run with the CHREST model (Gobet & Simon, 2000). The simulations assumed that pieces had to be centered back, one by one, to the middle of the squares in the mind’s eye before chunks could be recognized. Consistent with CHREST’s predictions, chess players (N =36), ranging from weak amateurs to grandmasters, exhibited much poorer recall for intersection positions than for standard positions (pieces placed on the centers of the squares). For the intersection positions, the skill difference in recall was larger for game positions than for the randomized positions. The participants recalled bishops better than they recalled knights, suggesting that Stroop-like interference impairs recall of the latter. The data supported both the time parameter in CHREST for shifting pieces in the mind’s eye (125 msec per piece) and the seriality assumption. In general, the study reinforces the plausibility of CHREST as a model of cognition.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attneave, F., & Curlee, T. E. (1983). Locational representation in imagery: A moving spot task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 9, 20–30.
Averbach, E., & Coriell, A. S. (1961). Short-term memory in vision. Bell System Technical Journal, 40, 309–328.
Bachmann, T., & Oit, M. (1992). Stroop-like interference in chess players’ imagery: An unexplored possibility to be revealed by the adapted moving-spot task. Psychological Research, 54, 27–31.
Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press.
Binet, A. (1981). Psychologie des grands calculateurs et joueurs d’échecs [The psychology of great calculators and chess players]. Paris: Slatkine. (Original work published 1894)
Campitelli, G., & Gobet, F. (2005). The mind’s eye in blindfold chess. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 17, 23–45.
Charness, N. (1981a). Aging and skilled problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110, 21–38.
Charness, N. (1981b). Search in chess: Age and skill differences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 7, 467–476.
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973a). The mind’s eye in chess. In W. G. Chase (Ed.), Visual information processing (pp. 215–281). New York: Academic Press.
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973b). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 55–81.
Church, R. M., & Church, K. W. (1977). Plans, goals, and search strategies for the selection of a move in chess. In P. W. Frey (Ed.), Chess skill in man and machine (pp. 131–156). New York: Springer.
de Groot, A. D. (1978). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Mouton. (Original work published 1946)
de Groot, A. D., & Gobet, F. (1996). Perception and memory in chess: Heuristics of the professional eye. Assen: Van Gorcum.
Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, H. H., & Derman, D. (1976). Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Elo, A. (1978). The rating of chessplayers, past and present. New York: Arco.
Ferrari, V., Didierjean, A., & Marmèche, E. (2006). Dynamic perception in chess. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 397–410.
Freudenthal, D., Pine, J. M., & Gobet, F. (2005). Resolving ambiguities in the extraction of syntactic categories through chunking. Cognitive Systems Research, 6, 17–25.
Freudenthal, D., Pine, J. M., & Gobet, F. (2006). Modeling the development of children’s use of optional infinitives in Dutch and English using MOSAIC. Cognitive Science, 30, 277–310.
Gobet, F. (1997). A pattern-recognition theory of search in expert problem solving. Thinking & Reasoning, 3, 291–313.
Gobet, F., & Clarkson, G. (2004). Chunks in expert memory: Evidence for the magical number four ... or is it two? Memory, 12, 732–747.
Gobet, F., & Jackson, S. (2002). In search of templates. Cognitive Systems Research, 3, 35–44.
Gobet, F., Lane, P. C. R., Croker, S., Cheng, P. C.-H., Jones, G., Oliver, I., & Pine, J. M. (2001). Chunking mechanisms in human learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 236–243.
Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (1996a). Recall of random and distorted chess positions: Implications for the theory of expertise. Memory & Cognition, 24, 493–503.
Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (1996b). Templates in chess memory: A mechanism for recalling several boards. Cognitive Psychology, 31, 1–40.
Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (1998). Expert chess memory: Revisiting the chunking hypothesis. Memory, 6, 225–255.
Gobet, F., & Simon, H. A. (2000). Five seconds or sixty? Presentation time in expert memory. Cognitive Science, 24, 651–682.
Gobet, F., & Waters, A. J. (2003). The role of constraints in expert memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 29, 1082–1094.
Gruber, H. (1991). Qualitative Aspekte von Expertise im Schach [Qualitative aspects of expertise in chess]. Aachen: Feenschach.
Holding, D. H. (1985). The psychology of chess skill. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jones, G., Gobet, F., & Pine, J. M. (2005). Modelling vocabulary acquisition: An explanation of the link between the phonological loop and long-term memory. Journal of Artificial Intelligence & Simulation of Behaviour, 1, 509–522.
Kalakoski, V. (2006). Constructing skilled images (Research Rep. 35). Helsinki: University of Helsinki.
Kosslyn, S. M. (1994). Image and brain: The resolution of the imagery debate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Bradford Books.
Kosslyn, S. M., Cave, C. B., Provost, D. A., & von Gierke, S. M. (1988). Sequential processes in image generation. Cognitive Psychology, 20, 319–343.
Lane, P. C. R., Cheng, P. C.-H., & Gobet, F. (2000). CHREST1: Investigating how humans learn to solve problems using diagrams. Artificial Intelligence & Simulation of Behaviour Quarterly, 103, 24–30.
Larkin, J. H., McDermott, J., Simon, D. P., & Simon, H. A. (1980). Expert and novice performance in solving physics problems. Science, 208, 1335–1342.
Larkin, J. H., & Simon, H. A. (1987). Why a diagram is (sometimes) worth ten thousand words. Cognitive Science, 11, 65–99.
Logie, R. H. (1986). Visuospatial processing in working memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38A, 229–247.
Milojkovic, J. D. (1982). Chess imagery in novice and master. Journal of Mental Imagery, 6, 125–144.
Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Paige, J. M., & Simon, H. A. (1966). Cognitive processes in solving algebra word problems. In B. Kleinmuntz (Ed.), Problem solving: Research, method, and theory (pp. 51–119). New York: Wiley.
Richman, H. B., Staszewski, J. J., & Simon, H. A. (1995). Simulation of expert memory using EPAM IV. Psychological Review, 102, 305–330.
Ruchkin, D. S., Grafman, J., Cameron, K., & Berndt, R. S. (2003). Working memory retention systems: A state of activated long-term memory. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 26, 709–728.
Saariluoma, P. (1994). Location coding in chess. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47A, 607–630.
Saariluoma, P. (1995). Chess players’ thinking: A cognitive psychological approach. London: Routledge.
Saariluoma, P., & Kalakoski, V. (1997). Skilled imagery and long-term working memory. American Journal of Psychology, 110, 177–201.
Shepard, R. N., & Cooper, L. A. (1982). Mental images and their transformations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Simon, H. A. (1969). The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Simon, H. A. (1978). On the forms of mental representation. In C. W. Savage (Ed.), Perception and cognition: Issues in the foundations of psychology (pp. 3–18). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Simon, H. A., & Gilmartin, K. J. (1973). A simulation of memory for chess positions. Cognitive Psychology, 5, 29–46.
Tabachneck-Schijf, H. J. M., Leonardo, A. M., & Simon, H. A. (1997). CaMeRa: A computational model of multiple representations. Cognitive Science, 21, 305–350.
Vicente, K. J., & Wang, J. H. (1998). An ecological theory of expertise effects in memory recall. Psychological Review, 105, 33–57.
Waghorn, K. (1988). Chess players’ use of task-specific processes in a perceptual classification task. Unpublished honors thesis, University of Waterloo.
Waters, A. J., Gobet, F., & Leyden, G. (2002). Visuospatial abilities of chess players. British Journal of Psychology, 93, 557–565.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Waters, A.J., Gobet, F. Mental imagery and chunks: Empirical and computational findings. Memory & Cognition 36, 505–517 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.3.505
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.3.505