Knowledge Structures and Decision Making In Chess

Research on the cognitive basis of chess skill has focused primarily on chess knowledge
structures and their relevance in accounting for superior recall of briefly presented chess
positions by chess experts. The direct relevance of research on short-term recall of chess position
to superior move selection, is based on two theoretical assumptions that have not been fully
tested. The first assumption is that the chess knowledge structures are automatically activated
during the perception of a position in a similar manner for both tasks requiring short-term recall
and selection of the best move. Because experts are thought to have greater knowledge and this
greater knowledge is thought to be activated automatically it has been argued that experts are
less harmed by reduction in available time for selecting a move than weaker players. The second
assumption is that the knowledge structures that mediate the selection of a chess move can be
adequately captured by a memory task for briefly presented positions. This dissertation
attempted to test these two assumptions. Study 1 found no general interaction between time
given to solve a chess problem and chess skill on the strength of move selection, instead finding
a relatively stable expert advantage across times. Additionally, it established this even for the 5 s
condition typically used to study memory. Study 2 presented chess positions to players for 5 s
either to select the best move or to recall the position. In the condition involving the selection of
a move, players were asked to recall the position after announcing their selected move. The study
found substantial differences in the structure of recall between the two conditions. Additionally,
certain expected features such as a bimodal distribution of response times were not found calling
into question some assumptions of chunking theory.