1. On the Relation Between Perception, Memory and Cognition in Games
Reijer Grimbergen
Department of Informatics
Yamagata University
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

2. Outline Introduction Perception in games Reproduction experiment
Experimental results
Conclusions and future work
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

3. Studying perception to understand input agents
Introduction
Using Marvin Minsky’s Society of Mind theory for game playing
What are the primitive agents?
Input agents: perception of board and pieces
Output agents: playing moves
First step
Studying perception to understand input agents
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

4. Perception in games
Acquiring the necessary knowledge about a board position to make a decision about the next move
Perception is strongly related to chunks
Stronger players have bigger chunks of game knowledge, so are better at information extraction
Chunks = agencies?
Reproduction experiment to understand
the fundamental agents dealing with perception
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

5. Hypotheses about perception
Hypothesis 1: It is easier to perceive one’s own pieces than the pieces of the opponent
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

6. Hypotheses about perception
Hypothesis 2: It is easier to perceive pieces in hand than pieces on the board
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

7. Hypotheses about perception
Hypothesis 3: It is easier to perceive pieces that are promoted than pieces that are not promoted
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

8. Hypotheses about perception
Hypothesis 4: Pieces closer to oneself are easier to perceive than pieces further away
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

9. Hypotheses about perception
Hypothesis 5: Bigger pieces are easier to perceive than smaller pieces
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

10. Reproduction experiment
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

11. Reproduction experiment
10 positions
Generated randomly
5 positions with pieces in hand
11 subjects
All in their early twenties
9 subjects were absolute beginners
2 subjects had played in elementary school
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

12. Experimental results
Reproduction time
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

13. Experimental results
Correctness
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

14. Experimental results Hypothesis not valid!
Hypothesis 1: It is easier to perceive one’s own pieces than the pieces of the opponent
Sub
Own
Opp S1 11 8 S7 10 7 S2 12 S8 14 9 S3 16 S9 51 52 S4 19
S10
103
112 S5
S11 S6 88 89
Tot
321
(30.7%)
342
(31.7%)
Hypothesis not valid!
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

15. Experimental results Hypothesis valid!
Hypothesis 2: It is easier to perceive pieces in hand than pieces on the board
Sub
Board
In Hand S1 10 28 S7 15 S2 24 S8 11 44 S3 19 S9 18 52 S4 3
S10
141 61 S5
S11 20 S6
174
Tot
438
(30.2%)
280
(37.4%)
Hypothesis valid!
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

16. Hypothesis probably invalid!
Experimental results
Hypothesis 3: It is easier to perceive pieces that are promoted than pieces that are not promoted
Sub
Non-prom
Prom S1 10 9 S7 16 1 S2 5 13 S8 11 12 S3 7 S9 78 25 S4 14
S10
155 60 S5
S11 S6
141 36
Tot
453
(40.0%)
209
(21.1%)
Hypothesis probably invalid!
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

17. Experimental results Hypothesis not valid!
Hypothesis 4: Pieces closer to oneself are easier to perceive than pieces further away
Hypothesis not valid!
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

18. Experimental results Hypothesis not valid!
Hypothesis 5: Bigger pieces are easier to perceive than smaller pieces
Hypothesis not valid!
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19

19. Conclusions Investigated the relation between perception and memory
Five hypotheses were tested
Pieces in hand are easier to remember than pieces on the board
Future work
Order of reproduction
Comparison with more advanced players
2008/3/12
SIGGI-19