Procedural networks and production systems in adaptive diagnosis

Procedural networks and production systems are used to model an individual's performance on certain cognitive tasks having several subtasks. These models form the basis of the Adaptive Diagnostic System (ADS). By presenting selected items and examining the responses to these items, ADS creates a diagnostic profile of the skills and subskills that an individual may be lacking. ADS is described, and two heuristics approximating optimal item selection are developed. Finally, ADS is briefly compared with Brown and Burton's (1978) BUGGY, an alternate diagnostic system.