Adversary Problem Solving by Humans

If problem solving consists of the search of a problem space, then the presence of an adversary vastly complicates that search, with the result that the authors' decisions must be based on heuristic principles.

Abstract

If problem solving consists of the search of a problem space (Anderson, 1985), then the presence of an adversary vastly complicates that search. Instead of finding a linear sequence of operators that will transform the initial problem state successively from one subgoal to another until the final goal state is achieved, adversary problem solving faces us with an expanding set of possibilities. If we make any one move, our opponent can make several replies; we can respond to each of these replies, but each response will engender a further set of replies. Hence, the search tree grows exponentially. A complete solution to the problem is often beyond our reach, and beyond the resources of a computer, with the result that our decisions must be based on heuristic principles.