Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial opt...

Research

Associated organisational unit

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems. / Chronicle, Edward P.; MacGregor, James N.; Ormerod, Thomas C. et al.
In: The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , Vol. 39, No. 4, 2006, p. 783 -800.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Chronicle, EP, MacGregor, JN, Ormerod, TC & Burr, A 2006, 'It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems.', The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 783 -800. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724980543000033

APA

Chronicle, E. P., MacGregor, J. N., Ormerod, T. C., & Burr, A. (2006). It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , 39(4), 783 -800. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724980543000033

Vancouver

Chronicle EP, MacGregor JN, Ormerod TC, Burr A. It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology . 2006;39(4):783 -800. doi: 10.1080/02724980543000033

Author

Chronicle, Edward P. ; MacGregor, James N. ; Ormerod, Thomas C. et al. / It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems. In: The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology . 2006 ; Vol. 39, No. 4. pp. 783 -800.

Bibtex

@article{a3d0016182ef4f99b38164fe9107db2e,
title = "It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems.",
abstract = "Human performance on instances of computationally intractable optimization problems, such as the travelling salesperson problem (TSP), can be excellent. We have proposed a boundary-following heuristic to account for this finding. We report three experiments with TSPs where the capacity to employ this heuristic was varied. In Experiment 1, participants free to use the heuristic produced solutions significantly closer to optimal than did those prevented from doing so. Experiments 2 and 3 together replicated this finding in larger problems and demonstrated that a potential confound had no effect. In all three experiments, performance was closely matched by a boundary-following model. The results implicate global rather than purely local processes. Humans may have access to simple, perceptually based, heuristics that are suited to some combinatorial optimization tasks.",
author = "Chronicle, {Edward P.} and MacGregor, {James N.} and Ormerod, {Thomas C.} and Alistair Burr",
year = "2006",
doi = "10.1080/02724980543000033",
language = "English",
volume = "39",
pages = "783 --800",
journal = "The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ",
issn = "1747-0218",
publisher = "Psychology Press Ltd",
number = "4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - It looks easy! Heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems.

AU - Chronicle, Edward P.

AU - MacGregor, James N.

AU - Ormerod, Thomas C.

AU - Burr, Alistair

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - Human performance on instances of computationally intractable optimization problems, such as the travelling salesperson problem (TSP), can be excellent. We have proposed a boundary-following heuristic to account for this finding. We report three experiments with TSPs where the capacity to employ this heuristic was varied. In Experiment 1, participants free to use the heuristic produced solutions significantly closer to optimal than did those prevented from doing so. Experiments 2 and 3 together replicated this finding in larger problems and demonstrated that a potential confound had no effect. In all three experiments, performance was closely matched by a boundary-following model. The results implicate global rather than purely local processes. Humans may have access to simple, perceptually based, heuristics that are suited to some combinatorial optimization tasks.

AB - Human performance on instances of computationally intractable optimization problems, such as the travelling salesperson problem (TSP), can be excellent. We have proposed a boundary-following heuristic to account for this finding. We report three experiments with TSPs where the capacity to employ this heuristic was varied. In Experiment 1, participants free to use the heuristic produced solutions significantly closer to optimal than did those prevented from doing so. Experiments 2 and 3 together replicated this finding in larger problems and demonstrated that a potential confound had no effect. In all three experiments, performance was closely matched by a boundary-following model. The results implicate global rather than purely local processes. Humans may have access to simple, perceptually based, heuristics that are suited to some combinatorial optimization tasks.

U2 - 10.1080/02724980543000033

DO - 10.1080/02724980543000033

M3 - Journal article

VL - 39

SP - 783

EP - 800

JO - The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

JF - The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

SN - 1747-0218

IS - 4

ER -