ABSTRACT
Question asking has had a rather controversial status in the fields of cognitive science and education. Intelligent tutoring systems have imported models in artificial intelligence that formally specify the knowledge representations, problem-solving methods, reasoning heuristics, question-answering procedures, and cognitive mechanisms that underlie effective teaching. An ideal interface would minimize communication barriers between computer systems and human users. Human–computer interfaces can be designed in a manner that minimizes reliance on the computer interpreting or producing lengthy text in natural language. Successful communication between a computer and user would require a “mixed initiative dialogue”. The designer of a mixed initiative dialogue facility would benefit from a psychological theory of question asking that is grounded in empirical data.
