An expert systems approach to simulating the human decision maker

Many simulation models include elements of human decision making which present some difficulty to the simulation modeller. It is often difficult to determine how a human goes about making decisions, and even where this is possible, representing this within the constructs of a simulation package may be problematic. An expert systems approach to representing the human decision maker is proposed. An example of an expert system linked to a simulation model is given. Not only was it possible to train the expert system by programming a set of decision rules, but also by obtaining examples of decisions through running and interacting with the simulation model. The paper concludes by discussing the future directions of this research.