At First Amateur Naturalists Painfully Identify the Birds, Butterflies, Mammals

Multiple Choice

At first amateur naturalists painfully identify the birds, butterflies, mammals, or plants they find by mechanically searching through published field guides. In time, those who persist begin to identify more and more species from memory and others based on the general properties they have learned through experience. These amateurs who base their identifications on the general properties of the species observed are using which type of problem solving?

A) trial and error
B) rote
C) understanding
D) the use of algorithms