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| The Computational Metaphor |
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Definition
| The theory of human performance derives primarily from cognitive psychology based on this computational metaphor. The brain is considered to function like a computer, with groups of neurons performing logical operations or computations. Cognitive models use the computer metaphor to describe the encoding of incoming stimuli, the computations performed on the internal codes, and the eventual selection of a motor response. |
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| refers to the fundamental capacity of the mind to perform some task or set of computations: cognitive psychology is concerned with what the mind can compute or, put differently, the limitations on processing |
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| in this sense, refers to what the mind does compute in a given set of circumstances. Performance may fall short of competence if the person is tired or unmotivated, for example. |
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| Contextual Factors: External and Internal |
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| Contextual factors may influence response additional to the task itself, which may be features of the external environment, or internal qualities of the person, such as their emotional state |
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| Serial and Parallel Processing |
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| Serial models assume that each operation is carried out a step at a time: the last operation must finish before the next one in the series commences, as happens in a conventional computer program. Parallel models, however, comprise multiple processors operating simultaneously. |
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| Levels of Cognition: Semantic, Symbolic, and Biological/Physical |
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1.The semantic or knowledge level: This level is concerned with the guiding “intelligence” of the system, and the meaning of behavior. We can deal with these rather elusive qualities by focusing on the system’s goals, its knowledge of how to achieve goals, and the principles through which goals influence the initiation and regulation of information processing.
2.The symbol level: Computation requires symbolic representations which can be manipulated by explicit rules, such that applying the rule requires no insight into the purpose of the computation. A computer program expresses a computational routine of this kind. The models of information processing which are the cognitive psychologist’s stock-in-trade are descriptions of symbol manipulation.
3.The physical or biological level: The “software” of the symbol level requires physical “hardware” for its operation which, in the case of humans, is the central nervous system. |
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| Algorithm and Functional Architecture |
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| Cognitive psychological models are concerned with the intermediate, symbolic level which can be divided into algorithm and functional architecture. The algorithm refers to the nature of the symbols and the logical operations capable of being performed on them: i.e. the data representations and instructions available for programming. By contrast, the functional architecture, refers to the facilities available for carrying out computations in real time, such as, in speech comprehension, the memory space required to retain a sentence input while it is parsed and comprehended. |
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| Around the turn of the 20th century, structuralist psychologists (e.g. Wundt & Titchener) used the technique of introspection as the fundamental technique available to psychology. Trained observers reflected on the nature and course of their sensations, emotions, and thoughts. It was thought that introspection provided a direct indication of the contents of conscious awareness, including motivations, and contextual factors which may influence cognition. However, introspection lacks the objective rigor required of the experimental methods. |
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| It is assumed there is a program “in the head” that controls performance on a given task, but we cannot observe the program instructions directly. The problem is then to work out a description of the program by taking objective measurements of the person’s performance under different task conditions. The program description is tested by showing that it predicts real, objective data. |
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| Models are often chronometric in nature, i.e. they predict how long it will take a real person to perform a particular task. |
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| Verbal protocols are a self report technique that requires an individual to give a constant verbal description of their current on-task performance. This method has been particularly successful in studies of problem-solving, in which it tends to be the person’s qualitative insights into the problem that are critical, as opposed to the speed of the execution of individual component processes. |
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| Spreading Activation: 3-Principles of Association |
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Spreading activation models were developed as a result of work on people’s use of concepts for categorizing stimuli, objects and events in making sense of the world. They are concerned with, first the structure of long-term memory, and second, the way in which information retrieved from LTM is used in making decisions about concepts, i.e. “central processing” and thought.
1.Contiguity: two things become associated because they occurred together in time.
2.Similarity: two things become associated because they are alike.
3.Contrast: two things become associated because they are opposites. |
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1.The original or model on which something is based or formed.
2.Someone or something that serves to illustrate the typical qualities of a class; model; exemplar: She is the prototype of a student activist.
3.Something analogous to another thing of a later period: a Renaissance prototype of our modern public housing.
4.Biology: An archetype; a primitive form regarded as the basis of a group.
5.To create the prototype or an experimental model of: to prototype a solar-power car. |
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| Spreading activation models may also be investigated through studies of semantic priming, using the lexical decision task. A person must decide whether or not a string of letters is a valid English word. On the positive trials (i.e. the string is a word), lexical decision is speeded by prior presentation of a semantically related prime (i.e. the decision time is fasted when a related word was shown previously in the list). |
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| Early perceptual processes seem to be relatively less sensitive to capacity limitation than later processes, and some highly practiced tasks also make few attentional demands which is called automaticity. |
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| Three types or paradigms of attention |
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Definition
1.Selective attention: the participant must respond to some stimuli, or stimulus properties, whilst ignoring others.
2.Divided attention: the participant must perform two (or more) tasks simultaneously, which may lead to performance breakdown (dual task interference).
3.Sustained attention: the participant must maintain the focus of attention over a relatively long time-period. |
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| The theory of control, whether of cognitive or mechanical systems, is known as cybernetics. A basic theoretical distinction is that between open-loop and closed-loop control. In open-loop control, the stimulus directly triggers a sequence of processing operations leading to a response. The defining feature of open-loop control is its rigidity; the response to the stimulus is not immediately affected by feedback, indicating that it is not achieving its aim. In contrast, closed-loop control is characterized by sensitivity to feedback signaling that an error has occurred. |
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| Understand the Model and be able to label the sub-components in Fig 3.1 |
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describes the effects on reaction time of the number of stimulus choices.
o RT=a + b.bits, where a and b are constants, the intercept and slope of the straight line function.
o RT = a + b.log2(N), where N is the number of choices. |
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For the effects of response difficulty. His initial study investigated how long it took participants to tap a rectangular target with a stylus. Fitts found that movement time increased with movement length or “amplitude” (A), and decreased with the width of the target rectangle (W). The exact relationship is given by the following where a and b are intercept and slope constants.
o Movement Time (MT) = a + b. log2(2A/W)
o Index of difficulty (ID) of the response = log2(2A/W)
o A = movement amplitude
o W = target size |
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The purpose of the architecture compriseses independent subsystems for voluntary and involuntary control, and so they can be called levels of control models. The basic ideas is that there are two levels of control of attention, variously described as upper and lower, controlled and automatic, or conscious and automatic.
o The lower automatic level is reflexively triggered by incoming stimuli, requires few or no attentional resources, and is inaccessible to conscious awareness.
o The upper level is associated with voluntary control of performance, and carries out specific executive functions that bias the operation of the lower level. Its operations are prone to be resource-demanding, and at least some of its aspects, such as the person’s principle goals, are accessible to consciousness. |
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| for consciously reportable items of information |
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| represents skills for interacting with the outside world. |
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| refers to recall of specific events (what did you have for breakfast?) |
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| refers to general knowledge of the world (what are typical breakfast foods). |
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