how can ACT-R models age?

[Gary Jones]

>
>It seems that if one subscribes to the view that we can "age" models
>by varying parameters (ignoring issues of changes in qualitative /
>strategic knowledge), the game is really to identify a parsimonious
>minimal set of parameters that change and to specify how they change
>over time.


hello Dario,

sorry I'm joining this discussion a bit late in the day, but as Richard has 
mentioned I have looked at ageing in children. I implemented several 
developmental mechanisms within an ACT-R model, some of which mapped onto 
ACT-R parameters. In particular, the one that gave the best results was EGN 
(this is ACTv3.0). Starting with a model of adults with no noise, and 
increasing the level of noise (thereby making it more difficult for the 
model to select the *right* strategy), the model then fit the data of 7yo's 
quite well. This mechanism (strategy choice efficiency) has been suggested 
by Siegler in numerous papers. You could look at them or alternatively look 
at our March 2000 Psychological Science paper.

Gary.