[ACT-R-users] New Publication

[Wayne Gray]

ACT-R Folks:

My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of:

Gray, W. D., Sims, C. R., Fu, W.-T., & Schoelles, M. J. (2006). The  
soft constraints hypothesis: A rational analysis approach to resource  
allocation for interactive behavior. Psychological Review, 113(3),  
461-482.

(abstract follows below)

Our concern for resource allocation is something that arose in the  
context of trying to determine the right set of tradeoffs between  
acquiring knowledge in-the-world versus retrieving knowledge from in- 
the-head in the context of our work in building ACT-R models of the  
Argus Prime task. (Note that this is not an ACTR or an Argus Prime  
paper. No ACTR or Argus Prime models are discussed or included in the  
current publication.)

Although the current paper does not include an ACTR model, ACTR  
modelers might find our Ideal Performer Model interesting for some of  
the following reasons (in addition to the reasons that non-ACTR  
modelers might find the work interesting):

We use a type of reinforcement learning, Q-learning, that  (in our  
use of this technique) is formally guaranteed to optimize performance  
in terms of minimizing time.

We pull out of ACTR several important components which we then embed  
in our Ideal Performer Model:

We use the Rational Activation Theory of memory that has been the  
default memory for all ACTR models from 1.0 thru 6.0. We use this to  
provide retrieval times as well as probabilities for successful  
retrieval.

 From ACTR models of Blocks World (partially reported in  Gray, W.  
D., Schoelles, M. J., & Sims, C. R. (2005). Adapting to the task  
environment: Explorations in expected value. Cognitive Systems  
Research, 6(1), 27-40) we pull out time estimates for perceptual- 
motor activity.

Wayne


ABSTRACT
Soft constraints hypothesis (SCH) is a rational analysis approach  
that holds that the mixture of perceptual-motor and cognitive  
resources allocated for interactive behavior is adjusted based on  
temporal cost-benefit tradeoffs. Alternative approaches maintain that  
cognitive resources are in some sense protected or conserved in that  
greater amounts of perceptual-motor effort will be expended to  
conserve lesser amounts of cognitive effort. One alternative, the  
minimum memory hypothesis (MMH), holds that people favor strategies  
that minimize the use of memory. SCH is compared with MMH across 3  
experiments and with predictions of an Ideal Performer Model that  
uses ACT-R’s memory system in a reinforcement learning approach that  
maximizes expected utility by minimizing time. Model and data support  
the SCH view of resource allocation; at the under 1000-millisecond  
level of analysis, mixtures of cognitive and perceptual-motor  
resources are adjusted based on their cost-benefit tradeoffs for  
interactive behavior.


**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**
Wayne D. Gray; Professor of Cognitive Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Carnegie Building (rm 108) ;;for all surface mail & deliveries
110 8th St.; Troy, NY 12180

EMAIL: grayw at rpi.edu, Office: 518-276-3315, Fax: 518-276-3017

for general information see: http://www.rpi.edu/~grayw/

for On-Line publications see: http://www.rpi.edu/~grayw/pubs/ 
downloadable_pubs.htm

for the CogWorks Lab see: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/cogworks/

If you just have formalisms or a model you are doing "operations  
research" or" AI", if you just have data and a good study you are  
doing "experimental psychology", and if you just have ideas you are  
doing "philosophy" -- it takes all three to do cognitive science.

**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**Rensselaer**


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