[ACT-R-users] New Publications

[Lee Gugerty]

Here are two in-press publications involving ACT-R and production-system 
modeling. Both are available at 
http://www.clemson.edu/psych/gugerty/publications.htm

1. Gugerty, L. & Rodes, W. (in press, publication expected fall 2007). A 
cognitive model of strategies for cardinal direction judgments. Spatial 
Cognition and Computation.

Abstract: Previous research has identified a variety of strategies used by 
novice and experienced navigators in making cardinal direction judgments 
(Gugerty, Brooks & Treadaway, 2004). We developed an ACT-R cognitive model 
of some of these strategies that instantiated a number of concepts from 
research in spatial cognition, including a visual-short-term-memory buffer 
overlaid on a perceptual buffer, an egocentric reference frame in 
visual-short-term-memory, storage of categorical spatial information in 
visual-short-term-memory, and rotation of a mental compass in 
visual-short-term-memory. Response times predicted by the model fit well 
with the data of two groups, college students (N = 20) trained and 
practiced in the modeled strategies, and jet pilots (N = 4) with no 
strategy training. Thus, the cognitive model seems to provide an accurate 
description of important strategies for cardinal direction judgments. 
Additionally, it demonstrates how theoretical constructs in spatial 
cognition can be applied to a complex, realistic navigation task.

2. Gugerty, L.  (in press, publication expected May 2007). Cognitive 
components of troubleshooting strategies. Thinking and Reasoning.

Abstract: This study investigated the kinds of knowledge necessary to learn 
an important troubleshooting strategy, elimination. Fifty college-level 
students searched for the source of failures in simple digital networks. 
Production system modeling suggested that students using a common but 
simpler backtracking strategy would learn the more advanced elimination 
strategy if they applied certain domain-specific knowledge and the 
general-purpose problem-solving strategy of reductio ad absurdum. In an 
experiment, students solved network troubleshooting problems after being 
trained with either the domain-specific knowledge, the reductio ad absurdum 
strategy, both types of knowledge, or neither. Students needed both the 
domain-specific and general knowledge identified by the models in order to 
significantly increase their elimination use.


Lee Gugerty
Psychology Department
418 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634-1355; USA
Phone: 864-656-4467
Web Page: http://www.clemson.edu/psych/gugerty/
Usability Consulting: http://www.gugerty.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/pipermail/act-r-users/attachments/20070410/a3292868/attachment.html>