[ACT-R-users] Retrieving a Chunk from DM (Module development)

[Robert Lischke]

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 6:47 PM, Dan Bothell <db30 at andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>
>
>  --On Thursday, March 20, 2008 6:12 PM +0100 Robert Lischke
>
>
> <robert.lischke at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>  > Hello everybody,
>  >
>  > I am currently working on a module for ACT-R and I want it to retrieve
>  > a chunk from the DM into a buffer (preferably it's own). I am looking
>  > for a way to do this in Lisp.
>  >
>  > Is there a preferred way to do this?
>  >
>  > Can I simply use a scheduled call to 'start-retrieval' from the
>  > declarative-memory module (/core-modules/declarative-memory.lisp)?
>  >
>
>  The short answer is that there isn't a preferred way to do that
>  and start-retrieval is specific to the declarative module/retrieval
>  buffer.
>
>  If you provide me with more context as to what you're trying to
>  accomplish with the module and model (things like why another buffer,
>  will it use the same activation equation and parameters, do you want
>  it work in parallel with the existing declarative module, etc) I can
>  provide more info as to possible solutions.
>
>  Dan
>

Thanks for your answer!

The module in question is a temporal-module to estimate (long) time
intervals. It is loosely based on Taatgen's module.

As in Taatgen's module, temporal chunks are stored in the DM. We want
to explain errors in time-estimation by using the activation levels of
the chunks (base-line learning). One of the differences is, that our
module starts counting from 0 again, whenever a temporal-chunk is
created.

The model shall be able (upon a request) to add-up a temporal-chunk in
the DM with the elapsed time since the last creation of a
temporal-chunk. Therefore it needs to retrieve chunks stored in the
DM, calculate a new time and add this new chunk to the DM.

We thought about using an algorithm like this:
- retrieve chunk from DM into temporal buffer (!)
- modify chunk in the buffer by adding elapsed ticks to ticks in the
buffer (the generated chunk will be stored "automatically" in the DM)
- start counting ticks from 0 again

This means we need the same activation equation and parameters from
the declarative module. It might be interesting to have the module
work in parallel with the existing declarative module, though I never
thought of this before.



Robert