Posts in Category: psychology

the study of (mostly human) sensation & perception, cognition (learning, knowledge representation, thinking & reasoning) and behavior (action, judgment, choice & decision making, expertise and skilled performance)

Paper: Visual working memory resources as item activation

To understand visual intelligence is to understand, in large part, who we are.
Donald D. Hoffmann (1998), p. XII
The body’s movements at this time scale provide an essential link between processes underlying elemental perceptual events
and those involved in symbol manipulation and the organization of complex behaviors.
Ballard et al. (1997), p. 723

Bella Z. Veksler, Rachel Boyd, Christopher W. Myers, Glenn Gunzelmann, Hansjörg Neth, Wayne D. Gray

Visual working memory resources are best characterized as dynamic, quantifiable mnemonic traces

An example stimulus used in the paradigm of repeated serial search.

An example stimulus used in the paradigm of repeated serial search.

Abstract:  Visual working memory (VWM) is a construct hypothesized to store a small amount of accurate perceptual information that can be brought to bear on a task.  Much research concerns the construct’s capacity and the precision of the information stored.  Two prominent theories of VWM representation have emerged: slot-based and continuous-resource mechanisms.  Prior modeling work suggests that a continuous resource that varies over trials with variable capacity and a potential to make localization errors best accounts for the empirical data.  Questions remain regarding the variability in VWM capacity and precision.  Using a novel eye-tracking paradigm, we demonstrate that VWM facilitates search and exhibits effects of fixation frequency and recency, particularly for prior targets.  Whereas slot-based memory models cannot account for the human data, a novel continuous-resource model does capture the behavioral and eye tracking data, and identifies the relevant resource as item activation.

Artikel: Die Intelligenz einfacher Entscheidungsregeln

Mors certa, vita incerta.
(Philip K. Dick, 1968)

 

Wolfgang Gaissmaier, Hansjörg Neth

Die Intelligenz einfacher Entscheidungsregeln in einer ungewissen Welt

Fazit:  Unsere Welt mag sicher oder unsicher sein, aber wird immer eine ungewisse bleiben. Wir sollten uns von der Illusion ihrer umfassenden Berechen- und Kontrollierbarkeit verabschieden, ohne deswegen in Angststarre zu verfallen.  Denn gute Entscheidungen sind dennoch möglich und beruhen auf einer angemessenen Einschätzung unserer Ausgangslage:  Je berechenbarer eine Situation ist („Risiko“), desto mehr brauchen wir statistisches Denken und komplexe Modelle; je unberechenbarer eine Situation ist („Ungewissheit“), desto mehr brauchen wir einfache Heuristiken, einschlägige Erfahrung und Vertrauen auf Intuition (vgl. Abbildung 1).  Dabei handelt es sich bei Risiko und Ungewissheit um Pole eines Kontinuums, so dass es sich bei den meisten Situationen um einen Zwischenzustand handeln dürfte. Die Kunst des guten Entscheidens besteht darin, zu wissen, wo auf diesem Kontinuum wir uns befinden, um das jeweils passende Entscheidungswerkzeug geschickt auszuwählen und gezielt zum Einsatz zu bringen.  Und sie erfordert den Mut, Entscheidungen nicht zu verschieben oder zu vermeiden, sondern sie beherzt zu treffen und die Verantwortung für ihre Konsequenzen zu tragen.

Article: Heuristics — Tools for an uncertain world

I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer,
to treat everything as if it were a nail.
Abraham H. Maslow (1966, p. 15f.)

 

 


Hansjörg Neth, Gerd Gigerenzer

Heuristics: Tools for an uncertain world

We distinguish between situations of risk, where all options, consequences, and probabilities are known, and situations of uncertainty, where they are not.  Probability theory and statistics are the best tools for deciding under risk but not under uncertainty, which characterizes most relevant problems that humans have to solve.  Uncertainty requires simple heuristics that are robust rather than optimal.

Paper: Rational task analysis (RTA)

Just as a scissors cannot cut paper without two blades,
a theory of thinking and problem solving cannot predict behavior
unless it encompasses both an analysis of the structure of task environments
and an analysis of the limits of rational adaptation to task requirements.
(Newell & Simon, 1972, p. 55)

 

 

 

 


Hansjörg Neth, Chris R. Sims, Wayne D. Gray

Rational task analysis: A methodology to benchmark bounded rationality

Abstract:  How can we study bounded rationality?  We answer this question by proposing rational task analysis (RTA)—a systematic approach that prevents experimental researchers from drawing premature conclusions regarding the (ir-)rationality of agents.  RTA is a methodology and perspective that is anchored in the notion of bounded rationality and aids in the unbiased interpretation of results and the design of more conclusive experimental paradigms.