Research on Identification of Mental System Architecture
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Jasmine Young', 'PO_EMAI': 'jyoung@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032924833'}
A fruitful approach to the study of human behavior is the use of                the relationships between the environment, the perceptual                       information flow, and the consequent behavior to infer                          psychological structure and function, the architecture of the                   mental system.  From this approach, psychological functions such                as perception, motivation, cognition, decision making, learning,                memory, and problem solving are seen as embedded in abstract                    models of the internal psychological states.                                                                                                                    An important approach to the modeling of these psychological                    functions is to do so with closed-form mathematical models (which               may, of course, need to be studied at times using computer                      simulations).  At least as important as the individual models of                individual processes is the mathematical exploration of the                     qualitative and quantitative behavior of mental systems which                   exhibit particular properties.  Townsend's laboratory has been,                 with the aid of prior NSF support, a main source of such                        mathematical results.  This project is designed to investigate                  the behavior of mental systems which have the following                         properties:  (1) information flows only forward, with no feedback               loops; (2) flow is continuous, with partial information being                   transmitted throughout the system on a continuous basis, rather                 than each subprocess being completed before it sends the results                on down the line; and (3) the outputs of each process are                       stochastic, i.e. involve elements of randomness.  In addition,                  results will be extended to systems that meet conditions (1) and                (3), but not (2).                                                                                                                                               Experimental work will be directed toward discovery of                          qualitative properties involving reaction time and accuracy that                will make it possible to identify the system architecture.  Other               experiments will involve exploration of theoretical results                     obtained recently.  Finally, a mathematical model will be                       constructed for a recent experimental paradigm that acquires                    continuous measures of response tendencies.                                                                                                                     This research, though basic, impacts in an indirect way on                      education and on the design of machines with which people must                  interact.
{'FirstName': 'James', 'LastName': 'Townsend', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'T', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'James T Townsend', 'EmailAddress': 'jtownsen@indiana.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000470600', 'StartDate': '09/01/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
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{'Code': '118000', 'Text': 'HUMAN COGNITION & PERCEPTION'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8710163.xml'}