Accession Number:

ADA210456

Title:

Models of Mental Functioning

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 15 Jun 1987-14 Dec 1988

Corporate Author:

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV CLEVELAND OH DEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Personal Author(s):

• Detterman, Douglas K.

Report Date:

1989-05-14

Pagination or Media Count:

15.0

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to develop models of basic cognitive tasks developed in previous research. A model of choice reaction time was written in Simscript II.5 but development of this model made it clear that additional information was required before good models of basic cognitive tasks could be devised. Therefore, a number of experiments were conducted which were designed to provide the basic information needed. The experiments focused on several questions important to the construction of explicit models. Some of these questions were How do subjects build mental models of instructions and to what extent do the goodness of these models affect subsequent performance What aspects of stimulus structure are important in the encoding of the stimuli used in these tasks Seven experiments addressing these issues were conducted. In general, results suggest that basic cognitive tasks are far more complex than had previously been thought. Keywords Individual differences, Mental models, Cognition.

Descriptors:

• *MENTAL ABILITY
• *COGNITION
• REACTION TIME
• ADDRESSING
• STIMULI
• INSTRUCTIONS
• MODELS
• INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• CODING

Subject Categories:

• Psychology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE