Abstract
We review our efforts to model user command production in an attempt to characterize the knowledge users of computers have at various stages of learning. We modeled computer users with a system called NETWORK (Mannes and Kintsch, 1988; 1991) and modeled novice, intermediate, and expert UNIX command production data collected by Doane et al. (1990b) with a system called UNICOM (Doane et al., 1989a; 1991). We use the construction-integration theory of comprehension proposed by Kintsch (1988) as a framework for our analyses. By focusing on how instructions activate the knowledge rele/ant to the performance of the specified task, we have successfully modeled major aspects of correct user performance by incorporating in the model knowledge about individual commands and knowledge that allows the correct combination of elementary commands into complex, novel commands. Thus, experts can be modeled in both NETWORK and in UNICOM. We further show that salient aspects of novice and intermediate performance can be described by removing critical elements of knowledge from the expert UNICOM model. Results suggest that our comprehension-based approach has promise for understanding user interactions and implications for system design are discussed.
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Dr. Stephanie Doane is Assistant Professor of Psychology and appointed at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. Shereceived her BAin Experimental Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, her MS in Experimental Psychology from Villanova University, and her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Doane's research has focused on skill acquisition and the development and validation of theoretically-based computational models of cognitive processes. Her current research addresses issues of learning to interact with complex systems and the role of learning context in skill acquisition.
Dr. Suzanne Mannes is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. She received her BA in Psychology from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh and received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her experimental research focuses on the role of prior knowledge in text comprehension, particularly as it pertains to problem-solving abilities. She also investigates the use of hybrid computer systems to simulate results from such studies.
Dr. Walter Kintsch is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He received his MA and PhD degrees in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kansas. His main area of interest has been the psychology of language and memory. He is currently the editor of the Psychological review.
Peter Poison is Professor of Psychology and member of the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado. He received his BA degree in Psychology and BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and his PhD degree in Psychology from Indiana University. Dr. Poison's research has focused on the development and empirical evaluation of mathematical and computer simulation models of cognitive processes including transfer of training, problem solving, and the acquisition of cognitive skills. His current research deals with quantitative models of human-computer interaction and the application of such models to the design of more easily learned computer systems.
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Doane, S.M., Mannes, S.M., Kintsch, W. et al. Modeling user action planning: A comprehension based approach. User Model User-Adap Inter 2, 249–285 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01104706
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01104706