Memory and Cognitive Control

“老鼠和人的最佳计划”通常会带来“承诺的快乐”，因为它们为行为提供了重点，允许个人直接朝着重要目标行动，避免分心。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，洛根博士正在研究记忆中的计划是如何在个人按照计划的步骤工作时指导思想和行动的。一个项目侧重于“临时”计划，比如在周末完成一份家务清单。特别计划的成功执行需要维护内存中的任意任务列表，并在适当的时间检索适当的任务。这个项目的实验旨在研究不同类型的短期记忆（视觉、空间、语言）在维持临时计划中的作用，以及不同类型的检索过程。第二个项目关注的是长期记忆在执行熟悉计划（而不是临时计划，比如煮一杯咖啡或下班开车回家）中的作用。所有的计划最初都是不熟悉的，所以必须依靠短期记忆。然而，经过练习，最随意的计划可以成为第二天性，招募长期记忆来支持成功的表现。这个项目正在研究从短期记忆到长期记忆的转变，以及伴随而来的检索过程的变化。第三个项目关注的是将计划执行从一个步骤移动到下一个步骤的过程，例如在当前任务完成时记住要运行的下一个任务。总之，这三个项目旨在提高我们对控制过程的理解，使个人能够在复杂的任务环境中连贯而灵活地行动。在这样做的过程中，这项研究提供了可能用于设计复杂任务环境的基本知识，例如船舶和发电厂的控制室，以及培训这些环境的操作员。

The "best laid plans of mice and men" often lead to "promised joy" because they provide focus to behavior, allowing individuals to direct actions toward important goals and avoid distraction. With support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Logan is studying how plans held in memory guide thoughts and actions as individuals work through the steps of a plan. One project focuses on "ad hoc" plans, such as working through a list of chores to be done on a weekend. Successful execution of ad hoc plans requires the maintenance of arbitrary lists of tasks in memory, and the retrieval of appropriate tasks at appropriate times. Experiments in this project are aimed at examining the roles of different kinds of short-term memory (visual, spatial, verbal) in maintaining ad hoc plans, and the different kinds of retrieval processes that operate on it. A second project is focused on the role of long-term memory in executing familiar as opposed to ad hoc plans, such as making a cup of coffee or driving home from work. All plans are unfamiliar initially, and so must rely on short-term memory. However with practice, the most arbitrary plan can become second nature, recruiting long-term memory to support successful performance. This project is examining the transition from short-term memory to long-term memory and the changes in retrieval processes that accompany it. A third project is focused on the processes that move plan execution from one step to the next, as in remembering the next errand to run when the current one is finished. Together, the three projects are designed to advance our understanding of the control processes that enable individuals to act coherently and flexibly in complex task environments. In doing so, this research is providing basic knowledge that may be of use in designing complex task environments such as the control rooms of ships and power plants, and in training the operators of such environments.