Acquisition of hierarchical control in skilled action sequencing

认知科学中的一个关键问题是理解行为如何随着时间的推移而展开。大多数人类行为，从走路和说话，到开车，打字和演奏乐器，都是由一系列有序的动作组成的。关于人们如何学习动作的顺序以及这种能力如何随着专业知识的变化而变化，人们知之甚少。本研究使用熟练打字的任务来研究高层次和低层次的认知过程如何相互作用，以使打字员能够快速准确地排序。打字是一个有用的模型系统，因为专家是丰富的，打字性能可以精确地衡量在搜索时间和错误。先前的研究表明，打字技能是由两个加工回路分层控制的：一个“外回路”将想法转化为单词和句子，一个“内环”将单词转化为运动动作，以执行单个动作。三个相关的项目测试了这些循环如何控制不同级别的打字技能的顺序。项目1使用大规模的基于网络的方法来量化新手和专家如何对自然字母的统计数据变得敏感，并学习优化可预测字母模式的打字性能。项目2探索了内环如何逐渐连接到外环，允许用于语言产生的口头代码控制键盘上手指的顺序。项目3测试了内部循环在从外部循环接收到字级指令后如何调度单个线程的时间。打字，特别是在电脑和智能手机上打字，已经成为一项不可或缺的现代技能。这项工作可以提供新的统计签名的打字技能，可用于促进快速技能的获取。打字的科学也可以作为一个模型，用于研究其他依赖分层控制回路来完成复杂序列排序的领域，例如演奏乐器，组装工作和交互技术。该项目还为研究生和本科生提供了在一个为几个少数民族和代表性不足的群体服务的机构接受培训的机会。

A critical issue in cognitive science is understanding how behavior unfolds in time. Most human behaviors, from walking and talking, to driving, typing and playing instruments, consist of a series of ordered actions. Little is known concerning how people learn the serial ordering of actions and how this ability changes with expertise. This investigation uses the task of skilled typing to study how high- and low-level cognitive processes interact to allow typists to order their keystrokes rapidly and accurately. Typing is a useful model system for this purpose because experts are plentiful and typing performance can be measured precisely in terms of keystroke timing and errors. Prior studies have shown that typing skill is controlled hierarchically by two processing loops: an "outer loop" turns ideas into words and sentences and an "inner loop" translates words into motor movements for executing individual keystrokes. Three related projects test how these loops control serial ordering across levels of typing skill. Project 1 uses a large-scale web-based approach to quantify how novices and experts become sensitive to the statistics of natural keystrokes and learn to optimize typing performance for predictable letter patterns. Project 2 explores how the inner loop becomes gradually connected to the outer loop, allowing verbal codes used for language production to control serial ordering of fingers on the keyboard. Project 3 tests how the inner loop schedules the timing of individal keystrokes after it has received word-level instructions from the outer loop. Typing, especially on computers and smartphones, has become an indispensable modern skill. This work can provide new statistical signatures of typing skill that can be used to promote rapid skill acquisition. The science of typing can also serve as a model for investigating other domains that rely on hierarchical control loops to accomplish complex serial ordering, such as playing a musical instrument, assembly work, and interactive technologies. The project also provides training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students at an institution that serves several minority and underrepresented groups.