Collaborative Research: Visual Training in the Geosciences by Training Visual Working Memory

本项目以认知科学的基础研究为基础，确定改善地球科学教育和培训的方法。地球科学是一门STEM学科，对一些国家和全球问题越来越重要，包括气候变化、能源资源和了解地震活动。地球科学的专业知识在很大程度上依赖于无意识的感知技能，这些技能很难或不可能通过传统的课堂教育传授。因此，非常需要改进或开发新的感知训练方法（即训练学生视觉检测、识别和解释地质过程），并研究如何优化这一领域的教育实践。该项目将运用认知科学方法来实现这一目标，方法是开展涉及地球科学学生的行为实验，并开发人类认知的计算模型。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EHR核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。本研究将聚焦于视觉工作记忆（VWM）在地球科学中知觉学习和知觉专业知识中的作用。VWM是一个对地球科学至关重要的认知系统。例如，当一个地质学家观察或研究一个景观时，他或她通过大量的眼球运动从场景中的多个点获取视觉信息。然后，地质学家可以（无意识地）使用他或她的VWM通过眼球运动来整合信息，从而形成景观的连贯表现。虽然已有很多关于VWM的研究，但对于视觉工作记忆与特定领域（如地球科学）感知能力的根本变化之间的关系知之甚少。拟议的研究将建立并扩展最近开发的人类感知模型，该模型有可能将这两个领域联系起来。这个模型是基于信息论，或物理系统如何有效地交流信息的数学研究。这个模型表明，培训和专业知识从根本上改变了一个人？以一种更有效地利用认知资源的方式来改善我们的感知系统。为了测试这个模型，一系列的行为实验将会在地球科学的新手和有经验的学生中进行。这些实验和计算建模工作将有助于提高地球科学和教育的基础知识。

This project identify ways to improve education and training in the geosciences, building on fundamental research in cognitive science. Geoscience is a STEM discipline that is of growing importance to several national and global issues, including climate change, energy resources, and understanding earthquake activity. Expertise in geoscience depends heavily upon unconscious perceptual skills that are difficult or impossible to impart through traditional classroom education. Consequently there is a great need to improve or develop new methods for perceptual training (i.e., training students to visually detect, identify, and interpret geologic processes) and to study how educational practices in this area may be optimized. This project will apply a cognitive science approach to meet this goal, by conducting behavioral experiments involving geoscience students, and developing computational models of human cognition. This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.The proposed research will focus on the role of visual working memory (VWM) in perceptual learning and perceptual expertise in the geosciences. VWM is a cognitive system that is critical to the geosciences. For example, when a geologist views or studies a landscape, he or she acquires visual information from multiple points in the scene by making numerous eye movements. The geologist can then (unconsciously) use his or her VWM to integrate information across eye movements to develop a coherent representation of the landscape. While there is much existing research on VWM, very little is known about the relationship between visual working memory on the one hand, and fundamental changes in perceptual ability in specific domains such as geoscience on the other hand. The proposed research will build upon, and extend a recently developed model of human perception that has the potential to connect these two domains. This model is based upon information theory, or the mathematical study of how physical systems can efficiently communicate information. This model suggests that training and expertise fundamentally change a person?s perceptual system in a way that leads to more efficient use of cognitive resources. In order to test this model, a series of behavioral experiments will be conducted involving novice and experienced students in the geosciences. These experiments and computational modeling efforts will contribute fundamental knowledge that can be used to improve geoscience and education.