The Impact of Real World Stressors on Problem-Solving

这个项目考察了日常压力和疲劳的可变性如何与学习和解决问题的可变性有关。以前，这些可变性被认为是认知过程中不可控的“噪音”。这个项目的部分动机是有证据表明，执行功能和记忆测试的表现会随着最近经历的现实世界日常压力的变化而波动。因为解决问题会招募这些和其他认知能力，所以我们假设，日常压力也会影响我们应对教育和职业环境中经常面临的复杂、无限制的挑战的方法和成功。此外，在初步研究的基础上，预计一部分人将比其他人表现出更强的应对压力的能力。换句话说，对于一些人来说，日常压力可能会创造出或多或少有助于解决问题的环境，而对另一些人来说，最近的压力可能对结果的影响最小。鉴于解决问题的技能日益受到重视，这项工作对STEM教育具有重要影响。它将为模拟在复杂任务中对日常应激源的韧性和脆弱性的个体差异提供新的基础。此外，了解与压力源相关的个体内变异性可以导致改进高风险、需要资源的操作(例如，驾驶飞机)的绩效的策略。根据生态瞬时评估(EMA)的方法，压力和疲劳的主观和生理测量将在日常生活中从健康成年人的日常生活中采样。这些数据将由参与者通过智能手机上传到安全的服务器上，并由研究人员进行监控。当每天的采样记录显示最近经历了高、中或低水平的压力源时，参与者将被安排在自己的家中或在斯沃茨计算神经科学中心的研究设施进行测试。他们将模仿现实世界的活动，从事与STEM相关的问题解决任务。同时，脑电(EEG)数据、眼球运动和心电图将被记录和同步。监测期预计将持续一至三个月，包括九次测试会议。这个项目将产生一个丰富的数据语料库，可以从许多不同的角度进行探索，提供一个前所未有的视角，即作为生理和认知状态日常变化的函数，任务绩效的个体内部变异性。预计它将揭示支持洞察和发现的行为和大脑动力学。此外，在基于情节的问题解决元认知成分模型的基础上，它有望梳理出各种理论化的成分--如表示问题空间、探索、计划解决方案和实施--可能受到日常压力因素的不同影响的方式。该项目由理解神经和认知系统的综合策略(NSF-NCS)资助，NSF-NCS是一个多学科项目，由计算机和信息科学与工程(CEISE)、教育和人力资源(EHR)、工程(ENG)以及社会、行为和经济科学(SBE)的主管部门联合支持。

This project examines how variability in daily stress and fatigue--previously dismissed as uncontrollable 'noise' in cognitive processing--relates to variability in learning and problem-solving. This project is motivated in part by evidence that performance on tests of executive function and memory can fluctuate as a function of recently experienced, real-world, daily stressors. Because problem-solving recruits these and other cognitive abilities, it is hypothesized that day-to-day stressors can also impact our approaches to and success with complex, open-ended challenges regularly faced in educational and professional contexts. Further, on the basis of preliminary research, it is anticipated that a subset of individuals will exhibit greater resilience to stressors than others. In other words, for some, day-to-day stressors may create contexts that facilitate tackling problems to greater or lesser degrees, whereas for others, recent stressors may impact outcomes minimally. This work wields important implications for STEM education given the increasing priority placed on problem-solving skills. It will offer new foundations for modeling individual differences in resilience and vulnerability to everyday stressors during complex tasks. Moreover, understanding stressor-related intra-individual variability can lead to strategies for improving performance of high-stakes, resource demanding operations (e.g., piloting an airplane). Building from methods of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), both subjective and physiological measures of stress and fatigue will be sampled from healthy adults on a daily basis as they engage in their regular routines of daily life. These data will be uploaded by participants to a secure server via smart phone and will be monitored by research staff. When daily sampling logs suggest the recent experience of high, medium, or low levels of stressors, participants will be scheduled for a testing session to be conducted in their own home or at the research facilities of the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience. They will engage in STEM-related problem-solving tasks modeled after real world activities. Simultaneously, electroencephalographic (EEG) data, eye movement, and electrocardiography will be recorded and synchronized. Monitoring periods are expected to last between one and three months and encompass nine testing sessions. This project will result in a rich corpus of data that can be probed from many different angles, offering an unprecedented view of intra-individual variability in task performance as a function of day-to-day changes in physiological and cognitive state. It is expected to reveal behavioral and brain dynamics supporting insight and discovery. Further, expanding from episode-based models of the metacognitive components of problem-solving, it is expected to tease apart ways in which various theorized components--such as representing the problem space, exploring, planning a solution, and implementation--may be differently affected by daily stressors. This project is funded by Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NSF-NCS), a multidisciplinary program jointly supported by the Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE).