Calibration of internal representations vs. external information for the control of action

演讲时，我们可以凭记忆自由发言，但有失去思路的危险。或者，我们可以依赖音符，但可能会出现表达不流畅和生硬的风险。这是我们几乎需要不断作出的一种决定的一个例子；即是依靠内部表现--即我们的知识和记忆--还是依靠来自环境的信息来指导我们在世界上的行动。不太理想的内部/外部决策可能会产生重要后果。例如，之前的研究表明，老年人有在环境中寻找线索的强烈倾向，即使他们非常清楚下一步该做什么，这反过来又会导致效率极低的表现。其他弱势群体，如注意力缺陷和多动障碍(ADHD)患者，可能会太多或太少依赖外部信息，因此可能会显得心烦意乱或过度专注。当人们与现代和新兴技术互动时，信息来源之间的适当平衡尤为重要。例如，新款汽车上信息丰富的显示屏越来越突出，这可能会对主要依赖外部信息的个人构成严重的分心危险。然而，关于内部/外部决策是如何做出的，这类决策使用了什么样的信息，以及如何准确解释某些亚组中的次优模式，例如老年人或患有ADHD的个人，人们知之甚少。目前的项目将使用计算建模和眼球跟踪实验来解决研究文献中的这一差距。这项工作的长期目标是提供技术解决方案，以支持最优的内部/外部信息校准，特别是在易受攻击的人群中。研究人员使用眼球跟踪技术来监测实验情况下的人类参与者，这些实验情况需要在任何给定的时间点执行几个简单任务中的一个(例如，通过指示箭头提示的空间位置或指向的方向来响应箭头提示)。当前最合适的任务可以通过利用参与者自己的知识(内部陈述)或通过检查指示下一步要做什么的简单提醒(外部信息)来确定。在目标1中，重点放在可能“非理性地”影响内部/外部决策过程的方面，以及即使在没有客观需要使用外部信息的情况下，也会将决策过程“拉”向依赖环境的方面。例如，初步结果表明，外部提示的显着性和个人在最近过去检查外部信号的频率都强烈影响环境中当前信息的使用。目标2侧重于在依赖参与者需要努力实现的外部或内部信息之间取得最佳平衡的情况。这里的目标是确定一个简单、合理的模型可以在多大程度上解释外部/内部决策，如果不能，为了解释参与者的行为，必须如何修改这样的模型。例如，初步证据表明，做出内部/外部决策所涉及的主观成本本身就是一个因素，可能会引导个人转向次优的信息使用模式。AIM 3结合了先前的实验范式，目的是在一个更大的、不同种类的年轻人和老年人样本中，以及被诊断为ADHD的个人中，表征内部/外部决策。该项目还包括一个教育和宣传部分，旨在增加患有多动症的学生获得STEM教育的机会。俄勒冈大学新闻学院的学生将制作关于ADHD本质的动画材料，并将在该大学的无障碍教育中心进行测试。总而言之，这项工作将产生关于个人如何使用内部和外部信息源的新的理论和经验知识，并将导致更好地理解弱势群体中次优的信息使用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

While giving a presentation, we can speak freely from memory, but with some danger of losing our train of thought. Alternatively, we can rely on notes but risk a dysfluent and stilted presentation. This is one example of a type of decision that we need to make almost constantly; namely whether to rely on internal representations – that is, our knowledge and memory – or on information from the environment to guide our actions in the world. Suboptimal internal/external decisions can have important consequences. For example, previous work has shown that older adults have a strong tendency to search the environment for clues, even when they know perfectly well what to do next, which in turn leads to highly inefficient performance. Other vulnerable populations, such as individuals with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are likely to rely either too much or too little on external information and therefore can appear either distracted or hyper-focused. Adequate balancing between information sources is particularly important when people interact with modern and emerging technologies. For example, the increasing salience of information-rich displays in newer-model cars can pose a serious distraction danger for individuals with a strong tendency to rely primarily on external information. Yet, little is known about how internal/external decisions are being made, what kind of information is used for such decisions, and what exactly explains the suboptimal pattern in certain subgroups, such as in older adults or individuals with ADHD. The current project will use computational modeling and eye-tracking experiments to address this gap in the research literature. The long-term goal of this work is to inform technological solutions that support optimal internal/external information calibration, in particular in vulnerable populations.The investigators use eye-tracking technology to monitor human participants in experimental situations that require performing one of several, simple tasks at any given point in time (e.g., responding to an arrow cue by indicating either its spatial location or the direction in which it is pointing). The currently most appropriate task can be determined either by utilizing the participant’s own knowledge (internal representations) or by examining simple reminders that indicate what to do next (external information). In Aim 1, the focus is on aspects that can “irrationally” influence the internal/external decision process and that “pull” the decision process towards relying on the environment, even when there is no objective need to use external information. For example, preliminary results have shown that both the saliency of external prompts and how frequently an individual had inspected external signals in the recent past, strongly influence the current use of information in the environment. Aim 2 focuses on situations in which there is an optimal balance between relying on external or internal information that participants need to try to achieve. The goal here is to determine to what degree external/internal decisions can be explained by a simple, rational model, and if not, how such a model would have to be amended in order to explain participants’ behavior. For example, preliminary evidence suggests that the subjective cost involved in making internal/external decisions itself is a factor that can steer individuals towards suboptimal patterns of information use. Aim 3 combines the experimental paradigms from the previous aims to characterize internal/external decisions within a larger, heterogenous sample of young and older adults, as well as individuals diagnosed with ADHD. The project also includes an education and outreach component directed towards increasing accessibility of STEM education for students with ADHD. Students from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism will develop animated material about the nature of ADHD that will be tested in the University’s Accessible Education Center. Combined, this work will generate new theoretical and empirical knowledge about how individuals use internal versus external sources of information and will lead to a better understanding of suboptimal information use in vulnerable populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.