Knowledge-based control of cognition and action

熟练的认知行为，如阅读单词、识别物体或使用工具，是由多种心理表征支撑的，这些心理表征往往相互冲突。 例如，咖啡杯提供许多不同的、互斥的抓握（例如，在手柄上的闭合抓握、围绕马克杯的筒体的打开抓握、或者甚至在边缘上的捏握），并且与马克杯的交互需要选择一个抓握而不是其他抓握来执行。 这种选择是如何发生的，对未被选中的候选人有什么后果？ 我的研究计划的目的是揭示知识为基础的影响，唤起候选人的行动，并确定选择过程的结果。 我的方法是由两个工作假设。 首先，在任务执行过程中，包括一般知识在内的相关先前经验的记忆会无意识地被招募，形成熟练表现的基础。 第二，任务情境影响这些知识的吸收和选择。 在一系列任务领域中，通常涉及单词阅读、物体识别或句子理解，将应用四种测量熟练动作组成部分的方法：（1）快速识别或分类反应（例如，尽可能快地识别物体），（2）使用适应一定范围的关节式手部姿势的专门构造的响应装置执行的手部动作（例如，在相关或不相关对象的上下文中执行提示的手动作），（3）当观察者观看视觉显示时跟踪眼睛运动（例如，在自然场景的图片中搜索目标对象），以及（4）使用附着到手指和手的传感器来记录观察者做出快速到达和抓握响应时的手的形状和位置的细节。 这项研究将提供有关概念知识和动作表征如何支持熟练表现的重要信息，并将有助于更深入地了解阅读和物体识别中的选择性障碍，这些障碍通常伴随着特定形式的脑损伤。

Skilled cognitive actions, such as reading words, identifying objects, or using a tool, are underpinned by multiple mental representations that often are in conflict with one another. For example, a coffee mug affords a number of different, mutually exclusive grasps (e.g., a closed grasp on the handle, an open grasp around the barrel of the mug, or even a pinch grasp on the rim) and interaction with the mug requires that one grasp be selected over the others for execution. How does this selection occur and what are the consequences for the candidates that are not selected? The objective of my research program is to reveal the knowledge-based influences that evoke candidate actions and determine the outcome of the selection process. My approach is guided by two working hypotheses. First, memory for relevant prior experience, including general knowledge, is unconsciously recruited during task execution, forming the basis for skilled performance. Second, task context influences the recruitment and selection of this knowledge. Across a range of task domains, typically involving word reading, object identification, or sentence comprehension, four methods of measuring components of skilled actions will be applied: (1) speeded identification or classification responses (e.g., identifying objects as quickly as possible), (2) hand actions performed using a specially constructed response apparatus that accommodates a range of articulated hand postures (e.g., performing a cued hand action in the context of a related or unrelated object), (3) tracking eye movements as an observer views a visual display (e.g., searching a picture of a natural scene for a target object), and (4) using sensors attached to fingers and hands to record details of hand shape and position as observers make rapid reach and grasp responses. This research will provide important information about how conceptual knowledge and action representations support skilled performance and will contribute to a deeper understanding of selective impairments in reading and object identification that often accompany specific forms of brain damage.