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是如何在时间上展开的。大多数人类行为，从走路和说话，到开车、打字和演奏乐器，都由一系列有序的动作组成。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，我们知之甚少。这项研究使用熟练的打字任务来研究高水平和低水平的认知过程是如何相互作用的，从而使打字员能够快速而准确地安排他们的击键。打字是一个用于这一目的的有用的模型系统，因为有大量的专家，而且打字性能可以根据击键时间和错误来精确地衡量。先前的研究表明，打字技能是由两个处理环路分级控制的：一个“外环路”将想法转化为单词和句子，“内环路”将单词翻译成运动动作，以执行单独的击键。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序列排序。项目1使用基于网络的大规模方法来量化新手和专家如何对自然击键的统计数据变得敏感，并学习为可预测的字母模式优化打字性能。项目2探索了内环如何逐渐与外环相连，允许用于语言产生的语言代码控制手指在键盘上的顺序。项目3测试了内环在收到外环的字级指令后如何安排单独击键的时间。打字，尤其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打字技能统计特征，可以用于促进技能的快速获得。打字科学还可以作为研究其他领域的模型，这些领域依赖分层控制循环来完成复杂的序列排序，例如演奏乐器、组装工作和交互技术。该项目还为一个为几个少数群体和代表不足的群体提供服务的机构的研究生和本科生提供培训机会。

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.