The Impact of Real World Stressors on Problem-Solving

这个项目研究了日常压力和疲劳的变化-以前被认为是认知过程中不可控制的“噪音”-与学习和解决问题的变化之间的关系。 这个项目的动机部分是因为有证据表明，执行功能和记忆测试的表现可以作为最近经历的，现实世界的，日常压力的函数而波动。 由于解决问题需要这些和其他认知能力，因此假设日常压力源也会影响我们在教育和专业环境中经常面临的复杂，开放式挑战的方法和成功。 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大的抗压能力。 换句话说，对一些人来说，日常的压力可能会创造出更大或更小程度上有助于解决问题的环境，而对另一些人来说，最近的压力可能会对结果产生最小的影响。 这项工作对STEM教育具有重要意义，因为解决问题的技能越来越受到重视。 它将为模拟复杂任务中日常压力源的弹性和脆弱性的个体差异提供新的基础。此外，理解与压力源相关的个体内变异性可以导致用于改善高风险、资源需求操作的性能的策略（例如，驾驶飞机）。 根据生态瞬时评估（EMA）方法，将在健康成年人从事日常生活的日常活动时，每天对他们进行压力和疲劳的主观和生理测量。这些数据将由参与者通过智能手机上传到安全服务器，并由研究人员进行监控。当每日采样日志表明最近经历了高、中、低水平的压力源时，参与者将被安排在自己家中或斯沃茨计算神经科学中心的研究机构进行测试。他们将参与模仿真实的世界活动的STEM相关问题解决任务。同时，将记录并同步脑电（EEG）数据、眼球运动和心电图。监测期预计将持续一至三个月，包括九次测试。该项目将产生一个丰富的数据库，可以从许多不同的角度进行探讨，提供一个前所未有的观点，作为生理和认知状态日常变化的函数，任务表现的个体内变异性。 它有望揭示支持洞察力和发现的行为和大脑动力学。 此外，从基于事件的模型的元认知组件的解决问题的扩展，预计梳理除了各种理论化的组件，如代表的问题空间，探索，规划解决方案，和实施的方式，可能会受到不同的影响日常压力。 该项目由理解神经和认知系统的综合策略（NSF-NCS）资助，这是一个由计算机和信息科学与工程（CISE），教育和人力资源（EHR），工程（ENG）以及社会，行为和经济科学（SBE）董事会共同支持的多学科计划。

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).