Introduction to Cognition and Information Processing

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Introduction to Cognition and Information
Processing

• Dr. Sakol Teeravarunyou
• Nantida Wisawayodhin

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Overview

• Human-centered design
• Area related to cognition and information
  processing

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What is cogniton?

• The process or result of recognizing,
  interpreting, judging, and reasoning.
• High level intellectual functions carries out by
  the human brain, including comprehension, speech,
  visual perception, attention, memory, and
  executive functions such as planning,
  problem-solving and self-monitoring.

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How it related to HCD?

• Knowing your user
• Design interface to suite user abilities and
  limitations
• Design tasks (product function) to suite users
  expectations
• Design product to be usable in all appropriate
  contexts of use and environments

Context of use / Environment
Task
Interface
User
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Where cognition fits?

• Interface Understand how user perceives, reads
  and interprets symbols and signs
• Task Design of task sequence has to consider
  users expectations and mental models to make it
  easy to use.
• Context of use This could have an effect on
  human performance - stressful situation,
  concurrently with another task.
• Environment Have an effect on human performance
  altitude, temperature, indoor, outdoor etc.
• Cognition plays a role at every stage of HCD

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Application
Cockpit management (Decision making)
Toy and child development (Brain, motor )
Learning space (Memory, learning)
Bottle inspection in industry (Attention, fatigue)
Interface (Perception, navigation)
Driving (Perception, attention)
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Information processing

• The process of gathering, retrieval, storage,
  searching of informational data.

Input from sensory receptors
Output responses
Mental processing
Channel
Channel
Memory
Filter
Human information processing model
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Why information processing framework

• Why the analogy of computer information
• processing is so attractive to the cognitive
• psychologists?
• Computer appears to imitate humans computational
  ability (arithmetic, reading, conversation..)

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WHY INFORMATION PROCESSING (IP) FRAMEWORK
Basic diagram of a computer IP system
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STUDY OF COGNITION History

• The invention of computer by Alan Turning in 1936
  
• Psychologists adopt the information processing
  framework for the study of the working of the
  human mind
• WWI and WWII saw increase practical use of
  cognitive psychology in selection and training
  (personality traits and intelligence)
• The study of cognitive psychology becomes more
  applied
• The advancement and complexity of technology
  comes with disasters due to human error and a
  shift in attention from fitting the man to the
  task to fitting the task to the man

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WHY INFORMATION PROCESSING FRAMEWORK

• Mental activity could be characterized in terms
  of the flow of information between different
  stores
• The computer analogy provides psychologists with
  a skeletal structure empty boxes to fill in

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Study of cognition
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Cognitive psychology

• Follows experimental tradition of cognitive
  psychology by carrying out empirical studies and
  infer the processes involved in cognition based
  on careful experimental design.
• Develops models and theories to formulate the
  understanding and explain the sequential
  cognitive stages encompassed within the
  information processing framework.

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Cognitive psychology

• Provided the content to go into the boxes within
  the information processing framework and the
  explanations of the processes connecting these
  boxes.
• Developed and modified the skeletal framework
  provided by the computer analogy to a more
  sophisticated framework suitable for the
  explanation of the human mind.

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Cognitive science
Study of psychology Study of computer

• Cognitive scientists defined all
  information-processing systems as operating
  according to the same principles and therefore
  constituted a single field of study.
• Make use of computer programming to imitate human
  information processing ability.
• Different from AI in that the programs have to
  solve problems in the same way human beings do,
  rather than just behave like humans.

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CONNECTIONISM
Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP), Rumelhart
1986

• Further development of Cognitive Science
• Human sensory system multiple processors PDP
• Based on human natural neural network
• The connectionists vision is to replace the
  computer model in psychology with the brain model

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Connectionism
Parallel Distributed Processing, Rumelhart 1986

• How it works
• Complex interconnected network of neurons
• Strength and pattern of connection is based on
  the activity of excitatory and inhibitory
  activators transmitted between neurons.
• Each pattern is unique giving a particular
  meaning which could be an object, a concept, a
  sound, a set of rules or a piece of knowledge.

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Connectionism

• The end result of a connectionist network is
  called a Neural Net

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Cognitive Neuropsychology

• To provide a greater understanding of how the
  brain carries out mental operations based on the
  observation of people who have developed specific
  deficits as the result of brain damage.
• End result a cognitive structure and function of
  the brain.
• Make use of neuroimaging techniques like MRI and
  PET scan
• Provide valuable for and against evidence for
  various theories and models proposed by the
  cognitive psychologists.

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BREAK

• 15 MINUTES

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MODEL OF HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING
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STSS(Short-Term Sensory Store)

• Preattentional store
• Temporarily store raw sensory stimuli for a brief
  period of time.
• Visual STSS can be stored around 0.5 seconds
• Auditory STSS around 2-4 seconds.

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STSS

• Example On approach to a traffic light that has
  just turned red, the rays from the illuminated
  red light hit the visual receptors, which sent
  the visual information to the appropriate
  locations in the brain via the neural network.
  The raw sensory data is temporarily stored within
  the STSS.

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PERCEPTION

• Where relevant raw sensory stimuli are
  interpreted and attached with meanings
• Rapid and automatic requiring minimum attentional
  resource
• Patterns, objects, faces are identified and
  recognized
• Words, syntax and semantics are processed

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PERCEPTION

• Example The driver identifies that the
  illuminated light applies to her lane recognizes
  that the light illuminated is a red light and
  interprets the red light to mean stop due to
  experience and knowledge about traffic lights.

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MEMORY

• Working memory
• The seat of consciousness
• Where thinking, reasoning, decision making and
  problem solving take place
• Active, conscious, effortful, vulnerable, and
  resource limited
• Put heavy burden on attentional resources

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MEMORY

• Long-term memory (LTM)
• Unlimited storage space
• Where we keep our knowledge and experience of the
  world (declarative, procedural, episodic,
  skilled)
• Requires no attentional resources
• Store information in a form of mental models and
  schemata

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MEMORY

• Example During the interpretation process, the
  information is mapped to the relevant stored
  schema of red light. The matched schema is
  retrieved and the meaning of the red light is
  accessed together with the rule IF see stop
  light, THEN brake the car.

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DECISION RESPONSE SELECTION

• A conscious process carried out in the working
  memory
• Can put a heavy burden on the attentional
  resources depending on the familiarity of the
  situation
• Rely on both external cues and internal knowledge
  of the world
• Requires interpretations, reasoning and the
  application of logic
• May require repeated access to knowledge and
  rules from the LTM
• Vulnerable to error

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DECISION RESPONSE SELECTION

• Example However, the driver is in a rush and the
  light has just turned red, she has to decide
  whether to apply the appropriate rule and stop
  the car or to jump the light. Her awareness of
  safety won the day and she decided to select the
  stop response. She has now to decide when to
  apply the brake to stop behind the solid line.

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RESPONSE EXECUTION

• A separate process to response selection
• Concerns with the coordination of the muscles for
  controlled motion
• Motor control and reaction speed

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RESPONSE EXECUTION

• Example An experienced driver would apply just
  about the right amount of pressure and at the
  right distance to bring the car to a stop
  smoothly just behind the solid line. An
  inexperienced driver may apply too much or too
  little pressure on the brake and bring the car to
  a stop too soon or too late.

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ATTENTIONAL RESOURCES

• Applies throughout the information processing
  stages
• Resource limited
• All conscious processes require attention
  (focused attention)
• We can generally dictate where we pay our
  attention (selective attention)
• We can pay attention to two things at once
  (divided attention)

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ATTENTIONAL RESOURCES

• Example The driver has to pay attention to the
  traffic lights to retrieve its meaning at
  perception stage. She then has to attend to the
  task of deciding how to respond to the light and
  how much pressure to put on the brake paddle to
  bring the car to a stop at the right location.
  All these stages require attention.

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FEEDBACK

• Performance monitoring process
• Executed response make changes to the outside
  world.
• Feedback loop monitors whether the action create
  the desired result and whether more action is
  needed.

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FEEDBACK

• Example The driver is monitoring all the time
  whether enough, more or less pressure is required
  on the brake paddle to bring the car to a stop at
  the right location. If the current action is
  inadequate the feedback is treated as a new
  sensory input that goes through the IP stages
  again.

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PRACTICAL
½ - 1 page essay on how the information flows
within Wickens Information Processing Model
presented in the class from sensory input through
to response execution and feedback if any?
Using information from the following questions
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PRACTICAL

• Scenario 1 An Air Traffic Controller (ATC)
  notices on his radar that two planes are on a
  collision path (flight identification numbers for
  both planes are flashing on the radar screen)
  with one being a big commercial flight carrying
  500 passengers descending on approach to the
  airport of destination and the other plane is a
  small private plane flying at a constant speed
  and altitude. The ATC decided to verbally
  communicate to the private plane to change course
  because he knows from experience that it is
  easier for the private plane to maneuver and
  change course than for the commercial flight to
  do so. The private plane pilot gave an
  affirmative.

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PRACTICAL

• Scenario 2 You are in a noisy department store
  when you hear a mobile phone ringing tone. You
  look around and listen to the tone to decide
  whether it is your mobile phone that is ringing.
  You decide that the tone belongs to your mobile
  phone, so you pick up your phone and see the
  screen flashing confirming to you that your
  diagnosis is right. You answer the call.