A memory for goals model of sequence errors

A model of routine sequence actions is developed based on the Memory for Goals framework. The model assumes that sequential action is guided by episodic control codes generated for each step, and that these codes decay with time and can be primed by contextual retrieval cues. These control codes serve a place-keeping function that allows the system to infer the correct next action after performance is interrupted. According to the model, perseveration (repeat) errors occur because an older episodic trace intrudes due to noise in the system. Anticipation (skip) errors occur because of failures in reality monitoring, in which the model believes that it has completed a step it has not. The model predicts that perseveration errors should occur more frequently than anticipation errors, and that perseveration errors should occur in a graded fashion away from the current step. Across two different experiments, these predictions were supported at both a qualitative and a quantitative level.

[1]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Attention to Action , 1986 .

[2]  M. Byrne,et al.  A Working Memory Model of a Common Procedural Error , 1997 .

[3]  D. Plaut,et al.  Doing without schema hierarchies: a recurrent connectionist approach to normal and impaired routine sequential action. , 2004, Psychological review.

[4]  D. Plaut,et al.  Such stuff as habits are made on: A reply to Cooper and Shallice (2006). , 2006 .

[5]  Lauren M. Bylsma,et al.  Distraction and action slips in an everyday task: Evidence for a dynamic representation of task context , 2005, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[6]  Bernard J. Baars,et al.  Experimental slips and human error , 1992 .

[7]  Richard P. Cooper,et al.  The Time Course of Routine Action , 2005 .

[8]  J. Gregory Trafton,et al.  Memory for goals: an activation-based model , 2002, Cogn. Sci..

[9]  E. M. Altmann,et al.  Timecourse of recovery from task interruption: Data and a model , 2006, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[10]  T. Shallice,et al.  CONTENTION SCHEDULING AND THE CONTROL OF ROUTINE ACTIVITIES , 2000, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[11]  D. Norman,et al.  Attention to action: Willed and automatic control , 1980 .

[12]  G. Aschersleben,et al.  The Theory of Event Coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action planning. , 2001, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[13]  Michael W. Montgomery,et al.  Naturalistic action impairment in closed head injury. , 1998, Neuropsychology.

[14]  D. Plaut,et al.  Doing Without Schema Hierarchies : A Recurrent Connectionist Approach to Routine Sequential Action and Its Pathologies , 2000 .

[15]  Ann Blandford,et al.  The effect of interruptions on postcompletion and other procedural errors: an account based on the activation-based goal memory model. , 2008, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[16]  R. Cooper.  Tool Use And Related Errors in Ideational Apraxia: the Quantitative Simulation of Patient Error Profiles , 2007, Cortex.

[17]  Wayne D. Gray.  The nature and processing of errors in interactive behavior , 2000, Cogn. Sci..

[18]  C. Lebiere,et al.  The Atomic Components of Thought , 1998 .

[19]  John R Anderson,et al.  An integrated theory of the mind. , 2004, Psychological review.

[20]  Bonnie E. John,et al.  Episodic indexing: a model of memory for attention events , 1999, Cogn. Sci..

[21]  Richard P. Cooper,et al.  The Hierarchies and Systems That Underlie Routine Behavior: Evidence from an Experiment in Virtual Gardening , 2008 .

[22]  M. Albert,et al.  Varieties of perseveration , 1984, Neuropsychologia.

[23]  J. Shaoul.  Human Error , 1973, Nature.

[24]  Richard M. Young,et al.  Device-Oriented and Task-Oriented Exploratory Learning of Interactive Devices , 2000 .

[25]  D. Norman.  Categorization of action slips. , 1981 .

[26]  J. Gregory Trafton,et al.  Preparing to resume an interrupted task: effects of prospective goal encoding and retrospective rehearsal , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[27]  TraftonJ. Gregory,et al.  Preparing to resume an interrupted task , 2003 .

[28]  Raj M. Ratwani,et al.  Predicting postcompletion errors using eye movements , 2008, CHI.

[29]  Dylan M. Jones,et al.  Interruption of the Tower of London task: support for a goal-activation approach. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[30]  John R. Anderson.  The Adaptive Character of Thought , 1990 .

[31]  L. Buxbaum,et al.  The Coffee Challenge: A new method for the study of everyday action errors , 2007, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[32]  Dario D. Salvucci,et al.  Threaded cognition: an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking. , 2008, Psychological review.

[33]  B. Baars.  Experimental slips and human error : exploring the architecture of volition , 1992 .

[34]  Raj M. Ratwani,et al.  A Real-Time Eye Tracking System for Predicting and Preventing Postcompletion Errors , 2011, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[35]  Raja Parasuraman,et al.  Varieties of attention , 1984 .

[36]  Michael D. Byrne,et al.  A Working Memory Model of a Common Procedural Error , 1997, Cogn. Sci..

[37]  T. Shallice,et al.  Hierarchical schemas and goals in the control of sequential behavior. , 2006, Psychological review.

[38]  Wayne D. Gray,et al.  An integrated model of cognitive control in task switching. , 2008, Psychological review.

[39]  John R. Anderson.  How Can the Human Mind Occur in the Physical Universe , 2007 .