Integrating Models and Tools in the Context of Driving and In-vehicle Devices

The integration of cognitive models offers interesting theoretical and practical benefits to the development of complex models, but at the same time brings up new challenges that the modeling community is only beginning to address. In this paper we present our experiences integrating models and tools for modeling,. Specifically, on the modeling end, we integrated an ACT-R model of driving with an independently-built model of cell phone dialing. To do this, we integrated the driving tool (a minimal-graphics driving simulator that can be controlled by ACT-R) with a modelingby-demonstration tool, CogTool, that also used ACT-R as its cognitive engine. We found that both the models and tools required re-working because of the integration. The models required new motor movements and methods for switching between tasks. The tools required new specification techniques for placing prototyped devices in the vehicle and demonstration techniques for indicating points of taskswitching. Our experiences indicate that while the integration of cognitive models is indeed an approach worthy of pursuit, the field may not understand all the ramifications of such integration until many more integrated models and tools are