Next week I will attend the ACT-R Spring School at the University of Groningen. I will teach a class and mentor researchers who come to Groningen to start new ACT-R research projects. In my lecture I will introduce the RACE/A declarative memory theory that has recently been proposed as an extension to ACT-R. RACE/A models enable researchers to include very detailed accounts of memory and decision-making processes in their ACT-R models. Sofar, the theory has been applied to make integrated ACT-R models of the Stroop effect, picture-word interference, learning and cognitive control related effects in semantic interference, and lexical decision.
After the Spring School, I will also present my recent work on the First European ACT-R Workshop. In this talk, I will discuss an experimental paradigm used in multiple-choice decision-making research, and present a model very much in line with RACE/A that may explain some complex interactions that we have observed in the paradigm.

Tags: ACT-R, cognitive modeling, RACE

How do people make multiple-choice perceptual decisions in a noisy environment? That is the core question of my new postdoctoral research project at the University of Amsterdam. In the project we will test the ability of mathematical models of decision-making to capture the behavioral consequences involved when the number of response alternatives increases. In turn, these models will inform and constrain analysis of fMRI data.


Models of decision-making

Tags: decision-making, fMRI, cognitive modeling

I recently had a successful stint of publications. While one paper had been in press for almost two years, and was recently issued a volume and issue, another paper was in press just for a couple of months. In addition, a third paper is expected to appear early next year. This means that in a period of two months I published three journal papers!

December 2009:
Van Maanen, L., Van Rijn, H., & Borst, J.P. (2009). Stroop and Picture-Word Interference are Two Sides of the Same Coin. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16(6), 987-999. pdf

A paper that discusses a peculiar difference between the Stroop effect and picture-word interference with the general opinion that these effects are similar.

January 2010:
Van Maanen, L., Van Rijn, H., Van Grootel, M., Kemna, S., Klomp, M., & Scholtens, E. (2010). Personal Publication Assistant: Abstract recommendations by a cognitive model. Cognitive Systems Research, 11(1), 120-129 (Special Issue on Brain Informatics). url pdf

A paper that introduces a system that provides relevant scientific literature based on the user’s own publication record. The system is based on a formal theory of human memory, arguing that recommender systems that model a user’s memory capabilities are useful in predicting relevance. This paper is the direct result of a course I taught in 2007 in which the students and I explored various options of using models of memory in recommender systems!

Expected January 2010:
Van Maanen, L., & Van Rijn, H. (2010). The Locus of the Gratton Effect in Picture-Word Interference. TopiCS in Cognitive Science 2(1), 168-180. pdf

This paper shows that sequential effects in picture-word interference may influence the locus of the interference effect. In addition, it discusses a model that accounts for the observed effects.

Tags: PWI, Stroop, Interference, cognitive control, user models, cognitive modeling, RACE, Publications

In an attempt to create an online community of people interested in cognitive modeling, we started a Cognitive Modeling Group on LinkedIn. The group is intended at everyone who is interested in formal modeling of cognition. Frameworks of interest include cognitive architectures (e.g., ACT-R, Soar, or EPIC), Bayesian models, mathematical models, multi-agent models, connectionist models, etc.

Click the image to join!


(Also check out the Facebook group :-)).

Tags: ACT-R, cognitive modeling