Human-Computer Interaction
1997, Vol 12, 439-462
ACT-R: A Theory of Higher Level Cognition and Its Relation to Visual Attention
John R. Anderson
Michael Matessa
Christian Lebiere
Abstract
The ACT-R system is a general system for modeling a wide range of higher level cognitive processes. Recently, it has been embellished with a theory of how its higher level processes interact with a visual interface. This includes a theory of how visual attention can move across the screen, encoding information into a form that can be processed by ACT-R. This system is applied to modeling several classic phenomenon in the literature that depend on the speed and selectivity with which visual attention can move across a visual display. ACT-R is capable of interacting with the same computer screens that subjects do and, as such, is well suited to provide a model for tasks involving human-computer interaction. In this article, we discuss a demonstration of ACT-R's application to menu selection and show that the ACT-R theory makes unique predictions, without estimating any parameters, about the time to search a menu. These predictions are confirmed.
Models
ACT-R results are contained in the Excel files shiffrin.xl, sperling.xl, and subitize.xl which are based on the following experiments:
Shiffrin, W. & Schneider, R. M. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological Review, 84, 1-66.
Sperling, G. A. (1960). The information available in brief visual presentation. Psychological Monographs, 74, Whole No. 498.
Jensen, E. M., Reese, E. P., & Reese, T. W. (1950). The subitizing and counting of visually presenting fields of dots. The Journal of Psychology, 30, 363-392.