Opportunities and Challenges of Modeling User Behavior in Complex Real World Tasks

In basic research, cognitive modeling has proven a valuable methodology for developing theoretical assumptions, testing their dynamic interactions, and exploring the scope of theories. Cognitive architectures such as ACT-R (Anderson & Lebiere, 1998) or Soar (Rosenbloom, Laird, & Newell, 1992) provide a common basis for different models and enhance communication and exchange of solutions. In applied contexts, modeling of real tasks and operators could further the understanding of human-machine systems; validated models could provide an objective guide to design and training decisions. However, they only provide a first step towards rapid development of valid real world models, because the architectures do not constrain many decisions the modeler has to make. This paper will illustrate this issue through a case study of developing and validating a model of complex real-world behavior – that of flying an aircraft.