Hypertext Navigation and Conflicting Goal Intentions: Using Log Files to Study Distraction and Volitional Protection in Learning and Problem Solving

This paper describes a theoretical analysis and experimental investigation of difficulty related distraction by conflicting goal intentions in learning and problem solving with hypertext. Log files are used to capture hypertext navigation in the face of opportunities to implement competing goal intentions. We study how differences in task difficulty influence the volitional protection of the current goal intention. First attempts to integrate volitional processes of action control into cognitive architectures are presented. Conflicting Goal Intentions in Hypertext Navigation The investigation of learning and problem solving with hypertext gains increasing importance as the use of computer-based learning environments and information retrieval systems develops. The term "hypertext" refers to "computer-based texts that are read in a non-linear fashion and that are organized in multiple dimensions" (Landow, 1992, p. 166). A main feature of hypertext is that the user is not reacting to static texts, but is rather choosing according to his or her current intention when and in which order the information is to be presented (Barab, Bowdish, Young & Owen, 1996). Thus, the navigational path through a given hypertext environment depends mainly on the current intentions of the user. Accordingly, Barab et al. (1996) have shown that users' intentions in interacting with hypertext can be predicted from navigational paths captured in log files (computerized records of screens visited that are stamped with the amount of time spent on each screen). The opportunity of navigating through hypertext environments allows for great flexibility and adaptivity of learning and problem solving with hypertext, it is however also responsible for some difficulties. Users tend to be structurally or conceptually disoriented in complex hyperspaces and they seem to suffer from cognitive overload, if the navigational task consumes too much of their resources (Conklin, 1987). In this paper we will focus on a further problem concerning navigating through hypertext environments, namely the problem of being distracted by conflicting goal intentions. We assume that learning and problem solving are to be analyzed as goal-directed behavior and furthermore that most learners possess numerous waiting goal intentions not related to the current problem. These waiting intentions can be activated by situational cues in the hypertext environment and then compete with the current goal intention for execution. If the user is attracted by these cues, the current goal intention may be suspended in favor of activities related to the competing intention, or in favor of deliberating which of the two intentions should be further pursued. These interruptions and distractions due to conflicting goal intentions should lead to more or less severe efficiency impairments in learning and problem solving depending on the relative strength of the competing goal intentions. As a theoretical basis for analyzing these issues theories of action control are especially useful. Cognitive, Motivational, and Volitional Approaches to Action Control If actions are considered as sequences of activities directed toward a common goal, the term "action control" can be used to describe automatic and controlled processes determining which activity is selected in the next step. Furthermore, action control includes processes that are predominantly cognitive (like the selection of a schema or production rule), predominantly motivational (like the deliberation of goal values in the course of intention formation), or predominantly volitional (like the maintenance of a goal intention in the face of competing intentions). Accordingly, theories from different fields of psychology are concerned with the analysis of action control. Purely cognitive approaches Most of these approaches to action control postulate processing goals, but do not assume that differences in goal values are relevant for action control. Examples are theories of working memory and attention that postulate a supervisory attentional system responsible for intentional shifts of task sets and the control of working memory contents (Norman & Shallice, 1986). On a higher level of abstraction, theories of planning, strategy selection and metacognition are purely cognitive approaches. All of these approaches typically confine themselves to assuming mental representations and cognitive variables describing them, like activation, availability, or subjective probability. Furthermore, most cognitive approaches focus on single task situations and do not consider conflicting goal intentions. Approaches with motivational assumptions Expanding on cognitive assumptions these approaches introduce variables that can be interpreted as goal values or as being dependent on goal values. Examples are theories of