Cognitive Architecture

Byrne HoHCI chapter page 2 " Designing interactive computer systems to be efficient and easy to use is important so that people in our society may realize the potential benefits of computer-based tools... Although modern cognitive psychology contains a wealth of knowledge of human behavior, it is not a simple matter to bring this knowledge to bear on the practical problems of design—to build an applied psychology that includes theory, Integrating theory, data, and knowledge about cognitive psychology and human performance in a way that is useful for guiding design in HCI is still not a simple matter. However, there have been significant advances since Card, Moran, and Newell wrote the above passage. One of the key advances is the development of cognitive architecture, the subject of this chapter. The chapter will first consider the what it is to be cognitive architecture and why cognitive architecture is relevant for HCI. In order to detail the present state of cognitive architectures in HCI, it is important to consider some of the past use of cognitive architectures in HCI research. Then, four architectures actively in use in the research community (LICAI/CoLiDeS, Soar, EPIC, and ACT-R/ PM) and their application to HCI will be examined. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of the future of cognitive architectures in HCI. 1.1 What Are Cognitive Architectures? Most any dictionary will list several different definitions for the word " architecture. " For example, dictionary.com lists among them " a style and method of design and construction, " e.g., Byzantine architecture; " orderly arrangement of parts; structure, " e.g., the architecture of a novel; and one from computer science: " the overall design or structure of a computer system. " What, then would something have to be qualify as a " cognitive architecture " ? It is something much more in the latter senses of the word " architecture, " an attempt to describe the overall structure and arrangement of a very particular thing, the human cognitive system. A cognitive architecture is a broad theory of human cognition based on a wide selection of human experimental data, and Byrne HoHCI chapter page 3 implemented as a running computer simulation program. defines a cognitive architecture as an embodiment of " a scientific hypothesis about those aspects of human cognition that are relatively constant over time and relatively independent of task. " This idea has been a part …