Anderson John R, Betts Shawn, Bothell Daniel, Dimov Cvetomir M, Fincham Jon M
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University.
Cogn Sci. 2024 May;48(5):e13454. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13454.
Open-ended tasks can be decomposed into the three levels of Newell's Cognitive Band: the Unit-Task level, the Operation level, and the Deliberate-Act level. We analyzed the video game Co-op Space Fortress at these levels, reporting both the match of a cognitive model to subject behavior and the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) to track subject cognition. The Unit Task level in this game involves coordinating with a partner to kill a fortress. At this highest level of the Cognitive Band, there is a good match between subject behavior and the model. The EEG signals were also strong enough to track when Unit Tasks succeeded or failed. The intermediate Operation level in this task involves legs of flight to achieve a kill. The EEG signals associated with these operations are much weaker than the signals associated with the Unit Tasks. Still, it was possible to reconstruct subject play with much better than chance success. There were significant differences in the leg behavior of subjects and models. Model behavior did not provide a good basis for interpreting a subject's behavior at this level. At the lowest Deliberate-Act level, we observed overlapping key actions, which the model did not display. Such overlapping key actions also frustrated efforts to identify EEG signals of motor actions. We conclude that the Unit-task level is the appropriate level both for understanding open-ended tasks and for using EEG to track the performance of open-ended tasks.
单元任务层、操作层和蓄意行动层。我们在这些层次上分析了电子游戏《合作太空堡垒》，报告了认知模型与受试者行为的匹配情况以及使用脑电图（EEG）来追踪受试者的认知情况。该游戏中的单元任务层涉及与伙伴协作摧毁一座堡垒。在认知带的这个最高层次上，受试者行为与模型之间有良好的匹配。脑电图信号也足够强，能够追踪单元任务何时成功或失败。此任务中的中间操作层涉及飞行动作以实现摧毁目标。与这些操作相关的脑电图信号比与单元任务相关的信号弱得多。不过，仍有可能以远高于随机概率的成功率重建受试者的游戏过程。受试者和模型的动作行为存在显著差异。在这个层次上，模型行为无法为解释受试者的行为提供良好依据。在最低的蓄意行动层，我们观察到了重叠的关键动作，而模型并未显示这些动作。这种重叠的关键动作也阻碍了识别运动动作脑电图信号的努力。我们得出结论，单元任务层对于理解开放式任务以及使用脑电图来追踪开放式任务的表现而言，是合适的层次。
