A Computational Model of Spatial Visualization Capacity

Abstract

Visualizing spatial material is a cornerstone of human problem solving, but human visualization capacity is sharply limited. To investigate the sources of this limit, we developed a new task to measure visualization accuracy for verbally-described spatial paths (similar to street directions), and implemented a computational process model to perform it. In this model, developed within the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) architecture, visualization capacity is limited by three mechanisms. Two of these ("associative interference" and "decay") are long standing characteristics of ACT-R's declarative memory. A third ("spatial interference") is a new mechanism motivated by spatial proximity effects in our data. We tested the model in two experiments, one with parameter-value fitting, and a replication without further fitting. Correspondence between model and data was close in both experiments, suggesting that the model may be useful for understanding why visualizing new, complex spatial material is so difficult.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 07, 2008
Accession Number
ADA505006

Entities

People

  • Don R. Lyon
  • Glenn Gunzelmann
  • Kevin A. Gluck

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Brain
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Processes
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Detection
  • Judgment
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Psychology
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional
  • Visualizations

Readers

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.