Strategy Development and Adaptation in Problem Solving
Abstract
To achieve optimal operational success, our forces must respond quickly, perform multiple tasks concurrently, and adapt their strategies effectively in dynamically changing environments. Effective strategy use is essential for many types of learning and skill acquisition. However, large individual differences exist between individuals in how effective they are in devising novel and effective strategies for performing a task. Developing an initial strategy for accomplishing a task is a problem-solving task that has received relatively little attention because of the complex interactions it involves between cognitive processes of working memory, attentional control, and memory. In order to design computational aids and training that augment and promote adaptive warrior performance, we must first understand the cognitive mechanisms that support development and utilization of effective problem-solving strategies. The proposed work will provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the role that individual differences play in how people develop effective strategies for solving problems. Thus, our proposed research address issues critical to Navy task performance and has implications for understanding effective problem solving more broadly. Our proposed research uses a framework informed by behavioral and neural measures of individual differences in strategy use to explore how individual differences in cognitive abilities affectthe problem-solving strategies that people develop as they learn a novel task. Critically, we will use computational cognitive models to examine the complex interactions between these cognitive processes. The theory developed in this effort along with the associated computational models and simulations will provide a basis for the design of training and support systems to maximize a sailors potential for developing and selecting adaptive problem-solving strategies.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 05, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112617
Entities
People
- Robert Moss
Organizations
- Mississippi State University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy