Dissertation
A unified model of fatigue in a cognitive architecture
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Aug 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000210
Abstract
Capturing the effects of fatigue and, more generally, the effects of physical and mental states on human performance has been a topic of research for many years. Recent models, especially those developed in a cognitive architecture, have shown great promise in capturing these effects by providing insight into the specific cognitive and other components involved in task performance (like perception and motor movement). In particular, separate models have been developed to account for both time-of-day (sleep deprivation, sleep restriction, and circadian rhythms) and time-on-task effects related to fatigue. Unfortunately, a unified model to capture these aspects of fatigue has been elusive. This dissertation presents a novel unified model, developed in the ACT-R cognitive architecture, that captures both time-of-day and time-on-task effects with a single set of mechanisms and parameters. The thesis demonstrates how this unified model accounts for quantitative and qualitative aspects of fatigued performance from a number of experimental studies. First, the thesis shows how the model captures behavior in the common psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), examining time-on-task effects under conditions of moderate fatigue as well as time-of-day effects under conditions of severe long-term (88-hour) sleep deprivation. Second, the thesis demonstrates how the model accounts for behavior when combining PVT with the more complex task of driving, using recent studies: one that focuses on driving under conditions of moderate fatigue, caused by repeated periods of nighttime driving, in a simulated environment; and another four-hour driving experiment in a real driving scenario focused on time-on-task effects on driving. Overall, the thesis demonstrates that the unified model can, with the same mechanisms and set of parameters, account for a range of effects of fatigue that shows promise to generalizing to other cognitive tasks.
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Details
- Title
- A unified model of fatigue in a cognitive architecture
- Creators
- Ehsan Baradaran Khosroshahi
- Contributors
- Dario D. Salvucci (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- x, 105 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Computer Science (Computing) (2013-2026); College of Computing and Informatics (2013-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014695544704721