Memory Constraints on Hypothesis Generation and Decision Making

Hypothesis generation is the process people use to generate explanations for patterns of data, which is an act vital to everyday problem solving. It is the basis for decision making in many professions, such as medicine, intelligence and reconnaissance analysis, auditing, and fault detection in nuclear power plants. Even laypeople’s impressions of acquaintances’ personalities based on behavioral patterns can be considered a case of hypothesis generation. This article provides an overview of research elucidating the cognitive processes that underlie hypothesis generation and decision making.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

How to implement HyGene into ACT-R

We investigate if and how the model of hypothesis generation and probability judgment HyGene can be implemented in ACT-R. We ground our endeavour on the formal comparison of the memory theories behind ACT-R and HyGene, whereby we contrast the predictions of the two as a function of prior history and current context. After demonstrating the convergence of the two memory theories, we provide a 3-step guide of how to translate a memory representation from HyGene into ACT-R. We also outline how HyGene’s processing steps can be translated into ACT-R. We finish with a discussion of points of divergence between the two theories

Integrating Timing Considerations to Improve Testing Practices

Integrating Timing Considerations to Improve Testing Practices synthesizes a wealth of theory and research on time issues in assessment into actionable advice for test development, administration, and scoring. One of the major advantages of computer-based testing is the capability to passively record test-taking metadata—including how examinees use time and how time affects testing outcomes. This has opened many questions for testing administrators. Is there a trade-off between speed and accuracy in test taking? What considerations should influence equitable decisions about extended-time accommodations? How can test administrators use timing data to balance the costs and resulting validity of tests administered at commercial testing centers? In this comprehensive volume, experts in the field discuss the impact of timing considerations, constraints, and policies on valid score interpretations; administrative accommodations, test construction, and examinees’ experiences and behaviors; and how to implement the findings into practice. These 12 chapters provide invaluable resources for testing professionals to better understand the inextricable links between effective time allocation and the purposes of high-stakes testing

Integrating Timing Considerations to Improve Testing Practices

Integrating Timing Considerations to Improve Testing Practices synthesizes a wealth of theory and research on time issues in assessment into actionable advice for test development, administration, and scoring. One of the major advantages of computer-based testing is the capability to passively record test-taking metadata—including how examinees use time and how time affects testing outcomes. This has opened many questions for testing administrators. Is there a trade-off between speed and accuracy in test taking? What considerations should influence equitable decisions about extended-time accommodations? How can test administrators use timing data to balance the costs and resulting validity of tests administered at commercial testing centers? In this comprehensive volume, experts in the field discuss the impact of timing considerations, constraints, and policies on valid score interpretations; administrative accommodations, test construction, and examinees’ experiences and behaviors; and how to implement the findings into practice. These 12 chapters provide invaluable resources for testing professionals to better understand the inextricable links between effective time allocation and the purposes of high-stakes testing

Data acquisition dynamics and hypothesis generation

When formulating explanations for the events we witness in the world, temporal dynamics govern the hypotheses we generate. In our view, temporal dynamics influence beliefs over three stages: data acquisition, hypothesis generation, and hypothesis maintenance and updating. This paper presents experimental and computational evidence for the influence of temporal dynamics on hypothesis generation through dynamic working memory processes during data acquisition in a medical diagnosis task. We show that increasing the presentation rate of a sequence of symptoms leads to a primacy effect, which is predicted by the dynamic competition in working memory that dictates the weights allocated to individual data in the generation process. Individual differences observed in hypothesis generation are explained by differences in working memory capacity. Finally, in a simulation experiment we show that activation dynamics at data acquisition also accounts for results from a related task previously held to support capacity-unlimited diagnostic reasoning