Predicting cognitive difficulty of the deductive mastermind game with dynamic epistemic logic models

Deductive Mastermind is a deductive reasoning game that isimplemented in the online educational game system Math Gar-den. A good understanding of the difficulty of Deductive Mas-termind game instances is essential for optimizing the learningexperience of players. The available empirical difficulty rat-ings, based on speed and accuracy, provide robust estimationsbut do not explain why certain game instances are easy or hard.In previous work a logic-based model was proposed that suc-cessfully predicted these difficulty ratings. We add to this workby providing a model based on a different logical principle—that of eliminating hypotheses (dynamic epistemic logic) in-stead of reasoning by cases (analytical tableaux system)—thatcan predict the empirical difficulty ratings equally well. Weshow that the informational content of the different feedbacksgiven in game instances is a core predictor for cognitive dif-ficulty ratings and that this is irrespective of the specific logicused to formalize the game

Exploring the space of human exploration using Entropy Mastermind

What drives people’s exploration in complex scenarios where they have to actively acquire information? How do people adapt their selection of queries to the environment? We explore these questions using Entropy Mastermind, a novel variant of the Mastermind code-breaking game, in which participants have to guess a secret code by making useful queries. Participants solved games more efficiently if the entropy of the game environment was low; moreover, people adapted their initial queries to the scenario they were in. We also investigated whether it would be possible to predict participants’ queries within the generalized Sharma-Mittal information-theoretic framework. Although predicting individual queries was difficult, the modeling framework offered important insights on human behavior. Entropy Mastermind opens up rich possibilities for modeling and behavioral research

Logical models for bounded reasoners

This dissertation aims at the logical modelling of aspects of human reasoning, informed by facts on the bounds of human cognition. We break down this challenge into three parts. In Part I, we discuss the place of logical systems for knowledge and belief in the Rationality Debate and we argue for systems that formalize an alternative picture of rationality -- one wherein empirical facts have a key role (Chapter 2). In Part II, we design logical models that encode explicitly the deductive reasoning of a single bounded agent and the variety of processes underlying it. This is achieved through the introduction of a dynamic, resource-sensitive, impossible-worlds semantics (Chapter 3). We then show that this type of semantics can be combined with plausibility models (Chapter 4) and that it can be instrumental in modelling the logical aspects of System 1 (“fast”) and System 2 (“slow”) cognitive processes (Chapter 5). In Part III, we move from single- to multi-agent frameworks. This unfolds in three directions: (a) the formation of beliefs about others (e.g. due to observation, memory, and communication), (b) the manipulation of beliefs (e.g. via acts of reasoning about oneself and others), and (c) the effect of the above on group reasoning. These questions are addressed, respectively, in Chapters 6, 7, and 8. We finally discuss directions for future work and we reflect on the contribution of the thesis as a whole (Chapter 9)

Thinking with Games in the British Novel, 1801-1901

Thesis advisor: Maia McAleaveyMy dissertation explores how nineteenth-century novelists imagined rational thinking as a cognitive resource distributed through physical, social, national, and even imperial channels. Scholars studying nineteenth-century discourses of mind frequently position rational thinking as the normalized given against those unconscious and irrational modes of thought most indicative of the period's scientific discoveries. My project argues, in contrast, that writers were just as invested in exploring rational thinking as multivalent procedure, a versatile category of mental activity that could be layered into novelistic representations of thinking by "thinking with games": that is, incorporating forms of thinking as discussed by popular print media. By reading novels alongside historical gaming practices and gaming literatures and incorporating the insights of twenty-first century cognitive theory, I demonstrate that novelists Maria Edgeworth, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, and Rudyard Kipling experimented with models of gaming to make rational thinking less abstract and reveal its action across bodies, objects, and communities. If Victorian mind-sciences uncovered "thinking fast," games prioritized "thinking slow," a distinction described by psychologist Daniel Kahneman in his recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2013). Scenes of games often slow thinking down, allowing the author to expose the complex processes of rational, cognitive performance. Furthermore, such scenes register the expanded perspective of recent cognitive literary studies such as those by Alan Palmer and Lisa Zunshine, which understand thinking, at least in part, as externalized and social. In effect, by reading scenes of thinking along the lines proposed by strategic gaming, I demonstrate how novels imagined social possibilities for internal processing that extend beyond the bounds of any individual's consciousness. Of course, games easily serve as literary tropes or metaphors; but analyzing scenes of gaming alongside games literature underscores how authors incorporated frameworks of teachable, social thinking from gaming into their representations of rational consciousness. For strategy games literature, better play required learning how to read the minds of other players, how to turn their thinking inside out. The nineteenth-century novel's relationship to games is best understood, I suggest, within the landscape of popular games literature published at its side - sometimes literally. An article on "Whistology" appears just after an installment of The Woman in White in Dickens's All the Year Round; the Cornhill Magazine published a paean to "Chess" amid the serialization of George Eliot's Romola. As a genre, strategy manuals developed new techniques for exercising the cognitive abilities of their readers and, often along parallel lines, so do the novels I discuss. Prompting the reader to think like a game player often involved recreating the kinds of dynamic, active thinking taught by games literature through the novel's form. My dissertation explores how authors used such forms to train their readers in habits of memory, deduction, and foresight encouraged by strategy gaming.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English

Gazing into a discrete world:Mixture models of cognition & behaviour

This thesis titled Gazing into a Discrete World presents perspectives on modeling human behavior, focusing on alternative sources of data such as eye-tracking and response times, with a special focus dedicated to substantive questions about qualitative patterns in individual differences and development. Further, it advocates for a closer alignment between design and analysis of experiments, and their theoretical underpinnings. The thesis is structured into three distinct parts. The first part delves into identifying and analyzing discrete behavioral patterns, particularly through eye movement data, emphasising model-based approaches for understanding visual attention. The second part addresses challenges in empirical research, with a focus on developmental psychology, offering remedies for imperfections and methodological advancements. The third part focuses on making correct inferences under uncertainty, highlighting the significance of Bayesian methods and developing openly available software tools for applied researchers.The thesis contributes with advancements in integration of eye-tracking into cognitive-behavioral modeling, improvements in developmental psychology research, and provides openly available Bayesian tools

Gazing into a discrete world:Mixture models of cognition & behaviour

This thesis titled Gazing into a Discrete World presents perspectives on modeling human behavior, focusing on alternative sources of data such as eye-tracking and response times, with a special focus dedicated to substantive questions about qualitative patterns in individual differences and development. Further, it advocates for a closer alignment between design and analysis of experiments, and their theoretical underpinnings. The thesis is structured into three distinct parts. The first part delves into identifying and analyzing discrete behavioral patterns, particularly through eye movement data, emphasising model-based approaches for understanding visual attention. The second part addresses challenges in empirical research, with a focus on developmental psychology, offering remedies for imperfections and methodological advancements. The third part focuses on making correct inferences under uncertainty, highlighting the significance of Bayesian methods and developing openly available software tools for applied researchers.The thesis contributes with advancements in integration of eye-tracking into cognitive-behavioral modeling, improvements in developmental psychology research, and provides openly available Bayesian tools