Cognitive Efficiency Considerations for Good Graphic Design

Larkin and Simon's (1987) analysis of how graphical representations support task performance is applied to designing graphical displays that streamline information-processing tasks. Theoretically this streamlining is done by designing external data structures that (a) allow users to substitute less effortful visual operators for more effortful logical operators, and (b) reduce search for needed information.A design program called BOZ is used to produce four alternative displays of airline schedule information to support a task of making airline reservations. W e postulate several procedures that use visual operators to perform the task using the different graphics. The number of times each operator is executed provides one measure of task difficulty (for a procedure and graphic). A second measure is the difficulty of executing each operator. Seven subjects performed the airiine reservation task using each of the four graphics. Response times for the different graphics differ by a factor of two, which is statistically highly significant. Detailed data analyses suggest that these differences arise through substitution of visual operators for logical ones and through the use of visual cues that help reduce search. These analyses provide quantitative estimates of the time saved through operator substitutions

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND AMBULANCE RESPONSE TIMES

This study contributes to the literature on supply-side adjustments to insurance expansions by examining the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on ambulance response times. Exploiting temporal and geographic variation in the implementation of the ACA as well as pre-treatment differences in uninsured rates, we estimate that the expansions of private and Medicaid coverage under the ACA combined to slow ambulance response times by an average of 19%. We conclude that, through extending coverage to individuals who, in its absence, would not have availed themselves of emergency medical services, the ACA added strain to emergency response systems

Intelligent Systems

A computer framewor

Internal Analogy: A Model of Transfer within Problems

Understanding problem solving and methods for learning is a main goal of cognitive science. Analogical reasoning simplifies problem solving by transferring previously learned knowledge from a source problem to the current target problem in order to reduce search. To provide a more detailed analysis of the mechanisms of transfer, w e describe a process called internal analogy that transfers experience from a completed subgoal in the same problem to solve the current target subgoal. W e explain what constitutes an appropriate source problem and what knowledge to transfer from that source, in addition to examining the associated memory organization. Unlike case-based reasoning methods, this process does not require large amounts of accumulated experience before it is effective; it provides useful search control at the outset of problem solving. Data from a study of subjects solving DC-circuit problems designed to facilitate transfer supports the psychological validity of the mechanism

Towards a general scientific reasoning engine

Computer Science Departmen