Using a cognitive architecture with a physiological substrate to represent effects of a psychological stressor on cognition

Christopher L. Dancy (), Frank E. Ritter (), Keith A. Berry () and Laura C. Klein
Additional contact information
Christopher L. Dancy: USAISEC-NCRED
Frank E. Ritter: The Pennsylvania State University
Keith A. Berry: The Pennsylvania State University
Laura C. Klein: Biobehavioral Health Research

Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2015, vol. 21, issue 1, No 5, 90-114

Abstract: Abstract Adding a physiological representation to a cognitive architecture offers an attractive approach to modeling the effects of stress on cognition. We introduce ACT-R/Φ, an extended version of the ACT-R cognitive architecture that includes an integrative model of physiology. The extension allows the representation of how physiology and cognition interact. This substrate was used to represent potential effects of a startle response and task-based stress during a mental arithmetic (subtraction) task. We compare predictions from two models loaded into the new hybrid architecture to models previously developed within ACT-R. General behavior differed between models in that the ACT-R/Φ models had dynamic declarative memory noise over the course of the task based on varying epinephrine levels. They attempted more subtractions but were less accurate; this more closely matched human performance than the previous ACT-R models. Using ACT-R/Φ allows a more tractable integration of current physiological and cognitive perspectives on stress. ACT-R/Φ also permits further exploration of the interaction between cognition and physiology, and the emergent effects on behavior caused by the interaction among physiological subsystems. This extension is useful for anyone exploring how the human mind can occur in and be influenced by the physical universe.

Keywords: ACT-R cognitive architecture; Stress; Physiology; HumMod; Mental arithmetic; Computational model; Startle response; Epinephrine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10588-014-9178-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:comaot:v:21:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1007_s10588-014-9178-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10588

DOI: 10.1007/s10588-014-9178-1

Access Statistics for this article

Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory is currently edited by Terrill Frantz and Kathleen Carley

More articles in Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().