Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

An Operator-Based Attentional Model of Rapid Visual Counting

Abstract

In this paper we report on the use of our operatorbased model of human covert visual attention [Wiesmeyer and Laird, 1990] to account for reaction times in counting tasks in which a stimulus is presented and left undisturbed until a response is made. Previous explanations have not employed &n attentionally-driven model. Our model, which is based on the Model Human Processor [Card et a/., 1983], is an early selection model in which an attentional "zoom lens" [Eriksen and Yeh, 1985] operates under the control of cognition in order to both locate features in visual space and improve the quality of featural information delivered to short-term memory by perception. W e have implemented our model and the control structures to simulate rapid counting tasks in the Soar cognitive architecture [Laird et al., 1987], which has been suggested as the basis for a unified theory of cognition [Newell, 1990]. Reaction times in the counting task are explained using operator traces that correspond to sequences of deliberate acts having durations in the 50 msec range.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View