In this thesis, we hypothesize that data visualization users are subject to systematic errors, or cognitive biases, in decision-making under uncertainty. Based on research from psychology, behavioral economics, and cognitive science, we design five experiments to measure the role of anchoring bias, confirmation bias, belief bias, and myopic loss…

Computers may not be able to master poetics like Aristotle, but they have become smart enough to know a metaphor when they see one. An online database called The Mind Is a Metaphor, created by Brad Pasanek, an assistant professor of English at the University of Virginia, is a searchable bank of phrases, verses, and lines from literature that…

Describes two BASIC computer programs to elicit and analyze grids easily and clearly. FOCUS uses a two-way cluster analytic method to re-order the constructs and the elements, and to highlight similarities and differences in the grid. PEGASUS is an interactive program which conversationally elicits a grid, and processes and offers real-time…

Proposes algorithmic method of searching and presents experimental data testing efficacy of using Boolean negation to eliminate redundancy and reduce cognitive strain of communication barrier at human-computer interface. Cognitive information processes, concept of Boolean NOT, and problem-solving behavior are explored. Twenty-five references are…

A number of projects over the past decade, in a range of educational contexts, have sought to link forms and patterns of communicative interaction to improvements in knowledge, conceptual understanding and reasoning skills. These initiatives have produced dialog models, methodologies for developing these in ways that lead to the design of…

Describes the mental coding processes involved in the flow of information when the user is interacting with an enabling information-retrieval (IR) system, or a system designed to stimulate the user's grasping towards a higher understanding of the information need/problem/task that brought the user to the system. (Author/AEF)

Interacting cognitive subsystems (ICS) is proposed as a unified cognitive theory that can be used as the basis for representations in human-computer interaction, and two approaches based on the theory are described: one entails the description of cognitive task models, and the other entails the production of less complete diagrammatic notations.…

Part of a sustained program that has involved the design of personally tailored information systems responsive to the needs of scientists performing common research and teaching tasks, this project focuses on the procedural and content requirements for accomplishing need diagnosis and presents these requirements as specifications for an…

This article provides a tutorial introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) research for those involved in Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI). The general theme is that much of the current work in AI, particularly in the areas of natural language understanding systems, rule induction, programming languages, and socratic systems, has important…

Discusses impact of three selected command language facilities (positional or free text operations, crossfile searching, term frequency analysis--ZOOM) on the man-system interface in relation to operational online information retrieval (IR). A cognitive IR model, searchers' knowledge structures, and searching with different types of command…

This 22-paper collection addresses a variety of issues related to representation and transfer of knowledge. Individual papers include an explanation of the usefulness of general scientific models versus case-specific approaches and a discussion of different empirical approaches to the general problem of knowledge representation for information…

This study combines quantitative and ethnographic methods to analyze middle-school students' uses and understandings of microcomputers and videotex. As an experiment in teaching library research skills, 27 eighth graders were assigned to search an online encyclopedia in preparation for writing a science theme. The students' operational practices…