Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Tight resource-rational analysis

Published inCognitive systems research, vol. 86, p. 101239
Publication date2024-08
Abstract

Resource-rational analysis is used to develop models that assume that people behave optimally given the structure of the task environment and the cost of cognitive operations. We argue in favor of a tight resourcerational analysis, an extension in which model parameters are independently constrained. As a case in point, we demonstrate how to develop a tight resource-rational model of the video game Space Track. Our approach consists of four steps. First, we measure performance-critical parameters in independent micro-tasks, which we input into mathematical models of cognitive processes. Second, we validate these models in other processspecific micro-tasks. Third, we rely on a theory of the cognitive architecture (i.e., ACT-R) to derive estimates of the time costs of these processes. Finally, we generate predictions for the main task, Space Track, by assuming that subjects are doing their best given their abilities. The generated individualized predictions were close to observed subject asymptotic performance, which demonstrated the viability of our approach, even in tasks of similar complexity to that of Space Track.

Keywords
  • Rational analysis
  • Tight resource-rational analysis
  • Dynamic task
  • Space track
Research groups
Funding
  • Air Force Research Laboratory
  • AFRL AFSOR [FA9550-18-1-0251]
Citation (ISO format)
DIMOV, Cvetomir, ANDERSON, John R., BETTS, Shawn A. Tight resource-rational analysis. In: Cognitive systems research, 2024, vol. 86, p. 101239. doi: 10.1016/j.cogsys.2024.101239
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1389-0417
8views
3downloads

Technical informations

Creation02/02/2026 14:31:04
First validation11/02/2026 13:46:06
Update13/04/2026 09:38:22
Status update13/04/2026 09:38:22
Last indexation13/04/2026 09:38:23
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack