This research provides the foundation for the creation of a graphical reasoning congruent interface for an experimental authoring system that provides a powerful, flexible, reasoning- congruent tool for behavioral researchers in academic, commercial and clinical settings. The six objectives of Phase II are: tracking the reasoning of behavioral scientists implementing experimental procedures in the Graphical Experiment Specification Interface (GESI); determining the effectiveness of goal-tree prompted support of experimental problem solving; investigating methods to support behavioral researchers' ability to use, conceptualize the debug code; investigating debugging aids to improve experimental generation efficiency and accuracy; determining the real time accuracy of device handler based timing across platforms; and researching and prototyping specialized hardware for refresh rate monitoring, luminance/chromaticity measurement, and electronic tachistoscopic display. The project will develop a prototype GESI interface and carry out extensive behavioral experiments addressing the objectives above. The tests and revisions of GESI will evolve a new approach to authoring behavioral research that is expected to substantially improve the efficiency, flexibility and accuracy of behavioral research. The results will provide the basis for a commercial authoring system that is likely to impact thousands of laboratories world-wide within a few years.
