The highest level goal of the proposed research is an understanding of the processes and structures of human memory and the processes involved in simple decision making. Investigation is planned in five theoretically related domains. In the first domain, three models of choice reaction time (the diffusion model, the OU model, and the accumulator model) will be tested against data from simple perceptual decision tasks and from higher level cognitive tasks. Second, the models' abilities to elucidate the processes by which information is retrieved from long term memory will be examined.
The aim i s to see whether the reaction time models can be usefully combined with the new memory models that have been developed recently, and if so, provide simultaneous empirical tests of both kinds of model. Third, relatively little work has been done on testing models for situations in which there are more than two response choices, in part because multichoice models of reaction time are often mathematically intractable and they have many parameters. But with fast computers and large experiments, we will be able to constrain and test the models. Fourth, our work with reaction time models has naturally led to tests of the currently leading models for categorization, exemplar models and distance from criterion models. We plan to examine ways to distinguish between these classes of models and also add to them mechanisms for predicting decision response times. Fifth, we continue work on implicit memory models. Research on implicit memory has usually progressed without any specific models of the processes involved in the tasks used to assess implicit memory. By proposing such models, we hope to raise the debate about implicit memory to consideration of the mechanisms by which priming effects come about. We plan to develop models for the frequently used picture naming and stern completion tasks. Overall, the proposed research represents the interaction of two methodologies: the development of explicit models of processing and representation and the development of empirical tests and data bases for those models. An important theme is the use of new models to serve as competitors for well established views, with the aim of driving research in new directions. The proposed research is relevant to themes described in the NIMH """"""""Decade of the Brain"""""""" report to Congress. The broad class of models to be examined can be seen as neurally inspired, and these models have been applied to various pathologies (e.g., amnesia and dyslexia). Future applications of well-validated models could help discriminate such issues as whether memory deficits are due to encoding or retrieval problems or whether rapid automatic processes or slower more conscious ones are faulty. Reaction time models especially might lead to diagnostic techniques that are non-invasive and relatively inexpensive. In general, the more we know about the human cognitive system, the more we can improve and augment traditional diagnostic methods.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37MH044640-18
Application #
7127631
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-NRB-R (06))
Program Officer
Rossi, Andrew
Project Start
1989-02-01
Project End
2010-07-31
Budget Start
2007-08-01
Budget End
2008-07-31
Support Year
18
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$312,104
Indirect Cost
Name
Ohio State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
832127323
City
Columbus
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
43210
Starns, Jeffrey J; Ratcliff, Roger; McKoon, Gail (2012) Evaluating the unequal-variance and dual-process explanations of zROC slopes with response time data and the diffusion model. Cogn Psychol 64:1-34
Starns, Jeffrey J; Rotello, Caren M; Ratcliff, Roger (2012) Mixing strong and weak targets provides no evidence against the unequal-variance explanation of ýýROC slope: a comment on Koen and Yonelinas (2010). J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 38:793-801
Ratcliff, Roger; Love, Jessica; Thompson, Clarissa A et al. (2012) Children are not like older adults: a diffusion model analysis of developmental changes in speeded responses. Child Dev 83:367-81
Starns, Jeffrey J; Ratcliff, Roger (2012) Age-related differences in diffusion model boundary optimality with both trial-limited and time-limited tasks. Psychon Bull Rev 19:139-45
Starns, Jeffrey J; Ratcliff, Roger; White, Corey N (2012) Diffusion model drift rates can be influenced by decision processes: an analysis of the strength-based mirror effect. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 38:1137-51
Ratcliff, Roger; Frank, Michael J (2012) Reinforcement-based decision making in corticostriatal circuits: mutual constraints by neurocomputational and diffusion models. Neural Comput 24:1186-229
Ratcliff, Roger; Van Dongen, Hans P A (2011) Diffusion model for one-choice reaction-time tasks and the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:11285-90
Ratcliff, Roger; Hasegawa, Yukako T; Hasegawa, Ryohei P et al. (2011) Inhibition in superior colliculus neurons in a brightness discrimination task? Neural Comput 23:1790-820
Starns, Jeffrey J; White, Corey N; Ratcliff, Roger (2010) A direct test of the differentiation mechanism: REM, BCDMEM, and the strength-based mirror effect in recognition memory. J Mem Lang 63:18-34
Ratcliff, Roger; Thapar, Anjali; McKoon, Gail (2010) Individual differences, aging, and IQ in two-choice tasks. Cogn Psychol 60:127-57

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