The "best laid plans of mice and men" often lead to "promised joy" because they provide focus to behavior, allowing individuals to direct actions toward important goals and avoid distraction. With support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Logan is studying how plans held in memory guide thoughts and actions as individuals work through the steps of a plan. One project focuses on "ad hoc" plans, such as working through a list of chores to be done on a weekend. Successful execution of ad hoc plans requires the maintenance of arbitrary lists of tasks in memory, and the retrieval of appropriate tasks at appropriate times. Experiments in this project are aimed at examining the roles of different kinds of short-term memory (visual, spatial, verbal) in maintaining ad hoc plans, and the different kinds of retrieval processes that operate on it.
A second project is focused on the role of long-term memory in executing familiar as opposed to ad hoc plans, such as making a cup of coffee or driving home from work. All plans are unfamiliar initially, and so must rely on short-term memory. However with practice, the most arbitrary plan can become second nature, recruiting long-term memory to support successful performance. This project is examining the transition from short-term memory to long-term memory and the changes in retrieval processes that accompany it. A third project is focused on the processes that move plan execution from one step to the next, as in remembering the next errand to run when the current one is finished. Together, the three projects are designed to advance our understanding of the control processes that enable individuals to act coherently and flexibly in complex task environments. In doing so, this research is providing basic knowledge that may be of use in designing complex task environments such as the control rooms of ships and power plants, and in training the operators of such environments.
