Adaptive Planning

Adaptive Planning is an approach to planning in the commonsense domain. An adaptive planner takes advantage of the habitual nature of many of the planning situations for which it plans by bosing its activities on a memory of pre-stored plans. A critical issue, and the subject of this paper, is the question of flexibility: How does an adaptive planner refit an old plan in order to meet the demands of some new planning situation? An adaptive planner refits prestored plans by constructing an interpretation of the situation in which it is engaged. Key elements in the theory of adaptive planning are its treatment of specific plans and a notion of situation matching. The theory of adaptive planning has been modeled by a computer program called PLEXUS.     

Relationships Between Dimensions of Impulsivity and Prospective Memory

Prospective memory refers to the ability to plan and execute future intentions. A burgeoning body of research indicates that a significant proportion of the variability in prospective memory performance can be accounted for by personality traits, with two recent studies revealing that the various dimensions of impulsivity measured by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale‐11 (BIS‐11) are related to prospective memory failures. The present study was conducted to examine which dimensions of impulsivity indexed by the BIS‐11 and UPPS‐P relate to prospective memory failures and which dimensions of impulsivity contribute unique variance in the prediction of prospective memory failures. A large sample (N = 662) of students completed the BIS‐11, UPPS‐P, Prospective Memory Questionnaire and a habitual prospective memory test. Consistent correlations between six of the seven measures of impulsivity and prospective memory failures were found. Regression analyses further revealed that lack of perseverance, emotional urgency and attentional impulsivity were reliable and unique predictors of prospective memory failures. Thus, difficulty remaining focused on tasks (especially long, boring or difficult tasks); lack of forethought, planning and distaste for challenging tasks; and tendencies to behave impulsively under conditions of strong affect relate most strongly to prospective memory failures. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Modifying memory for a museum tour in older adults: Reactivation-related updating that enhances and distorts memory is reduced in ageing

Memory reactivation, the activation of a latent memory trace when we are reminded of a past experience, strengthens memory but can also contribute to distortions if new information present during reactivation is integrated with existing memory. In a previous study in young adults we found that the quality of memory reactivation, manipulated using the principle of encoding specificity and indexed by recollection ratings, modulated subsequent true and false memories for events experienced during a museum tour. Here in this study, we examined age-related changes in the quality of memory reactivation on subsequent memory. Memories of museum stops in young and older adults were reactivated and then immediately followed by the presentation of a novel lure photo from an alternate tour version (i.e., reactivation plus new information). There was an increase in subsequent true memories for reactivated targets and for subsequent false memories for lures that followed reactivated targets, when compared to baseline target and lure photos. However, the influence of reactivation on subsequent memories was reduced in older adults. These data reveal that ageing alters reactivation-related updating processes that allow memories to be strengthened and updated with new information, consequently reducing memory distortions in older adults compared to young adults.     

Spectrum Analysis of Cortical Activity During Verbal Planning: Physical Evidence for the Formation of Social Interaction Routines

A substantial body of scholarship focused on the processes involved in message planning has accumulated in the communication literature. One of the central tenets of memory models upon which most of the message planning models are based is that dynamic memory systems organize and reorganize knowledge structures to maximize information processing efficiency. Accordingly, efficiency can be achieved by merely retrieving and enacting plans that have achieved goals previously under similar conditions. Plan failure, however, requires alteration or even production of an original plan. Although researchers have relied exclusively on output (e.g., response latency, memory tests) to draw inferences about planning processes, it is possible to observe cognitive processes more directly by measuring cortical responses. In the present study, electrical activity was monitored in the region of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during verbal planning. Results indicated that (a) electrical activity while planning under conditions that permitted enactment of verbal plans that required no modification was significantly lower than during planning in the initial trial but, (b) electrical activity while planning under conditions in which previous efforts failed was significantly higher than during planning in the initial trial. These results provide physical evidence for the hypothetical cognitive processes proposed in the cognitivist models of routine formation.     

Faster Teaching via POMDP Planning

Human and automated tutors attempt to choose pedagogical activities that will maximize student learning, informed by their estimates of the student's current knowledge. There has been substantial research on tracking and modeling student learning, but significantly less attention on how to plan teaching actions and how the assumed student model impacts the resulting plans. We frame the problem of optimally selecting teaching actions using a decision‐theoretic approach and show how to formulate teaching as a partially observable Markov decision process planning problem. This framework makes it possible to explore how different assumptions about student learning and behavior should affect the selection of teaching actions. We consider how to apply this framework to concept learning problems, and we present approximate methods for finding optimal teaching actions, given the large state and action spaces that arise in teaching. Through simulations and behavioral experiments, we explore the consequences of choosing teacher actions under different assumed student models. In two concept‐learning tasks, we show that this technique can accelerate learning relative to baseline performance.     

The dynamics of memory: context-dependent updating

Understanding the dynamics of memory change is one of the current challenges facing cognitive neuroscience. Recent animal work on memory reconsolidation shows that memories can be altered long after acquisition. When reactivated, memories can be modified and require a restabilization (reconsolidation) process. We recently extended this finding to human episodic memory by showing that memory reactivation mediates the incorporation of new information into existing memory. Here we show that the spatial context plays a unique role for this type of memory updating: Being in the same spatial context during original and new learning is both necessary and sufficient for the incorporation of new information into existing episodic memories. Memories are automatically reactivated when subjects return to an original learning context, where updating by incorporating new contents can occur. However, when in a novel context, updating of existing memories does not occur, and a new episodic memory is created instead.     

Semantic and episodic predictions of memory for plans1,2,3

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the planning process within memory for plans. Experiment 1 examined the effect of self‐involvement on memory for a 1‐day plan, in which approximately half of the 104 undergraduate participants were instructed to assume that the plans were their own while the other half were told only to memorize them. A U‐shaped curve, indicating better recall for morning and evening plans than for afternoon ones, was observed only with the first group. Experiment 2 was designed to further clarify the planning strategies of memory for plans, in which approximately half of the 77 undergraduate participants were asked to imagine executing the plans while the other half were given a more limited strategy. U‐shaped curves were observed in both conditions, with memory performance being higher for the first group. These results are interpreted as indicating that the semantic prediction of future plans conforms to a U‐shaped curve, while the episodic prediction of future plans enhances memory performance.     

Instinct: A biologically inspired reactive planner for intelligent embedded systems

The Instinct Planner is a new biologically inspired reactive planner, based on an established behaviour based robotics methodology and its reactive planner component — the POSH planner implementation. It includes several significant enhancements that facilitate plan design and runtime debugging. It has been specifically designed for low power processors and has a tiny memory footprint. Written in C++, it runs efficiently on both Arduino (Atmel AVR) and Microsoft VC++ environments and has been deployed within a low cost maker robot to study AI Transparency. Plans may be authored using a variety of tools including a new visual design language, currently implemented using the Dia drawing package.     

Meta-planning: Representing and using knowledge about planning in problem solving and natural language understanding

This paper is concerned with those elements of planning knowledge that are common to both understanding someone else's plan and creating a plan for one's own use. This planning knowledge can be divided into two bodies: Knowledge about the world, and knowledge about the planning process itself. Our interest here is primarily with the latter corpus. The central thesis is that much of the knowledge about the planning process itself can be formulated in terms of higher-level goals and plans called meta-goals and meta-plans. These entities can then be used by the same understanding and planning mechanisms that process ordinary goals and plans. However, the meta-planning knowledge now enables these mechanisms to handle much more complicated situations in a uniform manner. Systems based on meta-planning would have a number of advantages over existing problem solving and understanding systems. The same knowledge could be shared by both a planner and understander, and both would be able to handle complex situations elegantly. In addition, in planning, the use of meta-planning has several advantages over more traditional methods involving constraints or critics. Meta-planning allows the full power of a problem solver to be applied to situations that are generally amenable only to special purpose processing. In addition, meta-planning facilitates the representation of some situations that are difficult to express otherwise. We have begun to introduce meta-planning knowledge into two systems: PAM, a story understanding program, and PANDORA, a problem solving and plannin?g system.     

Perspectives on prediction: Does third-person imagery improve task completion estimates?

People typically underestimate the time necessary to complete their tasks. According to the planning fallacy model of optimistic time predictions, this underestimation occurs because people focus on developing a specific plan for the current task and neglect the implications of past failures to meet similar deadlines. We extend the classic planning fallacy model by proposing that a phenomenal quality of mental imagery – the visual perspective that is adopted – may moderate the optimistic prediction bias. Consistent with this proposal, participants in four studies predicted longer completion times, and thus were less prone to bias, when they imagined an upcoming task from the third-person rather than first-person perspective. Third-person imagery reduced people’s focus on optimistic plans, increased their focus on potential obstacles, and decreased the impact of task-relevant motives on prediction. The findings suggest that third-person imagery helps individuals generate more realistic predictions by reducing cognitive and motivational processes that typically contribute to bias.     

Planning Disaster Response Services: The Role of a Multi-Agency Steering Group

The tradition in UK emergency planning has been for responses to be taken at a local level. Local authorities prepare plans for dealing with any eventualities arising from a major incident. Many local-authority disaster plans have, however, lacked adequate provision for psychological services. Previous disaster responses are examined, and planning deficits identified. One of the factors considered important is active involvement of those concerned rather than the imposition of a plan designed by others. The stages necessary to develop an effective community mental health intervention are elaborated. Psychological input to future plans at both national and local levels is examined. The central requirement identified is for a Multi-Agency Steering Group, whose members have specified roles, to co-ordinate all aspects of the disaster response and support services.     

Contrasting contributions of phonological short‐term memory and long‐term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language

The contributions of phonological short‐term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired‐associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.     

Contrasting contributions of phonological short-term memory and long-term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language

The contributions of phonological short-term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired-associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.     

Abstract Planning and Perceptual Chunks: Elements of Expertise in Geometry

We present a new model of skilled performance in geometry proof problem solving called the Diagram Configuration model (DC). While previous models plan proofs in a step-by-step fashion, we observed that experts plan at a more abstract level: They focus on the key steps and skip the less important ones. DC models this abstract planning behavior by parsing geometry problem diagrams into perceptual chunks, called diagram configurations, which cue relevant schematic knowledge. We provide verbal protocol evidence that DC's schemas correspond with the step-skipping inferences experts make in their initial planning. We compare DC with other models of geometry expertise and then, in the final section, we discuss more general implications of our research. DC's reasoning has important similarities with Larkin's (1988) display-based reasoning approach and Johnson-Laird's (1983) mental model approach. DC's perceptually based schemas are a step towards a unified explanation of (1) experts' superior problem-solving effectiveness, (2) experts' superior problem-state memory, and (3) experts' ability, in certain domains, to solve relatively simple problems by pure forward inferencing. We also argue that the particular and efficient knowledge organization of DC challenges current theories of skill acquisition as it presents an end-state of learning that is difficult to explain within such theories. Finally, we discuss the implications of DC for geometry instruction.     

Safety Planning Within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a contextual behavioral psychotherapy that helps clients build meaningful lives in the service of their own chosen values, rather than specifically focusing on symptom reduction or prevention of destructive behaviors. However, empowering ACT clients to navigate suicidal crises effectively is vital to ensuring the opportunity to build a life they will choose to live. Suicide safety planning is a widely used empirically supported approach to prepare clients to survive suicidal crises, and can be effectively incorporated into ACT. In this paper, we offer a contextual behavioral conceptualization of suicide as an extreme attempt to solve the problem of painful thoughts, emotions, and sensations, and provide an example of how this conceptualization and the necessity of safety planning can be introduced to clients. Use of chain analysis of suicidal behavior is introduced as a tool to inform the suicide safety plan. We describe how ACT processes can enhance safety plans and, in turn, create safety plans that will serve as means to develop skills associated with efficacious/effective ACT interventions. Finally, we discuss the ongoing evaluation and revision of the safety plan from an ACT framework.     

Imagining novel futures: The roles of event plausibility and familiarity

The constructive episodic simulation hypothesis suggests that episodic memory supports the simulation of future events through extraction and recombination of stored information. The current study explicitly investigated the use of past episodic thought in the simulation of future scenarios. Participants simulated one of three possible scenarios, differing in plausibility and participants’ prior experience of similar events. Participants recorded related memories and whether they were explicitly used during future event simulation. Memories were rated for source (self-experienced, other-experienced, or media). Findings suggest prior experience and event plausibility did not impact upon ease of future event simulation or the extent of memory usage during simulations. Differences emerged in the source of information used to assist future event simulation. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that episodic memories from a variety of sources are recombined when generating future simulations of novel events.     

If You Are Going to Pay Within the Next 24 Hours,Press 1: Automatic Planning Prompt Reduces Credit Card Delinquency

People often form intentions but fail to follow through on them. Mounting evidence suggests that such intention‐action gaps can be narrowed with prompts to make concrete plans about when, where, and how to act to achieve the intention. In this paper, we pushed the notion of plan‐concreteness to test the efficacy of a prompt under a minimalist automated calling setting, where respondents were only prompted to indicate a narrower duration within which they intent to act. In a field experiment, this planning prompt significantly helped people to pay their past dues and get out of debt delinquency. These results suggest that minimalist automatic planning prompts are a scalable, cost‐effective intervention.     

Imagining novel futures: the roles of event plausibility and familiarity

The constructive episodic simulation hypothesis suggests that episodic memory supports the simulation of future events through extraction and recombination of stored information. The current study explicitly investigated the use of past episodic thought in the simulation of future scenarios. Participants simulated one of three possible scenarios, differing in plausibility and participants' prior experience of similar events. Participants recorded related memories and whether they were explicitly used during future event simulation. Memories were rated for source (self-experienced, other-experienced, or media). Findings suggest prior experience and event plausibility did not impact upon ease of future event simulation or the extent of memory usage during simulations. Differences emerged in the source of information used to assist future event simulation. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that episodic memories from a variety of sources are recombined when generating future simulations of novel events.     

Evolutionary economics of mental time travel?

What is the function of our capacity for 'mental time travel'? Evolutionary considerations suggest that vivid memory and imaginative foresight may be crucial cognitive devices for human decision making. Our emotional engagement with past or future events gives them great motivational force, which may counter a natural tendency towards time discounting and impulsive, opportunistic behavior. In this view, whereas simple episodic memory provides us with a store of relevant, case-based information to guide decisions, mental time travel nudges us towards more restrained choices, which in the long term are advantageous, especially so given human dependence on cooperation and coordination.