We summarize selected recent developments and promising directions for improving the quality of models of human performance in synthetic environments. The potential uses and goals for behavioral models in synthetic environments are first summarized. Within that context, we examine relevant, current work related to modeling more complete performance, for example, on cognitive modeling of emotion, advanced techniques for testing and building models of behavior, new cognitive architectures, and agent and Belief, Desires and Intentions (BDI) technology. The report also considers the usability of these systems as an important but neglected aspect of their performance. A list of projects with high payoff for modeling human performance in synthetic environments is noted.

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MacWhinney (1978) presented a computational model of the acquisition of morphophonology. The present chapter attempts to extend the model presented in that earlier paper to the acquisition of word-order patterns. This extension is supported by an examination of the previous research on syntactic acquisition. In the final section of the chapter, further possible extensions to phonology and semantics are considered. The crucial claim underlying the basic approach to both morphophonology and syntax is that use of a given rule system is governed by a system of alternative strategies. Within such a multileveled model, alternative strategies can be compared in terms of their relative complexity. In the present chapter, these alternative strategies are evaluated through application of the following analytic technique: 1. A relatively simple strategy that can account for at least some of the observed data is presented. 2. It is shown that there are at least some data that are best explained by this strategy. 3. It is shown that, at some point in development, the child produces forms that cannot be explained by this simple strategy alone. 4. A strategy of somewhat greater complexity and power is introduced and it is shown that this strategy can account for at least some of the data not explained by the simpler (and weaker) strategy. This line of argumentation proceeds until evidence has been presented for six alternative strategies in word-order processing.

This article presents a new line of research investigating on-line learning mechanisms for autonomous intelligent agents. We discuss a case-based method for dynamic selection and modification of behavior assemblages for a navigational system. The casebased reasoning module is designed as an addition to a traditional reactive control system, and provides more flexible performance in novel environments without extensive high-level reasoning that would otherwise slow the system down. The method is implemented in the ACBARR (A Case-BAsed Reactive Robotic) system, and evaluated through empirical simulation of the system on several different environments, including "box canyon" environments known to be problematic for reactive control systems in general.

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Abstract — In this paper, we move toward offering psychological benchmarks by which to measure success in building increasingly human-like robots. By psychological benchmarks we mean categories of interaction that capture conceptually fundamental aspects of human life, specified abstractly enough so as to resist their identity as a mere psychological instrument, but capable of being translated into testable empirical propositions. Six possible benchmarks are considered: autonomy, imitation, intrinsic moral value, moral accountability, privacy, and reciprocity. Finally, we discuss how getting the right group of benchmarks in human-robot interaction will, in future years, help inform on the foundational question of what constitutes essential features of being human.

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After a year of having opportunities to scaffold one another's learning, a teacher asked the whole class why they liked helping each other. Kurt: I like to work with other people because it helps me learn to cooperate. Kalli: We get to share ideas together. We learn new things from others and we can give ideas too. Maurie: I agree. Its fun helping out other kids. People help me because I help them. Linda: When I work with others, they help me understand. This group of elementary school students valued the opportunity that scaffolding provided for their learning. Why is scaffolding a valuable tool for teaching and learning? What is the role of scaffolding during learning conversations? How do children learn to have authentic learning conversations with one another? What are the important components of a social constructivist classroom? To answer these questions, this chapter will provide background information on the connectedness of social constructivism, scaffolding, and learning conversations within the context of the literacy cycle. Following this, the methods and results are presented. The two

If behavior networks, which use spreading activation to select actions, are analogous to connectionist methods of pattern recognition, then recurrent behavior networks, which use energy minimization, are analogous to Hopfield networks. Hopfield networks memorize patterns by making them attractors. Similarly, each behavior of a recurrent behavior network should be an attractor of the network, to inhibit fruitless, repeated switching between different behaviors in response to small changes in the environment and in motivations. I overcome two major objections to this view, and demonstrate that the performance in a test domain of the Do the Right Thing recurrent behavior network is improved by redesigning it to create desirable attractors and basins of attraction. I further show that this performance increase is correlated with an increase in persistence and a decrease in undesirable behavior-switching. On a more general level, this work encourages the study of action selection as a dynam...

Sometime ago the editor of this journal suggested to the first author that there was very little that was new in instructional design. In a recent meeting a colleague suggested that all of the instructional design theory in current use was at least 20 years old and firmly rooted in behavioral psychology. Is current ID theory adequate to the needs of contemporary instructional designers? Does current ID theory provide the guidance necessary to take advantage of the new interactive technologies available to us for instruction? This represents the first in a series of articles exploring instructional design theory, technique and practice. We invite your reactions and input. First Generation Instructional Design (ID1) The most widely applied instructional design theory is based largely on the work of Robert M. Gagné and his associates at Florida State University. This work is often equated with the term Instructional Systems Development (ISD). It assumes a cumulative organization of learning events based on prerequisite relationships among learned behaviors. Gagné's principal assumption is that