The Max Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes And

Max Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance Max-Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance Report of Activities 1/10/2002 - 30/9/2011 Haifa, September 2012 This Report Includes: a. Introduction 2 b. Administration of the Center 32 c. Research Reports 35 d. Publications and Conferences 156 e. Israeli-German Cooperation 193 f. Future Activities and Research Plan 212 g. Budget 226 h. Appendix 237 2 a. Introduction a.1 History of the Center The Max-Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance was established in 1996. It is a joint Center that combines the activity of eight senior researchers from two institutions - the University of Haifa and the Technion, both located in Haifa, Israel. The research activity is conducted in laboratories that the two institutions allocated for the Center at its onset. Part of the joint German-Israeli research is also conducted in Germany. The administrative activity is centered at the University of Haifa, which houses the Center’s research coordinator. The first seven-year evaluation of the Center was in 2003. The members of the evaluation committee were Prof. Peter Alexander Frensch (chairman), Prof. Nelson Cowan, Prof. Randall W. Engle, Prof. Larry L. Jacoby, and Prof. Carlo Umiltá. The committee's report noted: "Given that some of the world's most important scientists in the areas of meta-cognition, attention, perception, and skill acquisition are members of the Max-Wertheimer Center, it is perhaps not surprising that the scientific impact of the Center has been outstanding. There is no doubt that the Center has been and continues to be a major international player and has been operating at an internationally visible level. The research performed in the last seven years has remained within the scope of the original application". "The Max-Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance has performed excellently in the past seven years. The Center has adapted very well to changes in the scientific field and to personal changes. It is noteworthy that the Center has attracted a number of highly innovative young scientists. The continuation of funding for the next period is strongly recommended. Possibilities for additional funding have been indicated". Over the following nine years (2002-2011) the researchers of the Center conducted numerous studies within the framework of four research areas: Meta-cognition of learning and memory, visual perception and attention, decision making, and skill acquisition and training. These studies yielded about 250 publications, and led to about 200 conference presentations (for more detailed information see below section d.). The Center also hosted 40 Joint University of Haifa – Technion Minerva Seminars, and 17 Minerva workshops, where researchers and students from both Institutions met to discuss issues of mutual concern (for more detailed information see below sections a.4.2, and a.4.3). During this period, the Advisory Board of the Center met four times (March 2004, February 2006, February 2008, and March 2010). All of those meetings were held in Israel. Each meeting lasted for three days, during which the Board attended research presentations and learned about the progress of the research activities of the Center. These meetings took place both at the University and at the Technion, so the Board’s members had the opportunity to visit both campuses. 3 The Center was headed since its establishment by Prof. Koriat (U. of Haifa) and Prof. Gopher (Technion); in 2010 they have handed over the directory of the Center to Prof. Kimchi (U. of Haifa) and Prof. Erev (Technion). Nevertheless, all the major decisions at the Center are made democratically by all members of the Center. The two Heads of the Center are responsible for the day-to-day matters and for the implementation of the decisions of the Center's members. Until 2005, there were six members at the center, four from the University of Haifa (Prof. Asher Koriat, Prof. Ruth Kimchi, Prof. Joel Norman, and Prof. Morris Goldsmith) and two from the Technion (Prof. Daniel Gopher, and Prof. Ido Erev). These were the same members who prepared the proposal for the Center. In 2005, the members of the Center decided unanimously to invite two additional young scientists to join the Center: Dr. Yaffa Yeshurun from the University of Haifa, and Dr. (now Prof.) Eldad Yechiam from the Technion. Dr. Yeshurun and Prof. Yechiam have collaborated previously with Minerva members, and since 2005 they are full members of the Center. a.2 Scientific Aims at the Outset and to Date The Center's main purpose at its onset was to foster collaborative research projects between the two groups of Israeli scientists, and between Israeli scientists and their German colleagues, working in the area of human cognition and human performance. The goals of the Center to date are to foster both basic-theoretical and applied research on several aspects of human cognition and performance. Using the concepts of experimental psychology, we address such questions as how people organize and process incoming sensory information to build a mental representation of the environment? How perceptual, attentional, and memory processes interact when people perform complex tasks? What means and strategies people use to control their performance? What processing and representational changes underlie the development of skilled performance? and so on. This basic research, important in its own right, also has many practical implications: (a) design of training programs, (b) cognitive rehabilitation techniques, (c) human-machine interfaces, (d) memory query procedures, and so forth. 4 a.3 Members of the Center and their Research Areas University of Haifa Prof. Ruth Kimchi Peprceptual Organization; Visual Cognition; Object and Face Perception; Visual Attention. Prof. Asher Koriat Metacognition: Judgments of Learning, Feeling-of-Knowing and Partial Knowledge; Memory Processes and Organization; Spatial Representation and Transformation. Prof. Joel Norman Vision and Visual Perception; Space Perception; Oculomotor Mechanisms and Visual Performance; Ergonomics of Visual Displays. Prof. Morris Goldsmith Human Memory and Metamemory; Attention; Visual Cognition; Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Yaffa Yeshurun Visual Perception; Spatial Attention; Crowding. Technion Prof. Ido Erev Decisions from experiences; Learning among Cognitive Strategies. Prof. Daniel Gopher Human Attention; Work Load; Training of Complex Skills; Components of Motor Behavior. Prof. Eldad Yechiam Decision Making; Individual Differences. 5 a.4 Summary of Activities and Participating Scientists a.4.1 Research Projects The research projects pursued by members of the Center cover aspects of human cognition and human performance in four research areas: 1. Meta-Cognition of Learning and Memory: Prof. Koriat and Prof. Goldsmith 2. Visual Perception and Attention: Prof. Kimchi, Dr. Yeshurun, Prof. Goldsmith, and Prof. Norman. 3. Decision Making: Prof. Erev, Prof. Yechiam, and Prof. Norman. 4. Skill Acquisition and Training: Prof. Gopher, Prof. Erev, Prof. Yechiam, and Prof. Norman The studies in each area span from the evaluation of basic cognitive processes to the analysis of practical human factors questions. The main contributions of our research are described in detail in chapter c. a.4.2 Joint University of Haifa and Technion Minerva Seminars The Center conducted a long series of joint seminars for Minerva researchers and students at both institutions. The purpose of these seminars was to increase interaction between Minerva members at the two sites, and to lead to more collaborative projects. Each seminar consists of a lecture (of one of the Center’s researchers, or a guest lecturer), followed by a free discussion. Below is the list of all the seminars that took place over the last nine years (German lecturers are marked by an asterisk): Prof. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, University of Southern California. Virtual Reality Application to Psychology Dr. Dominique Lamy, University of Tel Aviv, Israel. The Role of Bottom-Up in Attentional Capture Dr. Nira Liberman, University of Tel Aviv, Israel. Construal Level Theory: Implications for Construal, Prediction and Evaluation *Dr. Andrea Kiesel, University of Würzburg, Germany. Parallel Activity of Task Sets - Evidence from Subliminal Priming in Task Switching 6 * Dr. Jochim Hansen, University of Basel, Switzerland. The Role of Expectation in the Ease of Retrieval Effect * Prof. Dr. Klaus Fiedler, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Pseudo-Contingencies – an Overlooked Cognitive Illusion Prof. Nachshon Meiran, Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Using the Task-Switching Paradigm to Unveil Principles of Cognitive Control: Mixing Cost and the Task Rule Congruency Effect Prof. Michael Kubovy, University of Virginia. Prolegomena to a Theory of Pleasure Dr. Galit Yovel, MIT. What Makes Upright Faces Special? The Role of Parts and Spacing Information in Face and Object Recognition * Prof. Dr. Hans J. Markowitsch, University of Bielefeld, Germany. Brain Imaging Correlates of Patients with Emotion-Related Memory Disorders Dr. Nurit Gronau, Harvard Medical School. Visual Associative Processing is Mediated by a Unified Representation for Semantic and Spatial knowledge Dr. Eldad Yechiam, Technion. Using Cognitive Models to Map Relations between Neuropsychological Disorders and Human Decision Making Deficits Prof. Marius Usher, University of London. Modeling Choice,

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