Darryl Schneider

Research

The goal of my research program in computational cognitive science is to understand the important role of memory in cognitive control. Humans can behave appropriately in different situations and adapt to dynamic environments by exerting control over their thoughts and actions. However, the nature of cognitive control is considered to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of the mind. I am focused on solving this mystery by developing articulated and principled accounts of cognitive control. To this end, I have used fundamental ideas about memory as the foundation for simple yet powerful explanations of phenomena ascribed to cognitive control. Memory provides a means of bringing knowledge and experience to bear on the task at hand, shaping the space of possible thoughts and actions. It is in this broad sense that memory can control what humans think and do.

Much of my work on the relationship between memory and cognitive control focuses on task switching, an ability that is considered to be a hallmark of cognitive control. In my graduate work with Gordon Logan at Vanderbilt University I demonstrated that many task-switching phenomena could be understood in terms of memory concepts such as priming and cue-based retrieval. In my postdoctoral work with John Anderson at Carnegie Mellon University I have been exploring core aspects of memory and how it can control thought in the context of the Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) cognitive architecture. Recently I have developed a memory-based model of multiple-choice behavior and extended ACT-R to account for fine-grained aspects of associative recognition.

For additional information, please see my Curriculum Vitae (updated January 30, 2012) and feel free to peruse the publications below.

Publications

• [PDF] Anderson, J. R., Fincham, J. M., Schneider, D. W., & Yang, J. (2012). Using brain imaging to track problem solving in a complex state space. NeuroImage, 60, 633-643.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Anderson, J. R. (2012). Modeling fan effects on the time course of associative recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 64, 127-160.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Anderson, J. R. (2011). A memory-based model of Hick's law. Cognitive Psychology, 62, 193-222.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2011). Task-switching performance with 1:1 and 2:1 cue-task mappings: Not so different after all. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 405-415.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Anderson, J. R. (2010). Asymmetric switch costs as sequential difficulty effects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 1873-1894.
  
  
• [PDF] Logan, G. D., & Schneider, D. W. (2010). Distinguishing reconfiguration and compound-cue retrieval in task switching. Psychologica Belgica, 50, 413-433.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2010). The target of task switching. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 129-133.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Dixon, P. (2009). Visuospatial cues for reinstating mental models in working memory during interrupted reading. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 161-172.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2009). Selecting a response in task switching: Testing a model of compound cue retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 122-136.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2009). Task switching. In L. R. Squire (Ed.), Encyclopedia of neuroscience (Vol. 9, pp. 869-874). Oxford: Academic Press.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Verbruggen, F. (2008). Inhibition of irrelevant category-response mappings. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 1629-1640.
  
  
• [PDF] Verbruggen, F., Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2008). How to stop and change a response: The role of goal activation in multitasking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1212-1228.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2007). Retrieving information from a hierarchical plan. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 1076-1091.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W. (2007). Task-set inhibition in chunked task sequences. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 970-976.
  
  
• [PDF] Logan, G. D., Schneider, D. W., & Bundesen, C. (2007). Still clever after all these years: Searching for the homunculus in explicitly cued task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 978-994.
  
  
• [PDF] Arrington, C. M., Logan, G. D., & Schneider, D. W. (2007). Separating cue encoding from target processing in the explicit task-cuing procedure: Are there "true" task switch effects? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 484-502.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2007). Task switching versus cue switching: Using transition cuing to disentangle sequential effects in task-switching performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 370-378.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2007). Defining task-set reconfiguration: The case of reference point switching. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 118-125.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2006). Hierarchical control of cognitive processes: Switching tasks in sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 623-640.
  
  
• [PDF] Logan, G. D., & Schneider, D. W. (2006). Priming or executive control? Associative priming of cue encoding increases "switch costs" in the explicit task-cuing procedure. Memory & Cognition, 34, 1250-1259.
  
  
• [PDF] Logan, G. D., & Schneider, D. W. (2006). Interpreting instructional cues in task switching procedures: The role of mediator retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 347-363.
  
  
• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2006). Priming cue encoding by manipulating transition frequency in explicitly cued task switching. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 145-151.

• [PDF] Schneider, D. W., & Logan, G. D. (2005). Modeling task switching without switching tasks: A short-term priming account of explicitly cued performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 343-367.