MMORPGS and Cognitive Engineering
I haven’t seen any new findings that I can relate to cognitive engineering or brain modules this week. So I resort to the standard journalistic practice for handling a newsless week: Talk about what’s already been said.
AUTISM LINKED TO MIRROR NEURON DYSFUNCTION. Do we have any taxonomy that would help us deal with the investigation of imitation skills and their application in cognitive engineering? Not that I know of. Presumably, there are areas of instruction that can make use of imitation skills. Do we know how to recognize those areas? Do we know how to adapt imitation skills to those areas?
I think, for example, of the instruction manual. Instruction on how to do something seems a natural venue for imitation. Do printed instruction manuals elicit imitation? Could they? An instructional video probably does elicit imitation, but at considerable expense. How about things in between: Audio presentation, Macromedia Flash, comic book format? My guess is that these methods would depend importantly on the effectiveness of the presentation. Does cognitive engineering know what makes an effective presentation in an instruction manual?
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I haven’t found the answer to that that question. The subject does not lend itself to laboratory research. The alternative presentation methods I mentioned are difficult to produce and much more difficult to replicate for different instructional content. The general strategy in these methods is to include modalities (modules) other than text presentation. One might easily reason that if you read text, the main thing you can imitate is text. You might, for example, learn to produce parodies. Come to think of it, I have seen some parodies if instructional manuals.
If you are going to imitate an action, presumably the best presentation is to see the action. Probably several instances, from different viewpoints, and with some pointing at critical aspects. Apprenticeship does that. Video, animated cartoons, and comic books could approach this kind of presentation if done well. Audio presentation or text would have to encourage visualization of the action being described. That is done in fiction and story-telling.
I have found another method of presentation that might by useful: the MMORPG. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for those people who don’t want really ugly names on their methods. The specific instance I have in mind is Second Life, at
http://secondlife.com/
In SL, players set their own roles and objectives. The game vendor supplies the graphic software, the server network, and some incentives. The user sets the goals. The goal could be instruction.
The system is probably too elaborate to justify use in ordinary instruction about equipment. I am thinking about it in the context of learning (including academic learning and therapeutic learning). I find that the display easily creates a sense of place and of real objects. It allows the rendering of reasonably realistic objects. I doubt that the rendering and animation would be adequate for desensititization of phobias, but it might be worth trying. See this related blog:
http://www.ismho.org/archives/2005/06/16/cybertherapy-2005ismho-mini-meeting/
Here’s a concrete application: Show people how to use tables or maps. Either of these would be easy to construct as a floor or a wall. Each node or cell could have its own text annotation. Annotation could be hidden, to be disclosed by some user action or by animation that the user could later imitate. Flipping over to show the other side, for example.
At present, audio presentation is possible, but not easy. A future version, however, would allow audio presentations at will, using something like Skype or audio instant messaging. The audio could step you through the display.
Producing an instructional sim in this context would take patience, but no artistic skills. The sim would be replicable and consistent enough for experimentation. If anyone could produce a demonstrably effective sim, dissemination would be simple: For a one-time payment of about $10, a person could get unlimited access to it.
And perhaps cognitive engineers could learn something by imitating the online gaming community. If they still have their imitative subsystems on line.
AUTISM LINKED TO MIRROR NEURON DYSFUNCTION. Do we have any taxonomy that would help us deal with the investigation of imitation skills and their application in cognitive engineering? Not that I know of. Presumably, there are areas of instruction that can make use of imitation skills. Do we know how to recognize those areas? Do we know how to adapt imitation skills to those areas?
I think, for example, of the instruction manual. Instruction on how to do something seems a natural venue for imitation. Do printed instruction manuals elicit imitation? Could they? An instructional video probably does elicit imitation, but at considerable expense. How about things in between: Audio presentation, Macromedia Flash, comic book format? My guess is that these methods would depend importantly on the effectiveness of the presentation. Does cognitive engineering know what makes an effective presentation in an instruction manual?
--
I haven’t found the answer to that that question. The subject does not lend itself to laboratory research. The alternative presentation methods I mentioned are difficult to produce and much more difficult to replicate for different instructional content. The general strategy in these methods is to include modalities (modules) other than text presentation. One might easily reason that if you read text, the main thing you can imitate is text. You might, for example, learn to produce parodies. Come to think of it, I have seen some parodies if instructional manuals.
If you are going to imitate an action, presumably the best presentation is to see the action. Probably several instances, from different viewpoints, and with some pointing at critical aspects. Apprenticeship does that. Video, animated cartoons, and comic books could approach this kind of presentation if done well. Audio presentation or text would have to encourage visualization of the action being described. That is done in fiction and story-telling.
I have found another method of presentation that might by useful: the MMORPG. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for those people who don’t want really ugly names on their methods. The specific instance I have in mind is Second Life, at
http://secondlife.com/
In SL, players set their own roles and objectives. The game vendor supplies the graphic software, the server network, and some incentives. The user sets the goals. The goal could be instruction.
The system is probably too elaborate to justify use in ordinary instruction about equipment. I am thinking about it in the context of learning (including academic learning and therapeutic learning). I find that the display easily creates a sense of place and of real objects. It allows the rendering of reasonably realistic objects. I doubt that the rendering and animation would be adequate for desensititization of phobias, but it might be worth trying. See this related blog:
http://www.ismho.org/archives/2005/06/16/cybertherapy-2005ismho-mini-meeting/
Here’s a concrete application: Show people how to use tables or maps. Either of these would be easy to construct as a floor or a wall. Each node or cell could have its own text annotation. Annotation could be hidden, to be disclosed by some user action or by animation that the user could later imitate. Flipping over to show the other side, for example.
At present, audio presentation is possible, but not easy. A future version, however, would allow audio presentations at will, using something like Skype or audio instant messaging. The audio could step you through the display.
Producing an instructional sim in this context would take patience, but no artistic skills. The sim would be replicable and consistent enough for experimentation. If anyone could produce a demonstrably effective sim, dissemination would be simple: For a one-time payment of about $10, a person could get unlimited access to it.
And perhaps cognitive engineers could learn something by imitating the online gaming community. If they still have their imitative subsystems on line.
posted by Selby Evans at 8:18 AM
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