Abstract
A cognitive process analysis and modeling approach to task analysis is described in the context of Project Nemo, a research effort aimed at explicating situation assessment behavior in commanders of nuclear powered attack submarines. The approach is structured around the rationality and problem space principles outlined in Card, Moran and Newell (1983). The process analysis phases involve characterizing the task domain as well as the subject's goals, operators, and knowledge. The modeling phases involves instantiating the elements from the process analysis phases into a runnable computational cognitive model. The behavior of this model is then judged against a standard, such as expert judgment or the commander's behavior, in order to evaluate the sufficiency of the cognitive process analysis. Unlike conventional task analysis methods, this approach enables the analyst not only to describe task behavior at a detailed cognitive process level, but to evaluate the precision of that description.
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