Sequential actions as markers of behavioural and cognitive processes: Extracting empirical pathways from data streams of complex tasks

Abstract

This paper presents a novel exploratory method to extract information about behavioural and cognitive processes that occur during the performance of complex tasks. The methodology is framed in a structure where process data on interactions between the task performer and the task space environment are captured in a data stream for big data analytics. We begin by describing a reductionist approach that involves deconstructing complex processes into constituent parts. We extend this approach by looking at sequences of these constituent parts with the aim of detecting patterns in a person's action pathways. We propose the exploration of these pathways as indicators of underlying behavioural and ..