There are many applications of computer animation and simulation where it is necessary to model virtual crowds of autonomous agents. Some of these applications include site planning, education, entertainment, training, and human factors analysis for building evacuation. Other applications include simulations of scenarios where masses of people gather, flow, and disperse, such as transportation centers, sporting events, and concerts. Most crowd simulations include only basic locomotive behaviors possibly coupled with a few stochastic actions. Our goal in this survey is to establish a baseline of techniques and requirements for simulating large-scale virtual human populations. Sometimes, these populations might be mutually engaged in a common activity such as evacuation from a building or area; other times they may be going about their individual and personal agenda of work, play, leisure, travel, or spectator. Computational methods to model one set of requirements may not mesh well with good appro...

Virtual Crowds: Methods, Simulation, and Control

This paper presents a theory for role-playing simulation games intended to support analysts (and trainees) with generating and testing alternative competing hypotheses on how to influence world conflict situations. Simulated leaders and followers capable of playing these games are implemented in a cognitive modeling framework, called the Performance Moderator Function Server (PMFserv), which covers value systems, personality and cultural factors, emotions, relationships, perception, stress/coping style, and decision making. Of direct interest, as Section I-A explains, is codification and synthesis of best-of-breed social-science models within PMFserv to improve the internal validity of agent implementations. Sections II and III present this for leader profiling instruments and group-membership decision making, respectively. Section IV then offers two real-world case studies (The Third Crusade and SE Asia Today) where agent models are subjected to Turing and correspondence tests under each case study. In sum, substantial effort on game realism, best-of-breed social-science models, and agent validation efforts is essential if analysis and training tools are to help explore cultural issues and alternative ways to influence outcomes. Such exercises, in turn, are likely to improve the state of the science as well.

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Sociocultural Games for Training and Analysis

The purpose of this research was to develop a performance-based criterion for selecting among alternative symbols to be used in graphic displays. The specific criterion developed was an index of pe...

Perceptual Discriminability as a Basis for Selecting Graphic Symbols

This paper presents a synthetic approach for generating role playing simulation games intended to support analysts (and trainees) interested in testing alternative competing courses of action (operations) and discovering what effects they are likely to precipitate in potential ethno-political conflict situations. Simulated leaders and followers capable of playing these games are implemented in a cognitive modeling framework, called PMFserv, which covers value systems, personality and cultural factors, emotions, relationships, perception, stress/coping style and decision making. Of direct interest, as Sect. 1.1 explains, is mathematical representation and synthesis of best-of-breed behavioral science models within this framework to reduce dimensionality and to improve the realism and internal validity of the agent implementations. Sections 2 and 3 present this for leader profiling instruments and group membership decision-making, respectively. Section 4 serves as an existence proof that the framework has generated several training and analysis tools, and Sect. 5 concludes with lessons learned. Part II turns to the question of assessment of the synthesis and its usage in course of action studies.

Modeling factions for effects based operations: part I--leaders and followers

Adding a physiological representation to a cognitive architecture offers an attractive approach to modeling the effects of stress on cognition. We introduce ACT-R/?, an extended version of the ACT-R cognitive architecture that includes an integrative model of physiology. The extension allows the representation of how physiology and cognition interact. This substrate was used to represent potential effects of a startle response and task-based stress during a mental arithmetic (subtraction) task. We compare predictions from two models loaded into the new hybrid architecture to models previously developed within ACT-R. General behavior differed between models in that the ACT-R/? models had dynamic declarative memory noise over the course of the task based on varying epinephrine levels. They attempted more subtractions but were less accurate; this more closely matched human performance than the previous ACT-R models. Using ACT-R/? allows a more tractable integration of current physiological and cognitive perspectives on stress. ACT-R/? also permits further exploration of the interaction between cognition and physiology, and the emergent effects on behavior caused by the interaction among physiological subsystems. This extension is useful for anyone exploring how the human mind can occur in and be influenced by the physical universe.

http://acs.ist.psu.edu/papers/dancyRBKip.pdf

Using a cognitive architecture with a physiological substrate to represent effects of a psychological stressor on cognition

: This study provides a summary of the work done in the fiscal year 1976-1977 on the grant entitled Human Performance Simulation, Number AFSOR F44620-76-C-0013. The report emphasizes the progress which has been made on Teichner's Human Performance Theory of acquisition, memory, and task analysis. (Author)

/pdf/human-performance-simulation-3pq3dfame3.pdf

Human Performance Simulation.

: The relative discriminability of 210 stimulus items was determined by a comparison of response time and errors in a search task in which the operator identified symbols as examples or non-examples of a prespecified target item. The characteristics of the target item relative to non-target items determined the response times to target and non-target items and the variability among non- target response times. Non-targets which were highly confusable with the target tended to increase response time and variance. Symbols were ranked according to target and non-target response times.

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA070989&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Warren H. Teichner

Papers

Human Performance Simulation.

Discriminability of Symbols for Tactical Information Displays.