ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that the use of computational cognitive models (CCM) allows for direct specification of cognitive processes that is different than—and arguably superior to—relying on differences across group means and other methods to learn about behavior. It introduces the general pursuit of computational modeling, then cover work that has implemented and/or verified CCMs using a variety of process data types, ranging from movements of the hands and eyes to 256-channel electrodes measuring brain activity. The chapter demonstrates unique application of CCMs to process data in enough detail to serve the new researcher who desires to develop and apply CCMs in their research to better understand and relate constructs of interest. CCMs are powerful tools that have been used quite extensively across various psychological domains with considerable success. Each of the elicited weights was also used as measures of attentional weight in an evidence accumulation CCM.
