amod Config.md

amod Config

gactar Config

Top-level configuration in the gactar section.

Example:

gactar {
    log_level: 'detail'
    trace_activations: true
}

Config	Type	Description
log_level	string (one of 'min', 'info', or 'detail')	how verbose our logging should be
trace_activations	boolean	output detailed info about activations
random_seed	positive integer	sets the seed to use for generating pseudo-random numbers (allows for reproducible runs)

Module Config

gactar supports a handful of modules and configuration options which are set in the modules section.

A module's buffer is configured using its name like this:

modules {
    memory {
        retrieval { spreading_activation: 0.5 }
    }
}

For a list of a specific module's configuration options, run gactar module info [module name].

For a list of all modules and their configuration options, run gactar module info all.

Example:

modules {
    memory {
        latency_factor: 0.63
        max_spread_strength: 1.6
    }

    goal {
        goal{ spreading_activation: 1.0 }
    }

    extra_buffers {
        foo {}
        bar {}
    }
}

Buffers

All buffers have one configuration option.

Config	Type	Description
spreading_activation	decimal	see "Spreading Activation" in "ACT-R 7.26 Reference Manual" pg. 290

Mapping defaults is a little messy since they are handled differently in each of the frameworks.

• ccm (DMSpreading.weight): defaults to 1.0, however this is incorrect, so we explicitly set it to 0.0
• pyactr: if not set explicitly, defaults to 0.0
• vanilla: (see below)

Here are vanilla's parameters and defaults:

buffer	ACT-R param	default
Aural buffer	:aural-activation	0.0
Aural-location buffer	:aural-location-activation	0.0
Goal buffer	:ga	0.0
Imaginal buffer	:imaginal-activation	1.0
Imaginal-action buffer	:imaginal-action-activation	0.0
Manual buffer	:manual-activation	0.0
Production buffer	:production-activation	0.0
Retrieval buffer	:retrieval-activation	0.0
Temporal buffer	:temporal-activation	0.0
Visual buffer	:visual-activation	0.0
Visual-location buffer	:visual-location-activation	0.0
Vocal buffer	:vocal-activation	0.0

Right now, we allow setting the spreading activation on any buffer, however we only generate code for the goal buffer.

Declarative Memory

This is the standard ACT-R declarative memory module.

Module Name: memory

Buffer Name: retrieval

Config	Type	Description	Mapping
decay	decimal	sets the decay for the base-level learning calculation	ccm (DMBaseLevel submodule 'decay'): 0.5 pyactr (decay) : 0.5 vanilla (:bll): nil (recommend 0.5 if used)
finst_size	integer	how many chunks are retained in memory	ccm (finst_size): 4 pyactr (DecMemBuffer.finst): 0 vanilla (:declarative-num-finsts): 4
finst_time	decimal	how long the finst lasts in memory	ccm (finst_time): 3.0 pyactr: (unsupported? Always ∞ I guess?) vanilla (:declarative-finst-span): 3.0
instantaneous_noise	decimal	turns on noise calculation & sets instantaneous noise	ccm (DMNoise submodule 'noise') pyactr (instantaneous_noise) vanilla (:ans)
latency_exponent	decimal	latency exponent (f)	ccm: (unsupported? Based on the code, it seems to be fixed at 1.0.) pyactr (latency_exponent): 1.0 vanilla (:le): 1.0
latency_factor	decimal	latency factor (F)	ccm (latency): 0.05 pyactr (latency_factor): 0.1 vanilla (:lf): 1.0
max_spread_strength	decimal	turns on the spreading activation calculation & sets the maximum associative strength	ccm (DMSpreading submodule) pyactr (strength_of_association) vanilla (:mas)
mismatch_penalty	decimal	turns on partial matching and sets the penalty in the activation equation to this	ccm (Partial class) pyactr (partial_matching & mismatch_penalty) vanilla (:mp)
retrieval_threshold	decimal	retrieval threshold (τ)	ccm (threshold): 0.0 pyactr (retrieval_threshold): 0.0 vanilla (:rt): 0.0

Goal

This is the standard ACT-R goal module.

Module Name: goal

Buffer Name: goal

It does not have any additional configuration options.

Imaginal

This is the standard ACT-R imaginal module.

Module Name: imaginal

Buffer Name: imaginal

Config	Type	Description	Mapping
delay	decimal	how long it takes a request to the buffer to complete (seconds)	ccm (ImaginalModule.delay): 0.2 pyactr (Goal.delay): 0.2 vanilla (:imaginal-delay): 0.2

Procedural

This is the standard ACT-R procedural module.

Module Name: procedural

Buffer Name: none

Config	Type	Description	Mapping
default_action_time	decimal	time that it takes to fire a production (seconds)	ccm (production_time): 0.05 pyactr (rule_firing): 0.05 vanilla (:dat): 0.05

Extra Buffers

This is a gactar-specific module used to add new buffers to the model. According to ACT-R, buffers should only be added through modules, however some implementations allow declaring them wherever you want.

Module Name: extra_buffers

Buffer Names: specified in configuration

Config	Description
buffer name {}	the name of the new buffer (with "{}" to allow any buffer config options)