Unobtrusive Monitoring Research Articles

Unsuccessful Use of Massed Practice in the Treatment of Gilles De La Tourette's Syndrome

An 18-yr.-old female suffering from motor tics and compulsive utterances of an obscene word engaged in massed practice for the coprolalia. Self-recorded frequency counts of the obscenity indicated no substantial decrease from baseline. Unobtrusive monitoring of the rate of coprolalic outbursts in the therapeutic setting indicated a marked increase as treatment progressed. This observation coupled with an improved articulation of the obscenity resulted in terminating the massed practice after eight sessions. The continued use of supportive therapy and chemotherapy (haloperidol) also proved unsuccessful. Social contingencies beyond the control of the therapists were suspected to play an important role in maintaining these behaviors.

An unobtrusive computer monitor for multi-step problem solving

This paper describes a procedural means for designing computer-assisted instructional (CAI) systems called Unobtrusive Problem Solving Monitors (UPSM'S) which (1) monitor students solving multi-step problems and (2) offer useful, pertinent advice to the student based on the prior student input history. These systems represent a conceptual advance over earlier types of systems in that they allow students to enter intermediate results of their problem solving activity, yet also allow them to discover and correct any errors in these results without unsolicited prompting from the system. At the same time, they can offer specific advice generated from a student's intermediate results whenever requested. These features allow students to obtain the benefits of problem solving in an unhindered, unguided fashion, yet allow them to request help when it is needed. This paper also outlines a prototype UPSM system that has been implemented in the area of plane geometry. This implementation incorporates a problem solver that solves portions of the problems under consideration while generating structured, verbalized descriptions of the solution process which are used as sources of incremental advice for the student. Because the problem solver attempts to extend lines of reasoning started by the student, the advice that is generated allows the geometry UPSM to adapt its responses to a variety of student input histories.

High-speed data processing and unobtrusive monitoring of eye movements

A system has been developed that monitors eye movements without imposing any unnatural constraints or mechanical attachments on the subject. The system also features high-speed on-line data processing.