Semiotics and mental models: modeling automobile driver behavior

The driver is a semiotic system that interprets and responds to sensory input according to a context. This context is provided by a mental model-an internal representation employed to encode, predict, evaluate, and communicate the consequences of perceived and intended changes to the operator´s current state within the dynamic environment. Having constructed computational models of skill-based control, we develop the framework of multiple coordinating mental models via rule-based task switching and present preliminary empirical efforts at identifying and coordinating multiple mental models for human-based car following behavior