A central goal in cognitive science is to parse the series of processing stages underlying a cognitive task. A powerful yet simple behavioral method that can resolve this problem is finger trajectory tracking: by continuously tracking the finger position and speed as a participant chooses a response, and by analyzing which stimulus features affect the trajectory at each time point during the trial, we can estimate the absolute timing and order of each processing stage, and detect transient effects, changes of mind, serial versus parallel processing, and real-time fluctuations in subjective confidence. We suggest that trajectory tracking, which provides considerably more information than mere response times, may provide a comprehensive understanding of the fast temporal dynamics of cognitive operations.

中文翻译：

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跟踪以破解它：用手指跟踪剖析处理阶段

认知科学的一个中心目标是解析认知任务背后的一系列处理阶段。可以解决这个问题的一种强大而简单的行为方法是手指轨迹跟踪：通过在参与者选择响应时不断跟踪手指位置和速度，并通过分析在试验期间的每个时间点影响轨迹的刺激特征，我们可以估计每个处理阶段的绝对时间和顺序，并检测瞬态效应、思想变化、串行与并行处理以及主观信心的实时波动。我们建议轨迹跟踪提供比响应时间更多的信息，可以提供对认知操作的快速时间动态的全面理解。