Control packets

  The activity of control, as with the other   primary supertasks, can be altered by the use of packets. Control packets allow the reasoner to tailor their reading patterns and reflection to a given situation. Is the material being read for pleasure, for study, or to kill time? These packets provide information on how much processing should be performed based on the reader's level of interest and the type of text. Suppose the purpose of the reading event was to study a text for a quiz the next day in class. In this situation, the control packet responsible for studying would be active.   Skimming and skipping of material would not be permitted. In fact, a re-reading control packet would be in place. The rest of the cognitive architecture would be influenced by eliminating the need to split attention; for example, distractions would be minimized. If the reader is engaged in pleasure reading, these aspects would not be in play. Note that the ISAAC system is only designed for pleasure reading; the discussion of the studying control packet is a hypothesis of my theory which is unsupported by the model at this time.

The packets also indicate how much reflection should occur. The packets act as a guide for the creation of the output representation; packets which indicate that more reflection is needed will guide the control supertask to produce this additional representation. Reflection is generally an expensive process, even though it tends to have large benefits to a reasoner. But, for some texts, a reader may elect to not reflect. Again, someone reading for pleasure may wish to not do much reflection at all. On the other hand, the student preparing for a quiz would have a much higher level of reflection going on in the cognitive architecture.