Paths to thought characterization-examination of user-defined graphic predictors

The SearchMap software encourages users to incorporate experience and intuition into decisions that involve multiple layers of map information. Users define search configurations, search distances, and interlayer weights, and they "learn" from visual images, iterating search parameters until satisfied with the result. Successive sets of parameters record the thought paths of the user. In a gold exploration example, the thinking of an expert evolves to emphasize rock type, the presence of faulting, and occurrences of silver to locate gold deposits; de-emphasizing topography and the presence of arsenic as guides to ore. Correlating thought paths with brain function awaits expert input.