Cognitive complexity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:56, 29 April 2014

Revision as of 12:42, 2 October 2014

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{{Cognitive}}

'''Cognitive complexity''' describes [[cognition]] along a simplicity-complexity axis. It is the subject of academic study in fields including [[personal construct psychology]],<ref name='bell.2004'>{{cite web |last=Bell |first=R.C. |title=Cognitive complexity |work=The Internet Encyclopaedia of Personal Construct Psychology |publisher=The Psychology of Personal Constructs |date=2004-02-14 |url=http://www.pcp-net.org/encyclopaedia/cogcom.html |accessdate=2010-04-30}}</ref> [[organizational studies|organisational theory]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www83.homepage.villanova.edu/richard.jacobs/MPA%208002/Powerpoint/cogcomp/ |title=Analyzing Organizations Through Cognitive Complexity |author=Villanova University |accessdate=29 April 2010}}</ref> and [[human-computerhuman–computer interaction]].<ref name='Rauterberg'>{{cite conference |title=How to Measure Cognitive Complexity in Human-ComputerHuman–Computer Interaction |last=Rauterberg |first=Matthias |year=1996 |volume=II |editor=Robert Trappl(ed) |booktitle=Proceedings of the Thirteenth European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research |url=http://en.scientificcommons.org/17603063 |pages=815–820 |___location=University of Vienna, Austria |conference=Thirteenth European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research |conferenceurl=http://www.osgk.ac.at/emcsr/96/ |isbn=3-85206-133-4}}</ref>

==History==

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{{Quote box |quote=an aspect of a person's cognitive functioning which at one end is defined by the use of many constructs with many relationships to one another (complexity) and at the other end by the use of few constructs with limited relationships to one another (simplicity) |source=[[Lawrence Pervin]], ''Personality''<ref name='Rauterberg'/> |width=33% |align=right}}

It is used as part of one of the several variations of the viable non-empirical evaluation model [[GOMS]] (Goalsgoals, Operatorsoperators, Methodsmethods, and Selectionselection rules); in particular the [[GOMS/CCT]] methodology.

Cognitive complexity can have various meanings:

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==In computer science==

{{further|Complexity}}

In [[human-computerhuman–computer interaction]], cognitive (or psychological) complexity distinguishes human factors (related to [[psychology]] and human cognition) from, for example, [[computational complexity theory|computational complexity]].<ref name=thomas:2008>{{cite book |first1=John C. |last1=Thomas |first2=John T. |last2=Richards |editor-last=Sears |editor-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Jacko |editor2-first=Julie A. |chapter=Achieving Psychological Simplicity: Methods And Measures To Reduce Cognitive Complexity |year=2008 |pages=498–507 |title=The human-computerhuman–computer interaction handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications |edition=2nd |___location=Mahwah, New Jersey |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |url=http://www.isrc.umbc.edu/HCIHandbook/ |isbn=978-0-8058-5870-9}}</ref>

==In artificial intelligence==

In an attempt to explain how humans perceive relevance, Cognitivecognitive complexity is defined as an extension of the notion of [[Kolmogorov complexity]]. It amounts to the length of the shortest description ''available to the observer''.

Here is an example :

Individuating a particular Inuit woman among one hundred people is simpler in a village in Congo rather than in an Inuit village.