Cognitive Engineering Design Research Articles

Design-by-Analogy: Effects of Exploration-Based Approach on Analogical Retrievals and Design Outcomes

Abstract This paper presents VISION (Visual Interaction tool for Seeking Inspiration based on Nonnegative Matrix Factorization), a computational design-by-analogy (DbA) tool that enables designers to visually explore a space of analogical inspiration for creative idea generation. While many currently available DbA tools use a query-based approach for retrieving analogies (i.e., input keywords or functions to return a set of relevant results), VISION allows designers to retrieve a collection of design analogies that are related to topics of interest and explore a space of potential inspiration, the way one would gather books of particular topics from multiple shelves at the library to find potential resources. Two cognitive engineering design studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of VISION during the conceptual design process. In the first study, conducted in a controlled-lab setting, VISION was evaluated based on its effect on the quantity, quality, novelty, and direct physical similarity ratings of design outcomes. In the second study, conducted in a graduate engineering design class, VISION was evaluated based on designers’ abilities to retrieve analogies from different domains and analogies that are different from already existing design solutions. Studies show that VISION could provide an alternative to the query-based search that many DbA computational support systems use and open up new opportunities for designers to benefit from computationally supported analogies.

Virtual reality application influences cognitive load‐mediated creativity components and creative performance in engineering design

AbstractVirtual reality (VR) can promote design performance, and may generate a high cognitive load and affect creative design thinking as well. In order to examine the effect of VR application on cognitive load and engineering design creativity, this study recruited 81 eighth‐grade students as participants and employed a non‐equivalent‐groups quasi‐experimental design to examine how VR application influences creativity components and creative performance. A creativity component scale (creative motivation, creative thinking, and professional cognition), a measurement of creative performance, and a cognitive load scale were used to collect data. The study also investigated the ability of VR application to predict creativity components and creative performance, using cognitive load as the mediator. The conclusions are as follows: (1) VR application had marked effects on professional cognition and creative motivation but no effect on creative thinking skills. (2) VR application had marked effects on the novelty and usefulness aspects of creative performance, particularly with respect to usefulness. (3) VR application had marked effects on extraneous and germane cognitive load, but no influence on intrinsic cognitive load, and (4) Both VR application and cognitive load were able to predict creativity components and creative performance. Their abilities to predict creative performance approached an acceptable level. Nevertheless, VR application had no effect on general creative thinking skills; therefore, other teaching strategies are needed to strengthen creative thinking.

Digital Healthcare: Moving beyond the data input/out problem toward enhancing clinical judgment

The design of digital information management systems for healthcare presents developers with several formidable engineering challenges. These systems must manage huge amounts of data and support communications across disparate platforms and divisions within a healthcare organization. They must ensure that data is kept private, secure, and available to the right people at the right time. However, as shown in other complex systems (e.g., nuclear power), simply making data available may be insufficient. The goals in designing digital healthcare as a ‘cognitive system’ are to present patient information in more meaningful ways, to help healthcare professionals become more productive, and to support healthcare professionals with clinical decision making. This paper describes how principles of cognitive systems engineering (CSE) and user experience (UX) design were applied to Cardiac Consultant, an interactive cardiovascular risk calculator, with those goals in mind.

Loss Reduction Concept Review and Its Comparison for Various Transmission Lines

With the application of Electromagnetic, high voltage systems, and physical electronics, this research work aims to increase the efficiency of power transmission with the design of a loss-reduced model in form of cables. The cable design is focused on underground transmission applications, since it requires the most cognitive science and engineering design for the transmission of heavy loads of power over small distances in densely urbanised areas with minimised losses. The AC analysis, thermal, capacitive, inductive, proximity, skin, and corona effects have been considered and have been significantly reduced by implementing various design strategies in the model. This design has been concluded by the comparison of the transmission cable to existing cables of similar physical properties and the observation of a major improvement therein.

An integrated cognitive computing approach for systematic conceptual design

Conceptual design plays an important role in product life cycle, which requires engineers to use sound design theory, cross-disciplinary knowledge, and complex technical support to acquire design concepts. However, the lack of sufficient computational tools makes it difficult for designers to fully explore in the wide design solution spaces. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated cognitive computing approach to formalize the cognitive activities of conceptual design. A cognitive computing model composed of concept associative memory, concept generation, and decision-making process is established based on the integration of cognitive psychology and engineering design. First of all, the Hopfield neural network is used to acquire similar concept solutions for specific subfunctions from a knowledge base. Then, morphological matrix and genetic algorithm are introduced to produce a set of feasible candidate solutions in the concept generation process. Furthermore, a technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution is applied to evaluate the generated concept solutions and obtain the optimal solution automatically. Finally, a case study is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.

A Cognitive Engineering Design of a Smart Phone Information Appliance with Improved Usability

This paper focuses on a cognitive engineering design for a smart phone application with improved usability at a software-level update of an information appliance (digital video remote controller). The design process is based on the Norman's cognitive engineering framework that can be used to detect human-interface problems with the existing controller through a usability assessment. The process includes considering a menu structure and error location in a more detailed-level analysis, and proposes an improved design for the smart phone application that emulates a video controller. The resultant system is tested to show how much the usability has been enhanced. The proposed method indicates that smart-phone applications can be regarded as useful alternatives to improve the information appliances, yielding a typical case study toward the next generation cognitive computing systems.

A descriptive framework of the design process from a dual cognitive-engineering perspective

This article proposes a new descriptive framework, which we label as the “ideation framework” (IF), of the design process from a dual cognitive-engineering perspective, partly based on existing frameworks from both fields and previous work by the author. The framework is for the ideation or front-end phase of the product development process, representing the interface between cognitive psychology and engineering design. Three domains – inspiration, decomposition, and integration – and three spaces – problem-space, idea-space, and concept-space – are the elements of the framework. The iterative flow of the engineering design process passes through the three domains in a semi-controlled way, through a sequence of specialization and generalization process loops in and between the spaces. An empirical descriptive examination of the ideation process is performed using designers with limited design experience. The designers were faced with a design problem that they had to solve in a limited period of time. Their designs were analyzed, and a post-exercise interview was done to uncover each of the participants' design process. The empirical work indicates these designers worked in a manner largely consistent with the IF.

The Meaning of “Near” and “Far”: The Impact of Structuring Design Databases and the Effect of Distance of Analogy on Design Output

This work lends insight into the meaning and impact of “near” and “far” analogies. A cognitive engineering design study is presented that examines the effect of the distance of analogical design stimuli on design solution generation, and places those findings in context of results from the literature. The work ultimately sheds new light on the impact of analogies in the design process and the significance of their distance from a design problem. In this work, the design repository from which analogical stimuli are chosen is the U.S. patent database, a natural choice, as it is one of the largest and easily accessed catalogued databases of inventions. The “near” and “far” analogical stimuli for this study were chosen based on a structure of patents, created using a combination of latent semantic analysis and a Bayesian based algorithm for discovering structural form, resulting in clusters of patents connected by their relative similarity. The findings of this engineering design study are juxtaposed with the findings of a previous study by the authors in design by analogy, which appear to be contradictory when viewed independently. However, by mapping the analogical stimuli used in the earlier work into similar structures along with the patents used in the current study, a relationship between all of the stimuli and their relative distance from the design problem is discovered. The results confirm that “near” and “far” are relative terms, and depend on the characteristics of the potential stimuli. Further, although the literature has shown that “far” analogical stimuli are more likely to lead to the generation of innovative solutions with novel characteristics, there is such a thing as too far. That is, if the stimuli are too distant, they then can become harmful to the design process. Importantly, as well, the data mapping approach to identify analogies works, and is able to impact the effectiveness of the design process. This work has implications not only in the area of finding inspirational designs to use for design by analogy processes in practice, but also for synthesis, or perhaps even unification, of future studies in the field of design by analogy.

Evaluation of an Ecological Interface Design for Military Command and Control

Two alternative interfaces developed for military command and control were evaluated. The theoretical frameworks and concepts used during their development are discussed, and the findings are related to larger issues in display, interface, and system design. Key aspects of cognitive systems engineering (CSE) and ecological interface design (EID) are discussed. An ecological interface was designed with principles of direct perception, direct manipulation, and visual momentum. An experimental version of an existing interface was also developed. An experiment was conducted with a synthetic task environment that incorporated scenarios of tactical operations. Participants were experienced army officers. Dependent variables included status reports for friendly and enemy resources and activities, subjective workload, and information access. Significant results favoring the ecological interface were obtained for six of seven dependent measures. The ecological interface was easy to learn, easy to use, and dramatically more effective than the existing interface. The results are interpreted from the CSE-EID perspective, but insights from naturalistic decision making and situation awareness are also described. The specific design features of the ecological interface are directly applicable to military command and control and similar domains; the overall CSE-EID approach is applicable to interface design for all work domains.

Design Team Convergence: The Influence of Example Solution Quality

This study examines how engineering design teams converge upon a solution to a design problem and how their solution is influenced by information given to them prior to problem solving. Specifically, the study considers the influence of the type of information received prior to problem solving on team convergence over time, as well as on the quality of produced solutions. To understand convergence, a model of the team members’ solution approach was developed through a cognitive engineering design study, specifically examining the effect of the introduction of a poor example solution or a good example solution prior to problem solving on the quality of the produced solutions. Latent semantic analysis was used to track the teams’ convergence, and the quality of design solutions was systematically assessed using pre-established criteria and multiple evaluators. Introducing a poor example solution was shown to decrease teams’ convergence over time, as well as the quality of their design solution; introducing a good example solution did not produce a statistically significant different effect on convergence compared with the control (with no prior example solution provided) but did lead to higher quality solutions.

Approaches to understanding, analysing and developing situation awareness

The term ‘situation awareness’ (SA) is still increasing in popularity in both ergonomics and other disciplines. A task-oriented systems perspective of SA is proposed from which conclusions flow concerning the task of ‘achieving and maintaining SA’. This paper also examines the status of the concept by illustrating its distributed and temporal complexities in the context of nuclear control room teams tackling a simulated plant disturbance and how a process tracing methodology can be used to identify these aspects of SA. Finally, some counterintuitive methods to cognitive engineering and interface design are described that can improve aspects of SA, depending upon what criteria of task performance are important, by encouraging a person to adopt a more cognitive-based interaction strategy.

Integrating Instructional Strategies and Haptic Technologies to Enhance the Training Efficacy of an Army 91W (Combat Medic) Medical Skills Training Simulation

This paper describes the design of HapMed, a haptics-based simulation system for training US Army 91W10 combat medic tasks. Particular emphasis is placed on a cognitive engineering design methodology for integrating haptic technologies and instructional design strategies to enhance HapMed training effectiveness. The unique design of HapMed also addresses the Army's critical need for a modular, field deployable training system that bridges the gap between civilian first responder training and combat casualty care.

Commentary Comments on 'Conception of the cognitive engineering design problem' by John Dowell and John Long

What is cognitive engineering? As a start, engineering is defined as the application of scientific principles to the design, building, and use of machines, constructions, etc. In simpler terms, engineering is the use of a systematic approach, based on scientific knowledge, to the design, building, and use of artefacts, with equal emphasis on design, building and use. Given this definition, then what is the meaning of the adjective ‘cognitive’?

Target Paper: Conception of the cognitive engineering design problem

Cognitive design, as the design of cognitive work and cognitive tools, is predominantly a craft practice that currently depends on the experience and insight of the designer. However, the emergence of a discipline of cognitive engineering promises a more effective alternative practice, one that turns on the prescription of solutions to cognitive design problems. In this paper, the authors first examine the requirements for advancing cognitive engineering as a discipline. In particular, they identify the need for a conception for explicitly formulating cognitive design problems. A proposal for such a conception is then presented.

Commentary A response to John Dowell and John Long, 'Conception of the cognitive engineering design problem'

The concept of engineering design is outlined and a list of what the Dowell and Long paper offers is presented, and its shortcoming is outlined. Finally, opportunities for ergonomists to contribute to improving the engineering design are pinpointed.

Representation still matters: Cognitive engineering and user interface design

With the increased utilization of cognitive models for designing user interfaces several disciplines started to contribute to acquiring and representing knowledge about users, artifacts, and tasks. Although a wealth of studies already exists on modeling mental processes, and although the goals of cognitive engineering have become quite clear over the last decade, essential epistemological and methodological issues in the context of developing user interfaces have remained untouched. However, recent challenging tasks, namely designing information spaces for distributed user communities, have led to a revival of well known problems concerning the representation of knowledge and related issues, such as abstraction, navigation through information spaces, and visualization of abstract knowledge. All of these issues are associated with mental processes and thus, might become part of cognitive models. In this paper we reveal epistemological and methodological assumptions in the field of cognitive modeling as well as their implications for user interface design. It turns out that in order to achieve the goal of developing human-oriented (in contrast to technology-driven) human-computer interfaces developers have to develop knowledge of the structure and the representational dynamics of the cognitive systems which are interacting with the computer. We show that in a first step it is necessary to study and investigate the different levels and forms of representation that are involved in the interaction processes between computers and human cognitive systems. We propose a hybrid user modeling approach as part of the task-based development procedure in TADEUS (Task Analysis/Design/End User Systems). The hybrid approach does not only enable the representation of functional roles end users have to perform, but also how end users perform these roles, i.e. the representation and reflection, if not prediction of their behavior. This way, holistic system development that equally takes into account the organizational requirements and the end user reality at work places is facilitated.