Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT) is an adaptive theory of human judgement and posits a continuum of cognitive modes anchored by intuition and analysis. The theory specifies surface and depth task characteristics that are likely to induce cognitive modes at different points along the cognitive continuum. The current study manipulated both the surface (information representation) and depth (task structure) characteristics of a multiple‐cue integration threat assessment task. The surface manipulation influenced cognitive mode in the predicted direction with an iconic information display inducing a more intuitive mode than a numeric information display. The depth manipulation influenced cognitive mode in a pattern not predicted by CCT. Results indicate this difference was due to a combination of task complexity and participant satisfacing. As predicted, analysis produced a more leptokurtic error distribution than intuition. Task achievement was a function of the extent to which participants demonstrated an analytic cognitive mode index, and not a function of correspondence, as predicted. This difference was likely due to the quantitative nature of the task manipulations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract

The Proximity Compatibility Principle (PCP) states that a display format is well-suited to a given task if the information sources in the display are related to the same degree as information sources in the task. While experiments have shown that PCP can provide useful display design guidelines for many types of tasks, diagnosis tasks have not seemed to conform to PCP's predictions. The current experiment compared performance with integral, configural, and separable displays in three diagnosis tasks based on a medical diagnosis technique. As predicted, the integral display allowed the best performance. The results indicate that PCP is a useful theory for diagnosis tasks, but different diagnosis tasks can differ widely in their task demands.

No abstract

Cognitive engineering practices provide display design solutions that enhance the operator's ability to manage and control complex systems. However, they often do so without adequate modeling of the cognitive system requirements for this process. This research report is a first in a series of reports illustrating, in part, that the depth and surface distinctions of a task influence the correspondence between cognitive information organizing principles and properties of the task. The congruence principle is offered as a potential explanatory mechanism for the findings that different task representations induce different cognitive organizing principles, and that performance is dependent, in part, upon the mapping between the task, display, and cognitive organizing principle of the operator. Using different display types as means of comparison, results of both Experiment 1 and 2 supported the hypothesized congruence principle.