Philip T. Dunwoody

Cognitive adaptation and its consequences: a test of cognitive continuum theory

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

Surface and Depth Task Characteristics Both Affect Cognitive Mode

The present study had two main goals: (a) to test whether surface and depth task characteristics, individually and combined, influence a judge’s cognitive activity and (b) to test if Hammond’s cognitive continuum theory (CCT) predict the directionality of the differences in cognitive activity. CCT principles were used to construct tasks that varied in both surface and depth characteristics. Task surface features were manipulated by presenting information sources as numbers or icons. CCT predicts that judgments made from perceptual cue measurements (iconic display) will result in more intuitive cognition than judgments made from objective cue measurements (numeric display). Intuition and analysis were operationally defined using a cognitive continuum index (CCI) (see Hammond, Harm-n, Grassia, & Pearson, 1987). Task depth features were manipulated by varying the number of information sources, cue intercorrelations, environmental predictability, and degree of equal cue weighting. Depth features were combined to create three tasks predicted to induce differences in cognition. Both surface and depth task characteristics had a significant effect on cognition. CCT accurately predicted the effects of display format on cognitive mode, but did not accurately predict the effects of task structure on cognitive mode. A possible explanation for this failure is that CCT, in its current form, does not adequately incorporate changes in task perception as a function of expertise.

Personal information in searching for faces

Participants searched for a target on a television monitor either after they viewed pictures and received physical information about the target or received that information augmented by personal information. Based on a levels of processing perspective we predicted that the addition of personal information would stimulate deeper processing and result in better identification performance. Personal information did increase identification accuracy, as anticipated. Personal information also increased the duration of time spent on the search task relative to a distractor task, suggesting that personal information may have done more than deepen the processing at the time of encoding. In the current climate of terrorism, this increase in identification performance via a surveillance camera has clear applied significance.