Moment by Moment Variation in the Cognitive Activity of Experts

摘要

This paper reports the analysis of moment by moment variation in the use of intuitive and analytical cognition by experts engaged in a complex judgement task. Six highway engineers were asked to think aloud while producing formulas that expressed their knowledge of how highway aesthetics, safety, and capacity are determined by sets of relevant factors. Each engineer's statements were measured with multiple indices of the use of intuitive or analytical cognition, thus producing a moment by moment measure of the engineer's cognitive activity. Measures reflecting the rate of alternation between intuition and analysis, as well as linear and nonlinear trends, were derived from this. Differences in these measures due to task topic were found. Two predictions from Cognitive Continuum Theory were supported by the data: (a) the average segment was more analytical on the capacity task than on the aesthetics task, and (b) the rate of alteration between analysis and intuition was faster on the capacity task, which has high standards, than on the aesthetics task. The subtask the engineer was engaged in was also measured over time, and its was found that subjects used different modes of cognitive activity on different subtasks. Finally, it was discovered that the proportion of time the engineer spent doing particular cognitive activities and particular subtasks was related to the production of more accurate formulas.