Cognitive Design

We naturally seek out products, services, relationships and interactions that give us net mental energy.  We want a psychological uptick that comes from a sense of inclusion, an emotional high, intellectual stimulation, an improved sense of control or a host of other positive mental states.  On the other hand, we veer away from things that present complexity, force reflection on difficult emotional matters or otherwise entail cognitive load and threaten to consume more mental energy than they generate.

Craving positive mental energy and avoiding cognitive load is as fundamental as seeking pleasure and avoiding pain but is far more comprehensive.

A recent study of math-heavy scientific articles show that even scientists are doing it.  The study found that articles that contained multiple equations were cited 50% less often than articles containing few or no equations. Point is equations carry a heavy cognitive load.   And this is not without implications:

“If new theories are presented in a way that is off-putting to other scientists, then no one will perform the crucial experiments needed to test those theories,”

Communications designed for how minds work carry high knowledge content with low cognitive load. In principle that is what mathematical symbols do but that assumes a fluency in the syntax that journal readers might not have.  The journal articles that were part of the study came  from ecology and evolution, disciplines that are not as math-heavy as other scientific domains such as physics and chemistry.

Source of infographic-  Healthcare Reform: Center Stage 2012

I’m often asked for good examples of cognitive design.  Some of the best are:

Powerball (multi-million dollar jackpot lottery tickets), Angry Birds (a mobile game), the Dom Zu Kohn (cathedral in Germany), your favorite piece of art, using the placebo effect to heal, pictures of cute baby animals, the alert tone on a cell phone and magic tricks you can’t see even after they are explained.

The success of all of these artifacts turns on the fact that they generate far  more mental energy than it takes to interact with them. They deliver a powerful think-and-feel experience because features and functions are optimized for how our minds actually work.  Said another way, they reveal the secret sauce for how to design for psychological impact . They are a laboratory for applied cognitive scientists and a potential design pattern for innovators.

 So far our attempts at applying the lessons learn from these artifacts to other design problems has seen little success.   For example, serious games (i.e. application of game mechanics to education, health and and business) have yet to produce a block buster and lottery-based savings products have yet to make a dent in our need to prepare for retirement.

Cognitive design needs to mature.  One strategy is to get much better at translating the results of cognitive science and engineering into innovations that authentically move our hearts and accelerate our minds.  What we need are scientific studies of artifacts with high cognitive impact that are specific enough to offer design insights. For example, actionable research on the visual neuroscience of magic has come out of the Barrow Neurological Institute. In a recent press release they shared these  findings:

“The researchers discovered that curved motion engaged smooth pursuit eye movements (in which the eye follows a moving object smoothly), whereas straight motion led to saccadic eye movements (in which the eye jumps from one point of interest to another).”

“They studied a popular coin-vanishing trick, in which King tosses a coin up and down in his right hand before “tossing” it to his left hand, where it subsequently disappears. In reality, the magician only simulates tossing the coin to the left hand, an implied motion that essentially tricks the neurons into responding as they would have if the coin had actually been thrown. “

These have very specific implications for designers.  For a deeper dive into the neuroscience behind magic check out Sleights of Mind and the Best Illusions of the Year Contest.

It is interesting to note that magic was developed through experimentation and tradecraft.  Neuroscience is trying to catch up but once it does we should see a new type of magic emerge. The same it true for games, art and much of architecture, marketing, education and entertainment. Tradecraft trumps science’s ability to generate breathtaking think-and-feel experiences but for how long?

Imagine being able to design an experience that is so powerful it transforms  someone with a deep fear of spiders into someone that could touch a tarantula.  Now imagine this designed experience is only 3 hours long and creates lasting effects on the brain regions associated with fear that can be detected with a brain scan 6 months later!

That is exactly what researchers at Northwestern University achieved in a study of 12 adults with lifelong debilitating spider phobias.   Participants went through a single  3-hour session of exposure therapy as described below.

“During the therapy, participants were taught about tarantulas and learned their catastrophic thoughts about them were not true. “They thought the tarantula might be capable of jumping out of the cage and on to them,” Hauner said. “Some thought the tarantula was capable of planning something evil to purposefully hurt them. I would teach them the tarantula is fragile and more interested in trying to hide herself. “

They gradually learned to approach the tarantula in slow steps until they were able to touch the outside of the terrarium. Then they touched the tarantula with a paintbrush, a glove and eventually pet it with their bare hands or held it.

“They would see how soft it was and that its movements were very predictable and controllable,” Hauner said. “Most tarantulas aren’t aggressive, they just have a bad reputation.”

The cognitive and behavioral features of this experience design are clear. The question for innovators is will they work to produce rapid, deep and lasting behavior change in other contexts?

More generally, is exposure therapy a reusable design pattern for shifting mental models and producing lasting behavior change?

Too good to be true?

It drips with cognitive design possibilities. Check out the video and product website.

A computer, some additional hardware and a bit of physics levitates a metal ball in 3D space. You are free to move the ball and the computer tracks the motion and keeps the ball stable. Likewise the computer can move the ball to execute a program or communicate with the user. This seemingly simple interface unlocks a wide range of interface possibilities. Many with strong implications for cognitive designers.  Check out the video.

In cognitive design we place primary emphasis on using features and functions to create thoughts and feelings.  Objects and artifacts are interesting only in so far as the mental states they create.  It is all about think-and-feel especially in domains where having psychological impact is the primary objective as in education, healthcare, communication, improving knowledge worker productivity, entertainment and many other areas.

We need to design and engineer products, services and even organizations so that they are optimized for how individual and group minds really work. While this statement is a given for regular readers of the Cognitive Design blog, is it far from broadly accepted.

So I am always on the look out for scientific studies that demonstrate the value created by think-and-feel. Take for example, the recent study reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that shows we place more value on experiential purchases than we do material purchases. More specifically, they found experiences such as vacations hold more value than products such as clothes.  Experiences are easier to integrate with our identities and can be savored and shared more flexibility than possessions. They require active participation and naturally tend to be more transformative than objects.

Importantly, the researchers:

“show that the tendency to cling more closely to cherished experiential memories is connected to the greater satisfaction people derive from experiences than possessions”

This reveals the primary importance of cognitive design.

Nearly everyone agrees that the K-12 educational system in the US is in trouble. High dropout rates, poor international rankings, high cost and an industrial age focus on teaching rather than a knowledge age focus on learning all signal the model has run its course.  A regulated, political  and fragmented market, K-12 has traditionally been closed to the normal forces of creative destruction that remake service/business models that go bad. All that may be changing.

According to the report Acceleration Innovation in Education Week, the pace of innovation in the K-12 market is seeing an unprecedented uptick.  Foundations and VCs have poured in a record amount of cash, incubators have sprung up and a small but diverse portfolio of start-ups are in motion. Key areas include hybrid charter models that combine online with face-to-face delivery and all facets of educational technology.

All of this is great news for cognitive designers that want to be entrepreneurs. After all,  successful innovation in K-12 requires a good deal of luck or a deep understanding of the cognitive needs of learners.

When you get sick  how you think about your illness strongly determines the decisions you make and how you behave.  Do you believe you will get better? How long will it take? Is the cause mysterious? Is the treatment plan offered by your doctor worth following?

Beliefs shape decisions and decisions shape behaviors. This is no surprise to readers of the cognitive design blog. What is a bit surprising is how big an impact your mental model about an illness can have on the speed, quality and cost of recovery.   Consider a recent meta-study on patient perception of illness:

“The authors find that people’s illness perceptions bear a direct relationship to several important health outcomes, including their level of functioning and ability, utilization of health care, adherence to treatment plans laid out by health care professionals, and even overall mortality.”

The good news is:

“Research confirms that brief, straightforward psychoeducational interventions can modify negative illness beliefs and lead to improvements over a range of different health outcomes.”

This means a little cognitive design in clinician-patient communication can directly translate into strong medicine.

Image: Medfest 2012

The best communications and media turn on excellence in cognitive design. So I am always on the look out for scientifically grounded work on the psychology of advertising, marketing and new media.  One very useful source for designers is Media Effects. Also just read an announcement that a new version of  The Psychology of Entertainment Media has been released.

I am reviewing these materials and looking for others to include in my cognitive design class for the Summer of 2012 at Northwestern.   Interested to hear from readers that have good design-oriented references on the psychology of new media.