Cognitive Design

Making things that work the way our brains/minds do is a big part of what cognitive design is all about.  Not only do we want products, services, programs and experiences that are brain-compatible we want ones that help us achieve specific emotional and intellectual (or mental) states. 

Here is an example of what I mean. Human Bionics is working with the Department of Homeland Security to develop a music-based program to help first responders combat the stress and anxiety of their job and mentally “stay at the top of their game while working”.

The ability of music to stimulate emotions, trigger specific memories and otherwise impact our cognition is an active area of research.  What is cool about this application, is that they are making music from the first responder’s own brainwaves and using that to induce calm and lower anxiety.

This so-called brain music, is described in Cerebral Melodies, a science and technology snapshot from Homeland Security. 

You can hear a sample here and read an interview they gave to MSNBC here. I am in the process of looking up the patents to see what I can learn about the algorithms they use to translate EEG signals into musical notes and scores that change mental states.    

On April 1st, Adam Wilson, a doctoral student at the University Of Wisconsin at Madison was the first person to post an entry on Twitter (“using EEG to send tweet”) via a brain-machine interface.  You can see a video of how it works on NITRO lablog or check the original (with some interesting follow up tweets) here. 

Thanks at Max Clare at BSU for sending this news item.   

Details about the X-prize for healthcare were released about 10 days ago. The prize is designed to inspire radical innovations that will dramatically improve health value (community health index / total cost of care) for a population of 10,000 people.  If you can design, simulate and implement with assistance an “optimal health paradigm” that improves health value by 50% or more in a pilot community you run a good chance of wining the $10M prize.

The details on the design of the prize can be found here. Comments from the public are welcome until the end of May. 

This is an excellent way to structure the challenge. Anything less than a 50% improvement in quality/cost in a real world setting (population of 10,000 and all health issues) will not solve our healthcare crisis.

Cognitive design plays an important role at two levels in this effort.

(more…)

Be Sure to Factor Biases about Cognition into Your Design

As we age our memory gets worse, right? Holding that negative stereotype, or believing others around you hold it, can in fact make your memory worse. Or so reports researchers from North Carolina State University.  They report: 

“For example, older adults will perform more poorly on a memory test if they are told that older folks do poorly on that particular type of memory test,” Hess says. Memory also suffers if senior citizens believe they are being “stigmatized,” meaning that others are looking down on them because of their age.”  

I have seen similar studies even ones that have an impact on where folks score on the dementia scale.   

This is an important finding for cognitive designers working on applications for highly educated elderly, especially 70 and up.    (more…)

Music has a powerful effect on how we think and feel.  There is some evidence that it enhances our cognitive performance. Imagine then BLABY, a wearable MP3 player designed to deliver music and a mother’s voice to her unborn baby. This is cognitive training in the womb.

Check out the 1 Hour Design Challenge: Business Card Hacks. The idea is to design a new use for a business card that is 3D and can be constructed in an hour.   A most interesting entry is the seed card that lets your business card transform into a plant. 

(image source: Core77)

The contest is open until April 26 so you have time to make an entry.  I wonder how we can remake a business card into something that enhances cognition (how we think and feel)? 

Tuberculosis (TB) infects and kills millions of people every year around the globe. TB can be neutralized by a 6-month long daily regiment of antibiotics. But people still die, not so much because they cannot get the drug (even in poorer countries) but because they fail to comply with medication regiment. They don’t take the meds regularly enough for them to be effective.

An innovative solution (and excellent example of cognitive design) based on Take TB Meds, Get Mobile Minutes has been field tested in Nicaragua. Here is how it works: 

“To get around that problem, Jose Gomez-Marquez, program director for IIH, and his collaborators developed a simple paper-based diagnostic that detects metabolites of the TB drug in urine. The papers are dispensed from a device every 24 hours; when the diagnostic comes in contact with patients’ urine, the metabolite reacts with chemicals embedded in the paper. That reaction reveals a code, which the patient then texts to a central database every day. Those who take the drugs consistently for 30 days are rewarded with cell-phone minutes.”  

I am part of a small team of cognitive designers working on a similar concept for improving foot care for high-risk diabetes patients here in the US.   (more…)

Attracting, retaining, developing and getting the most out of today’s knowledge workers is the number one priority for most employers. This is the central challenge for cognitive designers focused on organizational issues.

The idea is simple.  If I can understand how minds (individual, group and even machine) really work then I should be able to design a workplace to maximize a return on/for talent.  

So I am always on the look out for new scientific insights into the cognition of workplace and service productivity.  One such insight can be found in the article Three Lessons for Creating Flourishing, that summarizes several keynotes from  the 2nd Applied Positive Psychology Conference.  

Pay special attention to the second lesson that discusses a case study by Aviva, a large insurance company.  They use a strength-based approach rather than a competency-based approach to human resource management and have produce some impressive results.

The insight is to hire people “made for the job” (uncompromising match to their core strengthens) rather than hiring someone that can do the job and emphasizing skill and competency development.   

(more…)

 The Cognitive Science Network is a great online resource for all manner of scholarly articles on cognition in communication, design, art, culture, math, science and technology. It should be a treasure trove for the cognitive designer.

Fortunately, abstracts and full articles are free in subject matter e-journals.  The network was founded by Mark Turner a professor and chair of cognitive science  at Case Western Reserve University. The site is maintained here. 

I am busy chewing through some of the materials and will share any design-related insights I find.  I invite readers to do the same.

A good overview of the emerging field of emotional design can be found here. The author looks at the concepts, arguments, tools and current issues associated with designing emotional responses, experiences and relationships.

Of special interest to cognitive designers are some of the tools including mood boards, inspirational activity cards, photo diaries, IDEO method cards, the sensorial quality assessment method, Kansei engineering and Premo.