A Fundamental Cognitive Taxonomy for Cognition Aids

This study aimed to organize the literature on cognitive aids to allow comparison of findings across studies and link the applied work of aid development to psychological constructs and theories of cognition.

Numerous taxonomies have been developed, all of which label cognitive aids via their surface characteristics. This complicates integration of the literature, as a type of aid, such as a checklist, can provide many different forms of support (cf. prospective memory for steps and decision support for alternative diagnoses).

In this synthesis of the literature, we address the disparate findings and organize them at their most basic level: Which cognitive processes does the aid need to support? Which processes do they support? Such processes include attention, perception, decision making, memory, and declarative knowledge.

Cognitive aids can be classified into the processes they support. Some studies focused on how an aid supports the cognitive processes demanded by the task (aid function). Other studies focused on supporting the processes needed to utilize the aid (aid usability).

Classifying cognitive aids according to the processes they support allows comparison across studies in the literature and a formalized way of planning the design of new cognitive aids. Once the literature is organized, theory-based guidelines and applied examples can be used by cognitive aid researchers and designers.

Aids can be designed according to the cognitive processes they need to support. Designers can be clear about their focus, either examining how to support specific cognitive processes or improving the usability of the aid.