Computers Communication And Mental Models

Computers, Commmunication, and Mental Models is a far-ranging, focused treatment of the cognitive and behavioural issues in computer-mediated communication, knowledge representation and computer-supported co- operative work. It is also an argued development of the theoretical bases for treating computerized tools as intermediaries in the communication of mental maps between tool builders and users. Empirical trails are reported in detail sufficient for representation, in computer-based instruction, fractal dimensions of cognitive mapping and group decision support. The book is a collection of multidisciplinary papers which each shed light on the complex interactions between users and systems architects, via a common medium: computerized tools.

Special copy

The procedure uses approaches from risk and decision analysis to identity the most relevant information; it also uses approaches from psychology and communication theory to ensure that its message is understood. This book is written in nontechnical terms, designed to make the approach feasible for anyone willing to try it. It is illustrated with successful communications, on a variety of topics."--Jacket.

Nowadays, mental models are seen as crucial in systems design. Research is driven by the assumption that a better insight into a user's cognitive processes when using a system will improve design methods and provide friendly and efficient interfaces. The papers in this volume explore three fundamental issues: understanding the complexity of the intended worksystem, describing it by models and finally building the required powerful and usable system. The papers are an edited selection of those presented at the 8th interdisciplinary workshop on Mental Models and HCI, held in Austria in June 1989. They concentrate primarily on design issues, their theoretical background and the application of the concept of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Nevertheless, there are also contributions on theoretical topics and methodological questions.

The series serves to propagate investigations into language usage, especially with respect to computational support. This includes all forms of text handling activity, not only interlingual translations, but also conversions carried out in response to different communicative tasks. Among the major topics are problems of text transfer and the interplay between human and machine activities.

In a field choked with seemingly impenetrable jargon, Philip N. Johnson-Laird has done the impossible: written a book about how the mind works that requires no advance knowledge of artificial intelligence, neurophysiology, or psychology. The mind, he says, depends on the brain in the same way as the execution of a program of symbolic instructions depends on a computer, and can thus be understood by anyone willing to start with basic principles of computation and follow his step-by-step explanations. The author begins with a brief account of the history of psychology and the birth of cognitive science after World War II. He then describes clearly and simply the nature of symbols and the theory of computation, and follows with sections devoted to current computational models of how the mind carries out all its major tasks, including visual perception, learning, memory, the planning and control of actions, deductive and inductive reasoning, and the formation of new concepts and new ideas. Other sections discuss human communication, meaning, the progress that has been made in enabling computers to understand natural language, and finally the difficult problems of the conscious and unconscious mind, free will, needs and emotions, and self-awareness. In an envoi, the author responds to the critics of cognitive science and defends the computational view of the mind as an alternative to traditional dualism: cognitive science integrates mind and matter within the same explanatory framework. This first single-authored introduction to cognitive science will command the attention of students of cognitive science at all levels including psychologists, linguists, computer scientists, philosophers, and neuroscientists--as well as all readers curious about recent knowledge on how the mind works.