Interaction-Based Measures of Cognitive Systems

Integrating cognitive engineering into the systems engineering process requires measurement methodologies that capitalize on variability in cognition and behavior distributed across people and their environment. It is important for cognitive system integration that measures be not only reliable and valid but also unobtrusive and capable of providing predictive and diagnostic information in real time. To achieve these objectives we have developed measures of systems (in our case, small teams of humans) that are based heavily on the automated sequential analysis of communication data. These measures have been mapped to system performance, system change, system process, coordination, and situation awareness and thus are of potential value for cognitive system integration activities.