Cognitive inflexibility and the development and use of strategies for solving complex dynamic problems: effects of different types of training

Performance in dynamic complex problem tasks is affected by cognitive inflexibility, whereby people are sometimes unable to adapt their strategies to unexpected changes in their surroundings. This cognitive inflexibility only affects a person's performance when the environmental changes are relevant to the particular problem-solving strategy that they are using. This paper describes a new methodology to detect cognitive flexibility in the use of strategies and presents an experiment designed to test the hypothesis, proving that the type of training affects cognitive flexibility. Keywords: Cognitive flexibilityComplex problem-solving. Acknowledgments About the authors José J. Cañas is Professor of Ergonomics at University of Granada, Spain. He graduated in Psychology at University of Granada in 1980 and received his PhD from the University of South Florida, USA, in 1986. His research has focused on the role of cognitive processes and mental representation on ergonomic phenomena. His publications cover topics such as human memory, mental models and complex problem-solving. He has been a member of national and international ergonomics associations. At the present time, he is a member of the Executive Committees of the Spanish 'Asociación Interación Persona-Ordenador' (AIPO), the Spanish Association of Ergonomics (AEE) and the 'Asociación Iberamericana de Ergonomía' (AIE). Adoración Antolí is a gradutate student at the Department of Experimental Psychology of the University of Granada in Spain. She graduated in Psychology at University of Granada in 1995. She teaches Ergonomics and Cognitive Processes and her research interests are complex problem-solving and a mental model of physical systems. Ladislao Salmerón is a research fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology of the University of Granada, Spain. He studied psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and graduated in 2000. His main research interest is mental representation in HCI. Inmaculada Fajardo is a research fellow at the Department of Computer Science of the Basque Country University, Spain. She studied psychology at the University of Granada, Spain, and graduated in 1999. Her main research interests are mental workload in complex dynamic tasks and cognitive accessibility.