Cognitive Orientation in Decision Support Systems

Cognitive orientation has long been thought of as a very important consideration to decision support systems (DSS). Situation awareness (SA) and mental models, as two key concepts in cognitive psychology, are important for understanding ill-structured problems and making effective decisions. In many dynamic decision-making situations, especially those with high uncertainty, complexity and high personal stake, much research has proven that there is a close connection between SA, mental models and the performance of decision making: good SA and mental models are very likely to lead to good decisions and ultimately good performance. This research develops a conceptual information system framework for cognition-driven decision support system based on cognitive orientation, which is expected to be able to provide better decision support in ill-defined decision situations.