Cognitive Engineering: An Approach for Better Thinking
At Mesh Commons, we apply Cognitive Engineering—the rigorous use of cognitive science, visual perception, psycholinguistics, and memory research—to design technologies that enhance human performance. Rather than focusing on how software looks, Cognitive Engineering focuses on how people think, decide, and act within complex digital systems.
The Cognitive Engineering Design Methodology (CEDM) was developed over two decades by W. Bradford Paley and collaborators at Columbia University. It builds on deep studies of expert behavior, how seasoned professionals make rapid, high-stakes decisions—and applies those insights to design computer systems that extend, rather than interrupt, human cognition.
Our Differentiation
While related to fields like UX, Interaction Design, and Information Visualization, Cognitive Engineering goes deeper into the internal mental representations experts form when performing their work. By modeling cognition itself, CEDM produces designs that reduce mental friction, minimize error, and enable clarity under pressure.
From Roles to Views
CEDM decomposes expertise into four levels of analysis:
Role: The function of a person within an organization (e.g., trader, analyst, clinician).
Workflow: The continuous sequence of processes that achieve the goals of that role.
Task: A self-contained activity within the workflow—something you might naturally write on a to-do list.
Views: The software environment that supports execution of a task.
Why It Matters
Cognitive Engineering transforms how experts interact with data by revealing hidden decision steps and designing tools that follow the mind’s natural rhythm—glance, compare, decide. It reduces overload, accelerates collaboration, and strengthens confidence under pressure, making people smarter, faster, and more resilient with technology across finance, healthcare, and cybersecurity.
Take the audit
Get a Cognitive Engineering Audit of your application to reveal how cognitive performance gains could apply to your systems. Submit three screenshots, and we’ll return a detailed deconstruction highlighting optimization opportunities and estimating the potential business value.
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