Measuring Cognitive Complexity

Abstract

Past research has theorised that high levels of individual cognitive complexity may result in heightened design thinking and creativity. The precise relationship, however, between cognitive complexity and creativity in design remains largely unexplored. This chapter develops two measures of cognitive complexity in design: content complexity and structural complexity. Using a combination of protocol analysis and linkography, it demonstrates how these two can be measured and studied. The demonstration uses two sets of protocol data developed from experiments in parametric design. The results indicate that (i) content complexity can be used to explain individual differences of cognitive complexity and (ii) structural complexity using decile growth plots of linkographs can reveal cognitive patterns over time. This method for measuring cognitive complexity contributes to advancing fundamental knowledge about design cognition and thinking.