Intuitive sensemaking: From theory to simulation based training

Abstract

The concept of sensemaking has become a prominent component of military operations in ambiguous environments. Sensemaking, in general, describes the process of pattern recognition, semantic formulation, anticipation, and holistic understanding and supports sociocultural situation assessment, anomaly detection, and anticipatory thinking. This skill enables intuitive experts to rapidly draw accurate conclusions based on cues that others cannot discern or to attend to the most important cues, based on experience. Simulation-based training can enhance and accelerate the ability to recognize and analyze cues and patterns by translating the unconscious, automatic monitoring and integration practiced by experts into a conscious cognitive process that we call intuitive sensemaking. We describe an Office of Naval Research project, currently in development, intended to effectively train previously ambiguous advanced cognitive skills such as intuition-informed sensemaking. With training, teams of military personnel should see increases in cohesiveness, sociocultural situation assessment, anomaly detection, and anticipatory thinking. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.