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Title: CHANGES IN COGNITION AND NEUROCOGNITION WHEN THINKING ALOUD DURING DESIGN
Abstract The think-aloud protocol provides researchers an insight into the designer's mental state, but little is understood about how thinking aloud influences design. The study presented in this paper sets out to measure the cognitive and neurocognitive changes in designers when thinking aloud. Engineering students (n=50) were randomly assigned to the think-aloud or control group. Students were outfitted with a functional near-infrared spectroscopy band. Students were asked to design a personal entertainment system. The think-aloud group spent significantly less time designing. Their design sketches included significantly fewer words. The think-aloud group also required significantly more resources in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The left DLPFC is often recruited for language processing, and the right DLPFC is involved in visual representation and problem-solving. The faster depletion of neurocognitive resources may have contributed to less time designing. Thinking aloud influences design cognition and neurocognition, but these effects are only now becoming apparent. More research and the adoption of neuroscience techniques can help shed light on these differences.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2128039 1929896
PAR ID:
10472275
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Proceedings of the Design Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the Design Society
Volume:
3
ISSN:
2732-527X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
867 to 876
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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