Cognition Theories in Information Design

We've explored the history of Information Design and the underlying structures of languages systems. We've discovered that communication involves using language systems which are based on concepts and methods to transmit and receive these concepts. Now we will turn our attention to the way in which people make sense of the information that they receive. How do people understand a message? How best to present information to aid in comprehension?

The term "cognition" seems to take on very different meanings in different situations. In the science of Cognitive Psychology it refers to an individual's ability to process information, such as memory, perception, knowledge representation, logic, creativity and problem-solving.

Cognition can also be defined as the act of knowing or knowledge and refer to the development of concepts within individual minds, groups, organizations, cultures, or even larger groups of entities (humans on planet Earth, for example). An example of this might be the cultural assumption that the world was flat and the Sun revolved around the Earth until this was proved to be incorrect.

Inherently, every language is embedded with a cultural world-view of reality which represents a cultural artifact of group cognition, organization and agreement among the participants. There are many theories regarding the transition from group concepts to individualized experiences of cognition. Perhaps individual cognition is a by-product of group cognition, such as the group mind of a hive of bees, or a colony of ants. This may help to explain the power of cultural or univeral symbols. •