ABSTRACT
In 1986 Donald A. Norman coined the term Cognitive Engineering, which denotes a Cognitive Science approach within the Engineering Sciences. The research presented here follows in this tradition and exemplifies applied Cognitive Science by investigating knowledge acquisition processes in naturalistic task domains. While problem-solving research in Psychology formerly concentrated on knowledge-lean tasks like the Tower of Hanoi, attention shifted during the eighties to questions of knowledge acquisition, its organization and application in knowledge-rich task domains. A new paradigm, labelled Complex Problem Solving (see Frensch & Funke, 1995), deepened Cognitive Psychology by investigating the effects of complexity and uncertainty in dealing with computer-simulated dynamic systems.
