Cognitive Engineering

IngeCog - ISSN 2517-6978 - © ISTE Ltd

Journal issues

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Recent articles

Cognitive foundations and impacts of nation branding

Nation branding, which can be defined as the application of brand strategy principles to states, is still largely perceived as a marketing approach aimed at enhancing the image of countries. It is undoubtedly this reductive perception that has kept cognitive science researchers at a distance from this complex and polysemous concept. However, upon closer analysis, it becomes clear that nation branding is closely related to cognitive science, both in terms of the processes of national brand building and its impact on the perceptions and behaviors of target audiences (residents, tourists, investors, diasporas, etc.). And in a generalized context of multipolar cognitive warfare, nation branding, as well as its "armed wing," public diplomacy, could well prove to be decisive assets, both in terms of the geopolitical impact they can generate in the international arena and the cognitive resilience they contribute to by uniting populations around coherent identity narratives. Finally, it will be interesting to address the theme of sustainability, which nation branding must integrate at a high level in order to effectively structure the economic development of our states, in both the North and the South.

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Perception of temporality in surgery: how to harmonize the necessary biological time with the immediaty offered by the digital age?

The text highlights the gap between digital, instant time (AI, online answers) and the slow, non-compressible biological time of surgery (healing, bone union, rehab). This mismatch fuels unrealistic patient expectations. Drawing on René Leriche and medical humanities, the author insists that surgery is a human encounter requiring listening and timing. AI can optimize fast steps (diagnosis, planning) but cannot speed up healing; it should clarify, not create false promises.

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Perfume dupes: commercial or cognitive warfare?

Dupes, accessible versions of perfumes from major brands, have been a meteorot commercial success since the covid-19 pandemic. Social networks have contributed to this success, making dupes an object of virality. Consumers, especially the youngest, seem to adhere very easily to this style of alternative, but legal consumption, which deconstructs decades of sophisticated marketing and elitist branding. Operating as tangible memes, they seduce and convert consumers in search of purchasing power, but also progressive societal demands (inclusion, accessibility, egalitarianism...). To the point of having an effect on the cultural representations associated with luxury, or even on the processes of human cogni-tion. It would then not be a trade war between the global South (a majority of dupes are made in China) and northern countries that should be guarded, but a cognitive war that could well weaken the system of cultural domination put in place by the West through the cleverly constructed iconicity of its great luxury brands.

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Error, cognitive bias, tunnel effect and chirurgical teamwork: aeronautics lessons for peri-operative care safety

This article aims to articulate the epidemiology of EIAS / EIGS and systemic failure models (Reason, Vincent) to guide prevention, recovery, and organizational learning in healthcare, with a particular focus on perioperative care. It outlines the error→incident→accident trajectory driven by cognitive limits, fatigue, stress, and communication failures. Cognitive biases and attentional tunneling are addressed through debiasing tactics. CRM/TEM frames team performance via briefings, adaptive leadership, closed-loop communication, and sterile-cockpit discipline. Checklists (WHO, SURPASS) and structured handovers (I-PASS/SBAR) deliver documented reductions in mortality and complications. The 2024 London Protocol refreshes RCA/ALARM and embeds a just-culture, learning-oriented REX. A Safety-II/HRO stance builds “safe-to-fail” organizations, sensitive to operations and deferent to expertise. Digital enablers (CPOE/CDS, BCMA, emergency manuals, OR Black Box, early-warning/AI) strengthen detection, traceability, and learning.

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Cognitive optimization of decision-making in highly automated systems: to shoot or not to shoot during an air strike (simulation)

The growing integration of artificial intelligence into air-combat systems accelerates the collection and fusion of data, yet leaves humans with ultimate responsibility for purely cognitive, high-stakes decisions such as the “shoot / no-shoot” judgment. Because the operator must integrate heterogeneous information within seconds, this decision imposes a substantial cognitive load. The present study aims to improve performance on this task through a training program built from operational feedback and implemented on a lightweight, easily deployable platform. Seventy fighter-squadron aircrew members from the French Air and Space Force participated: an expert group (N = 39) and an intermediate group (N = 31). Intermediates completed a pre-test, a 45-minute training session and a post-test, whereas experts completed only the pre-test. Results on performance (accuracy and response time) show that the training material successfully engages expert knowledge; moreover, intermediates exhibited significant gains after a training session. Transfer of these gains in an operational setting remains to be demonstrated in future work. Nevertheless, the findings support the development of squadron-ready training modules that complement existing instructional tools. Even as AI usage intensifies, humans will remain in the decision loop. Thus, sustained efforts in education and training are essential to keep operators effective, while also understanding how to use AI in an appropriate way to support human decision-making, and to ensure that technological advances do not leave people “behind the aircraft.”

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Trust and automation bias: differences between novices and experts in a military context

This study examines whether the automation bias in situations of arbitration between human and AI-based assistance varies as a function of individuals’ psychosocial characteristics. The literature highlights the robustness of the automation bias in decision-making situations with a single aid, but a few recent studies mobilizing the dual decision aid paradigm identify more nuanced results, particularly as a function of participants’ characteristics. 2 groups of participants (37 military pilot students vs. 37 operational pilots) are engaged in an close air support mission simulation, where they must choose between information provided by a human aid and that provided by an AI-based automated aid. Trust in these aids is induced a priori by predefined levels of reliability (20%, 50%, 70% 90%). With equal reliability, when young participants and experts are confronted with a human aid and an AI-based aid, they have a preference for the human aid. However, this preference is greater for experts. The study questions the invariability of automation bias, highlighting the impact of the operator’s psychosocial characteristics on decision-making. It seems necessary to reconsider the automation bias in modern contexts through individual representations of technologies to optimize the design of decision support systems.

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An epistemological polyptich: an operative approach of epistemology

Epistemology does be a meta-discipline whose structuring as 4x4 matrix called epistemological polyptich is presented so as to help situate any scientific study according to a simple spectrum. Some consequences of this polyptich approach are stated.

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Cognitive war at the heart of China’s socialization strategy

As a theoretical concept, cognitive warfare is receiving increasing attention. Yet there is a gap between the nascent literature on the subject and a thorough understanding of China’s cognitive warfare strategy and tactics, as well as the impact it has on democracies. The research hypothesises that China’s cognitive warfare strategy, while drawing on disruptive technologies and scientific advances, particularly in the field of neuropsychology, is rooted in the country’s historical strategic culture, and in particular in the indirect strategy and (de)socialisation processes in China’s worldview.

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On the subject of “meaning”

Following an inventory of some characteristics of “meaning”, we consider the interaction between a human being with another as a crucial situation. The question of meaning, with the hypothesis that meaning is the opposite of information, is then discussed.

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Toward semantic XAI – the third wave of explainable artificial intelligence

To respond to the problems posed by the growing use of AI models in high stakes applications, explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) has experienced significant growth in recent years. Initially dedicated to the search for technical solutions making it possible to produce explanations automatically, it encountered several difficulties, in particular when these solutions were confronted with non-expert end users. The XAI then sought to draw inspiration from the social sciences to produce explanations that were easier to understand. Despite some encouraging results, this new approach has not brought as much as hoped. This article analyzes the evolution of the XAI through these two periods. He discusses possible reasons for the difficulties encountered, and then proposes a new approach to improve the automated production of explanations. This approach, called semantic explainability or S-XAI, focuses on user cognition. While previous methods are oriented towards algorithms or causality, S-XAI starts from the principle that understanding relies above all on the user’s ability to appropriate the meaning of what is explained.