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Comparing the Design Neurocognition of Mechanical Engineers and Architects: A Study of the Effect of Designer’s Domain

Part of: Human Behaviour in Design and Design Cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Sonia Liliana da Silva Vieira ,
John S. Gero ,
Jessica Delmoral ,
Valentin Gattol ,
Carlos Fernandes  and
António A. Fernandes
Sonia Liliana da Silva Vieira*
Affiliation:
INEGI Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Porto, Portugal;
John S. Gero
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and School of Architecture University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States;
Jessica Delmoral
Affiliation:
INEGI Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Porto, Portugal;
Valentin Gattol
Affiliation:
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria;
Carlos Fernandes
Affiliation:
FMUP Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Portugal;
António A. Fernandes
Affiliation:
FEUP Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal
*
Contact: Vieira, Sonia Liliana da Silva, University of Porto, INEGI, Portugal, vieirasonia88@gmail.com

Abstract

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New tools from neuroscience allow design researchers to explore design neurocognition. By taking the advantage of EEG's temporal resolution we give up spatial resolution to focus on the performance of time-related design tasks. This paper presents results from an experiment using EEG to measure brain activation to study mechanical engineers and architects to compare their design neurocognition. In this study, we adopted and extended the tasks described in a previous fMRI study of design neurocognition reported in the literature. The block experiment consists of a sequence of 3 tasks: problem solving, basic design and open design using a physical interface. The block is preceded by a familiarizing pre-task using the physical interface and then extended to a fourth task using free-hand sketching. Brainwaves were collected from both mechanical engineers and architects. Results comparing 36 mechanical engineers and architects while designing were produced. These results indicate design cognition differences between the two domains in task-related power between the problem-solving task and the design tasks, in temporal resolution and transformed power.

Keywords

Design cognitionResearch methodologies and methodsHuman behaviour in designDesign domainsDesign neuroscience
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 1853 - 1862
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

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