Abstract
Information and information processing are one of the most important aspects of dynamic systems. The term ‘information’, that is used in various contexts, might better be replaced with one that incorporates novelty, activity and learning. Many important communications of learning systems are non-ergodic. The ergodicity assumption in Shannon’s communication theory restricts his and all related concepts to systems that can not learn. For learning systems that interact with their environments, the more primitive concept of ‘variety’ will have to be used, instead of probability. Humans have a fundamental need for variety: he can’t permanently perceive the same context, he can’t do always the same things. The fundamental need for variety leads to a different interpretation of human behaviour that is often classified as “errors”. Variety is the basis to measure complexity. Complexity in the relationship between a learning system and his context can be expressed as incongruity. Incongruity is the difference between internal complexity of a learning system and the complexity of the context. Traditional concepts of information processing are models of homeostasis on a basic level without learning. Activity and the irreversible learning process are driving forces that cause permanently in-homeostasis in the relationship between a learning system and his context. A suitable model for information processing of learning systems must be conceptualised on a higher level: a homeostatic model of ‘in-homeostasis’. A concept to information processing is presented that derives an inverted U-shaped function between incongruity and information. This concept leads to some design recommendations for man-machine systems.
Chapter PDF
References
Ashby, R.W. (1958) Requisite variety and its implications for the control of complex systems. Cybernetica, 1 (2), 83–99.
Bainbridge, L. (1982) Ironies of Automation, in Analysis, Design, and Evaluation of Man-Machine Systems (eds. G. Johannsen & J.E. Rijnsdorp), Düsseldorf: VDI/VDE, pp. 151–157.
Bainbridge, L. (1991) The “cognitive” in cognitive ergonomics. Le Travail humain, 54, 337–343.
Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Chandler Publ.
Berlyne, D.E. (1960) Conflict, arousal, and curiosity. New York: McGraw Hill.
Brillouin, L. (1964) Scientific Uncertainty and Information. New York London: Academic Press.
Brown, L.T. & Gregory, L.P. (1968) Attentional Response of Humans and Squirrel Monkeys to Visual Patterns: final studies and resume. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 27 (3), 787–814.
Card, S.K. (1982) User Perceptual Mechanisms in the Search of Computer Command Menus. Human Factors in Computer Systems, (pp. 190–196), New York: ACM.
Crutchfield, J. & Young, K. (1991) Computation at the Onset of Chaos, in Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information (ed. W. Zurek), Redwood: Addison-Wesley, pp. 223–269.
Dähler, J. (1989) The Petri net simulator PACE (Pace Inc., Neptunstrasse 16, CH-8280 Kreuzlingen).
Dörner, D. (1979) Problemlosen als Informationsverarbeitung. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Dörner, D., Schaub, H., Stäudel, T. & Strohschneider, S. (1988) Ein System zur Handlungsregulation. Sprache & Kognition, 7 (4), 217–232.
Festinger, L.A. (1957) A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford: University Press.
Folberth, O. & Hackl, C. ( 1986, eds.) Der Informationsbegriff in Technik und Wissenschaft. München: Oldenbourg.
Fuchs-Kittowski K. (1992) Reflections on the Essence of Information, in Software Development and Reality Construction (eds. C. Floyd, H. Züllighoven, R. Budde & R. Keil-Slawik ), Berlin: Springer, pp. 416–432.
Furst, C.J. (1971) Automizing of visual attention. Perception & Psychophysics, 10 (2), 65–70.
Frey, D. (1981) Informationssuche und Informationsbewertung bei Entscheidungen. Bern: Huber.
Genrich, H.J., Lautenbach, K. & Thiagarajan, P.S. (1980) Elements of general net theory, in Lecture Notes in Computer Science vol. 84 “Net Theory and Applications”. New York: Springer, 21–163.
Grassberger, P. (1986) Toward a quantitative theory of self-generated complexity. International Journal of Theoretical Physics,25(9), 907–938.
Hartley, R.V.L. (1928) Transmission of information. Bell System Technical Journal, 7 (3), 535–563.
Hockey R. ( 1983, ed.) Stress and Fatigue in Human Performance. Chichester: Wiley.
Hunt, J.M.V. (1963) Motivation inherent in information processing and action, in Motivation and social interaction: cognitive determinants (ed. O.J. Harvey ), New York: Roland.
Interlink, Inc. (1991) The KNOT software (P.O. Box 4086 UPB, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA).
Irle, M. (1975) Lehrbuch der Sozialpsychologie. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Kahneman, D. (1973) Attention and Effort. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
McCabe, T. (1976) A complexity measure. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-2(6), 308–320.
Moray, N. & Rotenberg, I. (1989) Fault management in process control: eye movements and action. Ergonomics, 32 (11), 1319–1342.
Neisser, U. (1976) Cognition and Reality. San Francisco: Freeman.
Norretranders, T. (1991) Mærk verden. Kopenhagen: Gyldendal.
Paritsis, N. (1992) Towards a law of optimum variety, in Cybernetics and System Research 82 Vol. I. (ed. R. Trappl ), Singapore: World Scientific, pp. 35–40.
Paritsis, N. & Steward, D. (1983) Satisfaction and the development of socio-cultural systems through the control of interactions, in The relations between major problems and system learning Vol. II. (ed. G. Lasker ), Seaside California, Society for General System Research, Intersystems Publ.
Pervin, L.A. (1984) Personality. New York: Wiley.
Peterson, S.J. (1981) Petri net theory and the modeling of systems. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Raab, E. & Ebner, H. (1982) Rhythmus und musikalisches Erleben: der affektive Eindruck einstimmiger rhythmischer Strukturen von variierender Komplexität. Zeitschrift für experimentelle und angewandte Psychologie, 29 (2), 315–342.
Rauterberg, M. (1989) Uber das Phänomen “Information”, in Zur Terminologie in der Kognitionsforschung (Arbeitspapiere der Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung Nr. 385, pp. 219–241 ), St. Augustin: GMD.
Rauterberg, M. (1992) A method of a quantitative measurement of cognitive complexity, in Human-Computer Interaction: Tasks and Organization (eds. G. van der Veer, M. Tauber, S. Bagnara, and M. Antalovits ), Roma: CUD, pp. 295–307 ).
Rauterberg, M. (1993) AMME: an automatic mental model evaluation to analyze user behaviour traced in a finite, discrete state space. Ergonomics, 36 (11), 1369–1380.
Reynolds, V. & Jones N.B. ( 1978, eds.) Human Behaviour and Adaptation, in Symposia of the Society for the Study of Human Biology, Vol. 18, London: Taylor & Francis.
Schvaneveldt, R.W. (1990) Pathfinder associative networks — studies in knowledge organization Norwood: Ablex Publishing.
Shannon, C. (1962) The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana.
Smith, R.P. (1981) Boredom: A Review. Human Factors, 23 (3), 329–340.
Streuffert, S. & Streuffert, S.C. (1978) Behavior in the Complex Environment. New York: Wiley.
Thomas, E. L. & Lansdown, E. L. (1963) Visual search patterns of radiologists in training. Radiology, 81, 288–292.
Topsoe, F. (1974) Informationstheorie. Stuttgart: Teubner.
Ulich, E. (1974) Die Erweiterung des Handlungsspielraumes in der betrieblichen Praxis. Industrielle Organisation, 43 (1), 6–8.
Ulich, E. (1983) Differentielle Arbeitsgestaltung–ein Diskussionsbeitrag. Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 37 (1), 12–15.
Ulich, E. (1987) Umgang mit Monotonie und Komplexität. Technische Rundschau, 5, 8–13.
Ulich, E., Rauterberg, M., Moll, T., Greutmann, T. & Strohm, O. (1991) Task orientation and user-oriented dialog design. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 3 (2), 117–144.
Völz, H. (1991) Grundlagen der Information. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Voss H.-G. & Keller, H. (1981, eds.) Neugierforschung: Grundlagen, Theorien, Anwendungen. Weinheim: Beltz.
Walker, J. & Marriott, R. (1951) A study of some attitudes to factory work. Occupational Psychology, 25, 181–191.
Weinert, F. & Kluwe, R. ( 1984, eds.) Metakognition, Motivation und Lernen. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Weizsäcker von, E. (1974) Erstmaligkeit und Bestätigung als Komponenten der pragmatischen Information, in Offene Systeme, Band I. Beiträge zur Zeitstruktur von Information, Entropie und Evolution (ed. E. von Weizsäcker), Stuttgart: Klett.
Yerkes, R.M. & Dodson, J.D. (1908) The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology of Psychology, 18, 459–482.
Zucker, F. (1974) Information, Entropie, Komplementarität und Zeit, in Offene Systeme, Band I. Beiträge zur Zeitstruktur von Information, Entropie und Evolution (ed. E. von Weizsäcker), Stuttgart: Klett.
Zurek, W. ( 1991, ed.) Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information. Redwood: Addison-Wesley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rauterberg, M. (1995). About a framework for information and information processing of learning systems. In: Falkenberg, E.D., Hesse, W., Olivé, A. (eds) Information System Concepts. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34870-4_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34870-4_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-5041-2895-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-34870-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive