Modeling cognitive processes in information seeking: From Popper to Pask

Abstract

This report explores the intellectual processes entailed during information seeking, as information needs are generated and information is sought and evaluated for relevance. It focuses on the details of cognitive processing, reviewing a number of models. In particular, Popper’s model of the communication process between an individual and new information is explored and elaborated from the perspective of Pask’s Conversation Theory. The implications of this theory are discussed in relation to the development of what Cole has termed “enabling” information retrieval systems.