A Method for Rigorously Assessing Causal Mental Models to Support Distributed Team Cognition

This chapter presents a process of describing and assessing the causal mental models of distributed team members such that the differences among them can be identified and addressed. Doing so is useful because distributed team cognition theory posits that teams with greater degrees of shared cognition, which are underpinned by shared mental models, have higher performance. Connections are drawn between an example mental modeling process, called DEscriptive to SIMulation modeling (DESIM), and distributed coordination space from distributed team cognition theory. An example of using the DESIM mental modeling process highlights its support to distributed team cognition.