An Evolving Perspective to Capture Individual Differences Related to Fluid and Crystallized Abilities in Information Searching with a Search Engine

Interacting with a search engine to search for information is an essential component in our information society. Yet, information search can be a complex task as users can face challenges when processing a staggering amount of information. Research in cognitive psychology and ergonomics has shown important individual differences in search strategies and performance. In this chapter, we describe how fluid and crystallized abilities may influence search behavior all along the task and how they can account for users’ difficulties. Our purpose is to provide a theoretical and methodological foundation to better understand the role of these abilities. To this point, we first review recent insights on the behavioral data collected in studies. Next, we present a new framework to analyze such data and discuss how fluid and crystallized abilities can impact information processing when searching for information. Illustrations of how this work can contribute to the development of useful information search support tools are discussed.