Cognitive Aspects of Structured Process Modeling

After visualizing data of various observational experiments on the way in which modelers construct process models, a promising process modeling style (i.e., structured process modeling) was discovered that is expected to cause process model quality to increase. A modeler constructs process models in a structured way if she/he is working on a limited amount of parts of the model simultaneously. This paper describes two cognitive theories that can explain this causal relation. Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) suggests that the amount of errors increases when the limited capacity of our working memory is overloaded. Cognitive Fit Theory (CFT) states that performance is improved when task material representation matches with the task to be executed. Three hypotheses are formulated and the experimental set-up to evaluate these hypotheses is described.