
Learn about the hidden thinking behind expert decision-making in Lesson One of the course. Dr. Gary Klein explains why understanding the invisible and often overlooked mental processes is crucial for solving complex problems and making tough decisions.
Discover why controlled lab experiments miss the mark in measuring true expertise. In this lesson, Dr. Klein explains how real-world context and experience shape effective decision-making, and why they’re often discounted in controlled studies.
Increase your awareness of the subtle forces eroding our trust in expertise. Understand the communities of practice that are challenging the role of expertise, and their specific critiques.
Through real-world examples, learn how expertise goes beyond standard operating procedures and depends on critical cognitive skills. Learn how these skills and insights help experts make life-saving decisions, even in unpredictable and risky situations.
This lesson examines why evidence-based guidelines aren’t enough in complex medical cases and how experts use cognitive skills to fill in the gaps. Dr. Klein identifies six key challenges medical professionals face, including how to interpret conflicting evidence and adapt treatments for unique patients.
Data tells a story, but does it tell the whole story? Explore how over-reliance on surface-level analyses can change the narrative. Dig deeper to understand how the Cognitive Dimension can enhance the insights gleaned from the data.
The Cognitive Dimension can help you develop richer mental models, improve decision-making strategies, and uncover pathways to insights. Learn how experts understand system limitations, perform workarounds, anticipate user errors, and make discoveries by employing specific cognitive skills and strategies.
Explore the growth of naturalistic decision making, and how tools like ShadowBox training and the AIQ toolkit can help uncover the Cognitive Dimension in complex tasks. This lesson reveals groundbreaking approaches that enhance decision support, accelerate expertise, and offer a human-centered alternative to the emphasis on eliminating heuristics and biases.
Expertise is often treated as a mysterious concept – few can explain it, but you know when someone has it. Dr. Gary Klein, renowned cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making, has devoted the last 35 years to understanding what makes experts so capable of making timely and accurate assessments.
In this course, Dr. Klein introduces the concept of the Cognitive Dimension: the hidden layer of awareness that underpins effective decisions, accurate sensemaking, and increased adaptability. Through a series of real-world examples and practical insights, learners will understand how experts recognize patterns, refine their mental models, and interpret ambiguous or conflicting data. You’ll explore why controlled studies often miss the nuances of expert behavior, how over-reliance on evidence-based data can be misleading, and what it takes to “see the invisible” in complex decision-making tasks. You'll also gain exposure to powerful tools like ShadowBox scenario-based training and the AIQ toolkit, which are designed to help surface and strengthen expert reasoning. After participating in this course, you will have a much deeper understanding of the skills, strategies, and techniques that experts use to make sense of their instincts.
This course is ideal for individuals who want to deepen their cognitive skills, move beyond superficial data interpretations, and learn to navigate uncertainty with greater clarity and confidence. Unlock the thinking that drives expertise—discover the Cognitive Dimension.