2025/09/10 by Rogier Kievit · 1 voice
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Cognitive Science and Mapping #Complex Systems and Decision Making
paper · pdf · doi:10.21428/e2759450.0fce3550
openalex publication_date 2025/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Cognitive variability reflects the instability of our cognitive abilities.Our ability to reason, respond, and remember fluctuates within the same person across seconds, minutes and hours, and even days, weeks, and months.Imagine two children, Charles and Ada, performing a cognitive task, such as remembering up to 10 digits.Across trials, they may have the same average performance, but the variability in their cognitive performance is very different, with Charles having pronounced peaks and troughs and Ada consistently scoring similarly.Cognitive variability refers to the degree to which the same individual shows differences in cognitive performance across different moments (e.g., trials or days) or different contexts.Such cognitive variability, or cognitive fluctuation, is familiar to every person.Cognitive abilities wax and wane across time and environment, affected by sleep, mood, and circumstance.Cognitive variability as a scientific construct remains relatively underexplored compared to the more well-established construct of mean performance.This neglect of variability in favor of the mean is a mistake.Cognitive variability affects how we manage our day-to-day challenges; it is clearly distinct from mean performance, with separate causes and consequences, and offers a source of unique insights into cognitive performance and development over time.