Cognition-Informed Safeguards: Lessons and Recommendations for Safeguards Practitioners from Cognitive Science Research

Volume: 61, December 2020, pages 39-53,

Authors: Zoe Gastelum¹, Arielle Mattes¹, Laura Matzen², and Mallory Stites²

¹_{International Safeguards & Engagements Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Global Security Division,} ²_{Applied Cognitive Science Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Global Security Division}

Abstract:

Despite significant advances in measurement and detection equipment and information analysis methods for international nuclear safeguards, all safeguards verification activities are inherently limited by a common factor: humans. Developments in safeguards equipment and methods are critically important, but so are the care and maintenance of those safeguards practitioners who are expected to use them. The domains of cognitive science and cognitive psychology offer rich information on human performance and cognition. In this article, we summarize key points relevant for international safeguards from extensive literature in the cognitive science sub-domains of attention, cognitive biases, cognitive off-loading and knowledge transfer, the prevalence effect, sleep, stress, task switching and multi-tasking, visual search and visual inspection, wayfinding, and multilingualism. We provide actionable recommendations in a safeguards-relevant context.

Keywords: cognitive safeguards, international safeguards

Reference guideline:

Gastelum, Z., Mattes, A., Matzen, L., & Stites, M. (2020). Cognition-Informed Safeguards: Lessons and Recommendations for Safeguards Practitioners from Cognitive Science Research. ESARDA Bulletin - The International Journal of Nuclear Safeguards and Non-proliferation, 61, 39-53. https://doi.org/10.3011/ESARDA.IJNSNP.2020.11