Network-Oriented Modeling: Addressing Complexity of Cognitive, Affective and Social Interactions (Understanding Complex Systems)

This book presents a new approach that can be applied to complex, integrated individual and social human processes. It provides an alternative means of addressing complexity, better suited for its purpose than and effectively complementing traditional strategies involving isolation and separation assumptions.

Network-oriented modeling allows high-level cognitive, affective and social models in the form of (cyclic) graphs to be constructed, which can be automatically transformed into executable simulation models. The modeling format used makes it easy to take into account theories and findings about complex cognitive and social processes, which often involve dynamics based on interrelating cycles. Accordingly, it makes it possible to address complex phenomena such as the integration of emotions within cognitive processes of all kinds, of internal simulations of the mental processes of others, and of social phenomena such as shared understandings and collective actions. A variety of sample models – including those for ownership of actions, fear and dreaming, the integration of emotions in joint decision-making based on empathic understanding, and evolving social networks – illustrate the potential of the approach. Dedicated software is available to support building models in a conceptual or graphical manner, transforming them into an executable format and performing simulation experiments. The majority of the material presented has been used and positively evaluated by undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in the cognitive, social and AI domains.

Given its detailed coverage, the book is ideally suited as an introduction for graduate and undergraduate students in many different multidisciplinary fields involving cognitive, affective, social, biological, and neuroscience domains.

Prof. Jan Treur, Faculty of Sciences, the  Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam, is the head of the Behavioural Informatics Group. This multidisciplinary group investigates methods and techniques for modelling and analysis of complex human and social processes. Such models are applied to design human- or socially aware applications that support humans or groups of humans in their daily functioning, for example, in the form of smartphone apps or specialized social media. Application areas include support for a healthy lifestyle, active lifestyle, ambient-assisted living, crowd behavior, virtual patients, chronic diseases, and mental disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, or autism spectrum disorders.

Among Prof. Treur’s research interests are Complex Adaptive Systems, Computational Modelling, Human-Aware and Socially Aware Computing, Ambient Intelligence, Social Networks, Socio-Technical Systems, Cognitive, Affective and Social Neuroscience, Biological or Biologically Inspired Modelling, Social and Organization Modelling, and Philosophy of Mind.
He has taken part in various National and EU Projects, was and is involved in many conferences as Program Committee Member, Chair or Keynote Speaker, and has more than 600 papers to his name.  He has designed successful multidisciplinary curricula for Bachelor and Master programs in Lifestyle Informatics and Socially Aware Computing at his university. He has been and is teaching on modelling topics within these Bachelor and Master curricula and up to now has supervised well over 30 PhD theses within these areas.

For further information we refer to the Author’s website.