Welcome to the Laboratorio di Sistemi Cognitivi.

The Laboratorio di Sistemi Cognitivi (LabSiCo) is a research and teaching facility of the University of Trieste aimed at the study, design and development of cognitive systems, and at the production and delivery of courses and educational materials in the areas of cognitive modeling, artificial intelligence, human-machine interaction, ergonomics, and human factors.

The research activity of the LabSiCo is carried out within the Department of Psychology. Basic research is focused on the simulation of cognitive processes in domains ranging from problem solving to decision making, from learning to human-machine interaction. In pursuing this investigation, traditional experimental techniques are integrated with the modeling approach, carried out mainly within the ACT-R cognitive architecture to generate accurate quantitative predictions, and to provide a comparative evaluation of the candidate explicative hypotheses.

The LabSiCo is devoted to applied research, too. Projects are carried out on behalf of, and sponsored by, the European Commission, public institutions, and private companies with the goal of applying the cognitive modeling techniques to the study of the role human factors in the interactionwith complex systems.

The teaching activity of the LabSiCo is addressed to the students of the Facoltà di Psicologia and the Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, with the goal of promoting the development of expertise in the areas of interest of the laboratory. A successful initiative of the LabSiCo is the course "Design and Development of Cognitive Systems" aimed at teaching the basic principles of programming and cognitive modeling to students following the Psychology and Education curricula.