A Simulation Method of Cognitive Maps

ABSTRACT: Cognitive maps are widely used for representing decision makers ' mental maps and their strategies. However, the cognitive map analysis is usually constrained into the static analyis and has difficulty in exploring dynamic nature of decision makers ' mental map. In this paper, a simulation method of cognitve map in the discipline of system dynamics is developed and discussed. In this paper, the concept of abstract simulation is proposed to allow simulation of cognitive maps to see their dynamic behavior without distorting them too much. As a way of abstract simulation, NUMBER is introduced in this paper. NUMBER is an abbreviation for 'Normal Unit Modeling By Elementary Relationships'. In this paper, NUMBER is applied to a cognitive map of policy maker to show its usefulness