<p>I'm trying to find an existing construct for what I refer to in my research as &quot;Functional Acuity&quot; (hereafter FA). The concept of FA is analogous to what one can see with v w/o one's glasses. One's FA is enhanced with one's glasses. Analogously, for example, a graphical display of data enhances one's FA for certain aspects of that data. Unlike glasses, which generally make everything bigger (unless they have some sort of special filter), a graphical display will usually just enhance the FA of whatever aspects of the data it was specifically designed to enhance. Importantly, this is NOT the same as visual acuity, or the acuity along any particular sense; It is, rather, the effect of augmentation of one's abstract capabilities. Analogously, certain manipulable devices could be said to enhance something like the &quot;Functional Manipulability&quot; of whatever is being manipulated. And, indeed, going more &quot;inside one's head&quot;, we could describe gaining knowledge, or learning a new procedure or skill, or way of interpreting one's experiences, as enhancing one's functional acuity or manipulation capability (maybe generalized as &quot;cognitive acuity&quot;). This seems like such a universal and obviously useful construct that it must be something already studied explicitly by cognitive scientists, and there are obvious yet vague analogs, like &quot;capabilities&quot;, but that seems so vague as to be useless. Can someone point me to whatever this is actually called, if there is such a construct already in the literature? Thanks!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-17T03:50:11.507Z
I wonder if clearer examples (rather than analogies) would help here...?  Language and numeracy, skill-building and training, culture and norms, may be considered types of [psychotechnology](https://dismantledmind.com/psychotechnology/): "Psychotechnology  refers to tools that fit your mind and enhance how it operates" - is this what you are looking for?
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-18T04:48:25.697Z
Hmm. Perhaps. I'd never heard that word before, although Webster seems to have a different definition than Kunal: "psychotechnology
noun
1: the application of psychological methods and results to the solution of practical problems especially in industry
2: an application of technology for psychological purposes (as personal growth or behavior change
But maybe we need a third defn.
jackisquizzical
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-18T17:45:03.923Z
To be a little more clear, I'm looking for the cognitive equivalent of JND.
jackisquizzical
<cognitive-psychology><learning><vision><problem-solving>
Functional/Cognitive Acuity/Manipulability
jackisquizzical
# Functional/Cognitive Acuity/Manipulability

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-11-15)

I'm trying to find an existing construct for what I refer to in my research as "Functional Acuity" (hereafter FA). The concept of FA is analogous to what one can see with v w/o one's glasses. One's FA is enhanced with one's glasses. Analogously, for example, a graphical display of data enhances one's FA for certain aspects of that data. Unlike glasses, which generally make everything bigger (unless they have some sort of special filter), a graphical display will usually just enhance the FA of whatever aspects of the data it was specifically designed to enhance. Importantly, this is NOT the same as visual acuity, or the acuity along any particular sense; It is, rather, the effect of augmentation of one's abstract capabilities. Analogously, certain manipulable devices could be said to enhance something like the "Functional Manipulability" of whatever is being manipulated. And, indeed, going more "inside one's head", we could describe gaining knowledge, or learning a new procedure or skill, or way of interpreting one's experiences, as enhancing one's functional acuity or manipulation capability (maybe generalized as "cognitive acuity"). This seems like such a universal and obviously useful construct that it must be something already studied explicitly by cognitive scientists, and there are obvious yet vague analogs, like "capabilities", but that seems so vague as to be useless. Can someone point me to whatever this is actually called, if there is such a construct already in the literature? Thanks!

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, learning, vision, problem-solving

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I wonder if clearer examples (rather than analogies) would help here...?  Language and numeracy, skill-building and training, culture and norms, may be considered types of [psychotechnology](https://dismantledmind.com/psychotechnology/): "Psychotechnology  refers to tools that fit your mind and enhance how it operates" - is this what you are looking for?  
> **username_0**: Hmm. Perhaps. I'd never heard that word before, although Webster seems to have a different definition than Kunal: "psychotechnology noun 1: the application of psychological methods and results to the solution of practical problems especially in industry 2: an application of technology for psychological purposes (as personal growth or behavior change But maybe we need a third defn.  
> **username_0**: To be a little more clear, I'm looking for the cognitive equivalent of JND.  

---

## 0 answers

