Cognitive Information Retrieval

This paper explores the interdisciplinary foundation that transforms information science into a cognitive discipline. It identifies and elaborates on the academic subjects—such as cognitive science, artificial intelligence, linguistics, neuroscience, human-computer interaction, psychology, philosophy of mind, and librarianship—that contribute to developing intelligent information systems capable of reasoning, learning, and decision-making. The study highlights how principles from these fields enhance information retrieval (IR) by aligning systems with human cognitive processes such as perception, memory, and language comprehension. It further discusses the significance of absolute syntax in classification and the cognitive nature of IR, presenting information retrieval as a human-like activity involving problem identification, query formulation, evaluation, decision-making, and application. The role of AI and cognitive models is emphasized in making IR systems adaptive and intelligent, mirroring human thought and enhancing knowledge organization and access.