Tell apart too much information from too little connection

Separate having too many items to hold from having the items but not yet knowing how they relate.

Por qué funciona

The 2007 introduction distinguishes horizontal complexity, the amount of classical information a task requires, counted in yes-no questions, from vertical complexity, the number of recursions (repeated layers of coordination) that the coordinating actions must perform on the elements. A task can be heavy on one and light on the other. Naming which kind you have points to a different response, which this page infers: sorting and grouping for the first, practicing the relating step for the second.

Cómo hacerlo

1. Count how many separate facts or pieces you are trying to keep track of.
2. If the count is large and each piece is simple, the problem is horizontal: group the pieces and work through them in batches.
3. If you have the pieces but cannot say how they connect, the problem is vertical: write one sentence that states the relation between two of them, and repeat for the next pair.
4. Notice which kind you were working on, and change strategy if it does not help.

Evidencia

The distinction is drawn in the 2007 introduction as part of the model’s account of task complexity. Its use as a guide for choosing a response is this page’s own inference from that distinction. (mechanistic)

The response suggested for each kind of complexity is an inference from the model, not something the source tests.

Fuentes

• Commons, M. L. (2007). Introduction to the model of hierarchical complexity. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 13(1), 1–6.

Error común

Re-reading the same material when the real gap is that the pieces are not yet related, which more reading does not fix.