WHY WE DESIRE BENCHMARKING
Post 12 May 2023
WHY WE DESIRE BENCHMARKING
THE COGNITIVE/NEUROSCIENCE FOUNDATION
Dr. Marty Trevino - Chief Scientist, OptimEyes.ai
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Understanding and making Predictions of our environment are ubiquitous functions of the human brain. [1]
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Introduction:
When a senior leader asks for Benchmarking or similar ‘positional’ data, the well-understood purpose is to inform the decision-makers’ overarching mental model and influence future decision-making.?Yet, this is just a visible manifestation of a complex Cognitive and Neuroscientific process that, if understood at the deepest levels, can begin us on a path to numerous organizational and individual benefits.?
The desire for trustworthy benchmarking and similar positioning data intended to assess the firm’s ‘posture’ relative to other similar entities has remained an elusive and constant desire on the part of senior executives.?The overarching question usually is a permutation of: “As the CISO, I would like to know how we (the firm) compare along various dimensions of cyber security to our selected framework and peers?”
The question appears to be straightforward and driven by a simple need, but it is neither. ?In fact, it is an extremely difficult question to answer from a quantification and visualization standpoint due to the highly nuanced nature of every firm and the dynamic nature of the threat landscape. In addition, the “simple need” is the visible manifestation of a series of complex processes in the brain which underpin the formation and updating of the brain’s internal models and predictions, which in time, heavily influence decision-making.?
What is scientifically interesting is the “why” behind the articulated question – “Why does the brain desire information from this specific framing perspective – E.G., comparative and positional data to others in the ecosystem or a framework?” “Why does the brain desire to understand positioning relative to other entities in an ecosystem?” “Is there a deeper reason the brain cares beyond the obvious organizational benefits?”
A deep understanding of the Cognitive/Neuroscience underpinning of the visible ‘asks’ of senior leaders can help shape the firm’s Digital Transformation (DX) and inform new models of human/computer complementarity and the analytics/contextual information we develop and use to lead the firm.
A deep understanding of the Cognitive/Neuroscience underpinning of the visible ‘asks’ of senior leaders can help shape the firm’s Digital Transformation (DX) and inform new models of human/computer complementarity and the analytics/contextual information we develop and use to lead the firm.
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Ubiquitous Functions:
To understand the visible manifestations of our problem-solving and Situational Awareness/Understanding behavior (I.E., asking for benchmarking data), we must examine the part of the human brain which handles higher functioning - the Neocortex.?For our purposes of analysis, we can begin with the human brain’s most visible components – the Old Brain (comprising of the reptilian limbic) and the New Brain or the Neocortex. The Neo Cortex performs the higher-order functions that define us as humans.?Part of these higher functions is the desire to understand our positioning relative to other ‘things’ in an ecosystem.?We can think of the Neocortex as the part of the brain from where cognition and perception are derived.?This part of the brain senses the environment to inform our Internal Models of the world and creates an endless series of Reference Frames and Predictions of what our world will manifest itself as and what it will do.?This can range from what a screwdriver will look and feel like to the effects on the enterprise risk ‘profile’ if a new technology is purchased and incorporated. ?
The brain constantly assesses our environment by looking for confirmation and errors in its predictions of how the world is and will behave.?Part of this never-ending process is the desire to understand our positioning relative to all things – both real-world and man-made constructs. Thus, Understanding and Prediction are omnipresent functions of the Neocortex, and they manifest themselves in our everyday organizational life through seemingly simple requests like “How do we compare to our industry peers concerning the implementing of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework?” ?
This functional and structural overview of the brain gives us insight into why senior leaders desire trusted Benchmarking data at points in time.?Thus, requests of this nature can be correctly viewed as part of a complex and never-ending process to assess positioning in an ecosystem and extract insights. ?Benchmarking and similar information requests should be considered essential to creating Reference Frames, informing Predictions, and correcting deviations to our mental models.?
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Perception, Cognition, Understanding through Positioning:
Definitions:
Until recently, scientists have pursued the studies of Perception and Cognition as distinct fields of study however new research is indicating that the delineation between the two scientific fields may be much less distinct than previously thought.[2]?Scientists are now pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the components and nexus of Perception and Cognition.?This is important as both are essential “how” and “what” we see, believe, and thus predict our world to be and behave like. Even though the brain doesn’t precisely know what it will find in its daily exploration of the world, it is endlessly learning, predicting, and validating its predictions as one of its defining functions.
A secondary cognitive aspect to the desire to obtain ‘positioning data’ can also be rooted in the brain’s reward system.?When comparing something “owned” and another, mesolimbic dopamine pathways can be activated, creating the “pleasure/reward” response.?The inverse is also true when seeing positioning data that could potentially be very harmful. The brain recognizes the deviation from its predicted models “awakens” and may move to Act.?It is also believed that the brain’s fear center (the Amygdala) can be activated and prompt rapid and decisive decisions to rectify the situation. These are straightforward understanding, positioning, goal attainment, and positive and negative feedback responses that can be heightened in high-risk decisions or environments.?
The final deep-rooted underpinning for ‘asks’ like Benchmarking data centers on how the brain learns.?Hebbian learning is a neuropsychological theory and is among the best learning theories at this deep level of analysis.??Hebbian learning is based on a simple rule of neurons firing and wiring together in a weighted manner in accordance with a stimulus.?Simply stated, if two neurons fire together, their bond becomes stronger. It is believed that Hebbian learning is involved in various cognitive tasks.
The final interesting aspect is what we all understand to be true but often do not consciously recognize - Error-Based learning.?Error-Based learning occurs when there is a ‘delta’ between what we expected and what was seen.?The brain updates the formulation of its internal models to eliminate errors enabling us to adapt highly to new situations and navigate the future.?The desire for positional data to validate previous decisions and their anticipated outcomes (I.E., the incorporation of technology and a subsequent improvement in the firm’s cyber security posture) fits perfectly into this type of learning.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, the manifested behaviors we often see as organizational agents on one level appear as simple asks, but upon deeper examination, we can see that the very structure and Cognitive functioning of the brain underpins them.?Future theoretical thinking in this realm can and should focus on creating new models of Human/AI Complementarity to help inform the various requests by decision-makers for positioning data in human-centric ways that address today’s multi-dimensional nature of data. It will be through new models of complementarity that are designed to engender trust and deliver information at the speed of relevance that will lead to improved decision-making at speed and scale.
[1] See the works of James Hawkins as a great place to begin to understand intelligence and how the brain makes predictions of its environment: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/03/1020247/artificial-intelligence-brain-neuroscience-jeff-hawkins/.
[2] ?A great and brief read on this changing field of study.?(https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/cognition-and-perception-is-there-really-a-distinction)