Advancing Cognitive Inclusivity in Software Engineering Tools and Practices

Software engineering is a discipline that relies on various tools and best practices to support the creation and maintenance of complex software systems. It is also a discipline that demands a significant amount of cognitive processing while using these tools and practices, and it is often challenging to grasp what's happening inside the mind of a software engineer. Recent research has found evidence of biases within software development tools and practices, which favour only certain cognitive styles and create additional overhead or challenges for people with different cognitive styles. Yet, very few software engineering tools and practices have been studied through the lens of cognitive style. This study will investigate how individuals with different cognitive styles interact with a variety of software tools and practices through empirical research. It will contribute to analysing different cognitive styles and processes employed in software engineering, identifying potential biases in software tools and practices and paving the way to mitigate them.