Cognitive Security Lab

The interdisciplinary Cognitive Security Lab (CoSeLa) brings together three research themes: cognitive warfare, radicalization, and societal resilience. The aim is to explore what and how these three domains connect. In the era of strategic competition, cognitive warfare seeks to influence people’s behavior through the human mind. The goal is to manipulate people’s perceptions, beliefs, and emotions that influence their behavior. In democratic countries, these activities are associated with foreign malign influence operations, as countries like Russia or China manipulate vulnerable populations and radicalize them against their governments. Encouraging cognitive and behavioral radicalization aims to undermine trust, public order, and stability in democratic countries.

The core of our research is to understand what emotions and beliefs are dominant and how these feelings and attitudes are activated with the intention of turning citizens against the system, including their willingness to use violence. Understanding how these mechanisms work can help us determine which vulnerabilities cognitive warfare activates and identify factors of resilience to malign influence operations.

Project team of FSV UK (1)

Mgr. Markéta Kocmanová, Ph.D.

Principal investigator

marketa.kocmanova@fsv.cuni.cz