Title: Consensus in Traditional Cognitive Science
1Consensus in Traditional Cognitive Science
- Unit of Analysis
- Laboratory
- The brain is the cognitive system.
- Control the environment to isolate the brain.
2Are there limitations?
- Question Can laboratory experiments and results
subtend and describe the full set of cognitive
phenomena? - Answer Most likely not.
- Move unit of analysis beyond skin, so that our
cognitive system is - Physically distributed
- Socially distributed
- Temporally distributed
3Distributed Cognition as a Framework
- Goal Still to explain the cognitive phenomena of
a cognitive system memory, attention, inference,
reasoning - BUT, with the approach that these processes are
distributed through time and culture, as well as
space (and space beyond the brain).
4Distributed Cognition
- Edwin Hutchins, UCSD
- Navy Bridge navigation
- Flight deck navigation
- D-COG makes 2 commitments
51) Unit of Analysis
- Extends beyond the skin. But how far?
- Bateson systemic wisdom, leave nothing
inexplicable - Look for cognitive processes on the basis of the
functional relationships of elements that
participate together in the process.
62) Range of Mechanisms in System
- Cognitive events not encompassed by the
manipulation of symbols in the brain. - Cognitive events involve a rich array of
manipulations between internal and external
elements (eg, artifacts). - Information propagates across media.
7What do we get from D-COG?
- We can see how cognitive processes may be
socially distributed. - We can see how cognitive processes may be
temporally distributed. - Cognitive processes may involve the coordination
of internal and external.
8Important
- D-COG is a framework for examining the cognitive
processes of cognitive systems as they exist in
the world (in the wild). - Not a theory of mind.
9Other Frameworks
- Situated/Contextual Cognition is not a new idea.
- A few other frameworks are worth mentioning.
- Some more clearly state their goal as theory of
mind.
10Activity Theory (Vygotsky, Rubinstein, Leontjev,
Lurija)
- From USSR school of cultural-historical
psychology - 1) human activity is directed towards material or
ideal objects - 2) activity is mediated by tools or artifacts
- 3) activity occurs within a culture
11Situated Action (Lave, Wenger)
- Environment dictates the activity
- An emerging, evolving interaction between human
and environment - Moment-to-moment interactions situated within a
setting (itself part of an arena).
12Related Topics/Readings
- Cultural Models (see Shore)
- Cultural blending (see Fauconnier)
- Books to get started with
- Mind in Society - Vygotsky
- Cognition in the Wild - Hutchins
- Cognition in Practice - Lave
13Cockpit Cognition
14Cockpit Cognition
- The cockpit as a whole is taken to be one
cognitive system. - Our unit of analysis is the cockpit and the
elements (humans, artifacts, culture, etc) - We examine cognitive processes as functional
relationships between humans and artifacts. - http//hci.ucsd.edu/10/Week7/
15Analysis grounded in meaning
- Culture plays an important role in D-COG.
- We study the meanings of a culture to ground our
analysis of the cognitive system. - Actions and language are culturally meaningful.
16Intersubjectivity
- I know that you know that I know.
- Shared understanding lt-gt Intersubjectivity.
- Expectations, and their importance in socially
distributed systems.
17Trajectories of Information
- Propagation of representational states across
representational media. - Expectations and intersubjectivity play a role in
the trajectory. - The value and function of particular media (its
representation) is critical.
18Trajectories of Information
19Computational Artifacts
- Artifacts, when used, can perform a computation.
- The representation of the artifact scaffolds the
task required to do the computation. - Hutchins notes humans are good visual processors.
Instruments aboard a ship bridge or cockpit are
highly visual instruments (dials, meters, scales,
linear alignment).
20A common navigation problem
- A ship travels 1500 yards in three minutes. What
is the speed of the ship in nautical miles per
hour?
21Solution 1 Paper and Pencil
- D R x T
- 1 nm 2000 yards
- 60 min 1 hour
22Solution 2 Calculator
- D R x T
- 1 nm 2000 yards
- 60 min 1 hour
23Solution 3 Three Scale Nomogram
24Solution 4 Three minute rule
25Artifacts as computation
- The task needed to solve the problem is related
to the structure of the artifact used to solve
the problem.
26Solution 1 and 2 (pen/paper/calculator)
- First change equation to
- R D / T
- Then, convert units
- yards to nautical miles (0.75 nm)
- minutes to hours (1/20 hours)
- Then, perform division
- Answer 15 nautical miles / hour (knots)
- The computation is an analytical task.
27Solution 3 Nomogram
- The same computation is now a perceptual task.
- You only need to draw a line across two points,
the third point is the answer.
28Solution 4 Three minute rule
- The same computation is now a conceptual task.
- Also, no need to understand how it works to use
it. - And, no need to design it to discover it.
1500 yards
15 knots
29Computational Artifacts (again)
- The structure of the artifact defines the task.
- Cognitive systems are coordinated systems of
elements (artifacts, humans, culture, etc) that
represent information in such a way (the type of
task) that some computation may be done.
30Other Properties of Cognitive Systems
- Memory (redundancy, for example)
- Error checking
- Problem solving
- Distribution of cognitive load
31Conclusions
- We expand the unit of analysis beyond the human
skin, earning a more systemic view of cognition
processes. - Immaterial and material artifacts (culture and
tools and humans) exist as elements of a
cognitive system. - The interaction of internal and external creates
trajectories of information. These trajectories
are cognitive processes (and may perform
computation).