Distributed Cognition and Problem Solving

nDistributed Cognition emphasizes the distributed nature of cognitive phenomena across individuals, artifacts, and representations that are both internal and external, Hutchins (1980).

nAn artifact is any object made, modified, or used by people.

nA representation is a set of codes that are combined and held in mind in the form of analogs of ideas, images, and other sensory information.

nIt is understood in terms of a common language of ‘representational states’ and ‘media,’ Hutchins (1980).

nRepresentational states are defined by the configuration of elements in a medium that can be interpreted as a representation.

nMedia consists of messages that are distributed throughout technology.

nDistributed Cognition can be analyzed at the work setting level and at the brain level.

n Where is Cognition Distributed?

n“In” the person

nKnowledge and forms of thought are not uniformly distributed in the brain.

nWhich parts of the brain that are engaged and the way an individual gets through a particular event depends on the cultural aspects of that event.

n“In” the medium culture

nThe context of behavior and the ways in which cognition is distributed depends on the combination of goals, tools, and setting as defined by the medium culture.

n“In” the social world

nCognitive processes are located both in the immediate setting and the upcoming activity, which is presupposed in all actions.

nWithin each local setting, cognitive actions, such as remembering and decision making, are distributed among the artifacts, rules, and the division of labor.

n“In” Time

nPeople pull information from their cultural past, projected it into the future, and then carry this purely conceptual “future” back into the present in the shape of beliefs.

nThese beliefs then constrain and organize a person’s socio-cultural environment.

n Distributed Cognition is not a new concept.

nDistributed Cognition is deeply rooted in social constructivism-- or, the social- cultural ideas of Vygotsky.

nAccording to Hugo Munsterberg, cognition occurs not only “in the head,” where millions of brain cells interact outside the range of consciousness to “remember, think, and will for us,” but also in objective elements of communication among individuals (1914).

nWilhelm Wundt believed that “higher psychological functions,” including processes of reasoning and the products of language, could not be studied using laboratory methods because the phenomena extended beyond individual human consciousness (1921).

nAlexander Luria’s Mediation Triangle

n “Man differs from animals in that he can make and use tools. These tools not only radically change his conditions of existence, they even react on him in that they effect a change in him and his psychic condition.” Alexander Luria, 1928, p.493.

n

Medium (artifact)

Luria’s mediations triangle provided a model identifying the basic structure of human cognition that results from tool mediation.

Object

n“Natural” (“unmediated”) functions are those along the base of the triangle (S-O).

n“Cultural” (“Mediated”) functions are those where interactions between subject and object are mediated by artifacts (S-M-O).

nHuman beings are constantly acquiring culture so both routes essentially exist simultaneously.

nAlexander Luria believed that language was the integral part of the process of cultural mediation. It is the “tool of tools.”

nHe also recognized that language enabled a person to deal with things that they have not perceived even indirectly and with things which were part of the experiences of past generations.

nBecause of this, he says, humans live in a double world. The original mediation triangle did not include time, so Luria modified it.

Luria’s Modified Mediation Triangle with Time

Stn

n

n

We learned earlier that people pull information from their cultural past, project it into the future, and then carry this conceptual “future” back into the present in the shape of beliefs, which then lead the way for behavior.

nLuria describes this process suggesting that people’s actions in the world require analysis and synthesis of two sources of information in real time.

nOne source is directly given (Stn-On).

n Another source is culturally mediated. (Stn-M-Osm).

nA new state of mind arises in the subject when these two sources of information are analyzed and synthesized in real time.

nEngstrom expanded the model to include other people, social rules, and the division of labor between the subject and others.

nThis is the crux of Distributed Cognition.

			Division Of Labor
Rules		Community

nSchwartz ( JRTE, in press) offers some educational implications in light of distributed cognition.

n“According to Schwartz (in press), “Cognition is propagated from mind to mind; mind to tool, and tool to mind in such a way that it: (a) is shared between the constituents of the group, (b) creates representations within and between the minds and manifests artifacts of the group, and (c) combines itself into a dynamic coordinated system.”

nViewing cognition as a distributed system allows one to inspect the processes of learning.

nWhen teachers use inspection it permits them to examine the variables within the learning process.

nInspection also focuses teachers’ attention on their own, as well as their students’, cognitive events.

nTeachers become mindful of the recursive and reciprocal influence their learners have on the activities and things they do to teach.

nIt also makes salient the artifacts students leave behind from their attempts at understanding.

nDistributed cognition has the potential to increase the likelihood teachers will make careful selections of the tools they employ for teaching.

n The problem of technology use in schools today.

n“Education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology.” Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education

nFunding is not the source behind the problem. Instead the issue concerns a lack of adequate training and low understanding of how computers can be used to enrich the learning experience.

nSchwartz (in press) believes that teachers find it difficult to use technology to teach because they fail to think of technology as cognitive tools.

nOne major tool that reveals the distributed nature of cognition is Virtual Learning Environments.