Distributed Cognition emphasizes the distributed nature of cognitive phenomena across individuals, artifacts, and representations that are both internal and external, Hutchins (1980). An artifact is any object made, modified, or used by

people. A representation is a set of codes that are combined and

held in mind in the form of analogs of ideas, images, propositions, and other sensory information.

It is understood in terms of a common language of ‘representational states’ and ‘media,’ Hutchins (1980). A representational state is the location where a

representation is interpreted. Media consists of messages that are distributed

throughout technology. Distributed Cognition can be analyzed at

the work setting level and at the brain level.

“In” the person Knowledge and forms of thought are not uniformly

distributed in the brain. Which 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.

“In” the medium culture The 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.

“In” the social world Cognitive processes are located both in the immediate

setting and the upcoming activity, which is presupposed in all actions.

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

“In” Time People pull information from their cultural past, project it

into the future, and then carry this purely conceptual “future” back into the present in the shape of beliefs.

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

Consider Lev Vygotsky

Consider Hugo Musterberg

Consider Wilhelm Wundt

Vygotsky takes a Sociocultural perspective of cognitive development. That is, how we learn and think is primarily a function of the social and cultural environment in which the child is raised. question was targeted toward cognitive processes as a way to reveal the heavy contextual influence of culture in thinking.

The emphasis is on what makes people different thinkers.

Cognition is inseparable from culture.

Vygotsky believed that development is guided by adults interacting with children, and that the cultural context will determine, how, when, and where these interactions take place.

Distributed cognition is deeply rooted in social constructivism– that is, the social-cultural ideas of Vygotsky.

Hugo Munsterberg’s perspective 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).

Wilhelm Wundt’s perspective 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).

“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.” Luria, 1928, p.493.

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

Medium(artifact)

ObjectSubject

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

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

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

Medium(artifact)

ObjectSubject

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

He 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.

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

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.

Luria describes this process suggesting that people’s actions in the world require analysis and synthesis of two sources of information in real time. One source is directly given (Stn-

On). Another source is culturally

mediated. (Stn-M-Osm). A new state of mind arises in the

subject when these two sources of information are analyzed and synthesized in real time.

O

O

Medium(artifact)

Stn

sm

n

Stn+1

It is a fairly abstract individual model that fails to account for the collective nature of human behavior within activity systems.

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

This is the crux of This is the crux of Distributed Distributed CognitionCognition.

Mediating Artifact

ObjectSubject

Rules Community DivisionOf Labor

Mediating Artifact

ObjectSubject

Rules Community DivisionOf Labor

“According to Schwartz (2007), “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.”

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

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

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

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

It also makes salient the artifacts students leave behind from their attempts at understanding. Distributed cognition has the potential to increase the likelihood

teachers will make careful selections of the tools they employ for teaching.

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

Funding 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.

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

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

Another tool is dialogue as mediated by chat platforms.