A Cognitive Model of Collaborative Acts

John T. Nosek

Temple University

©2002

Outline

• Goal: IT to Support Effective Team Action for Difficult Problems

• Background: Provide Preciseness &

Direction• Cognitive Model of Collaborative Acts• Research Issues

To Achieve Effective Team Action:

• Right knowing

• Right team members

• Right time

Agent/Environment System:Focus on Action

Action, Meaning, & Knowing

• Knowledge - Capacity to Act (Attunement); Capacity to discern action possibilities in the environment

• Affordance - Action possibility offered (relative to the capacities of an actor class)

• Information - that which reveals affordance.

Action, Meaning, & Knowing (cont.)

• Meaning -– direct pickup from environment– not self aware– appears as 3rd party observation or reflection:

• projection of structure onto environment

• judgment

• Knowing - dynamic process of above

Perceived Affordance

• Relevant to Particular Actor

• Active Selection– Attunement: Capacities to perceive affordance– Needs and Goals

Cognitive Model of Collaborative Acts

What is the jumpability of the stream?

Grazing By The Stream

Danny Deer

Running For Fun: Comes Upon a Stream

Running For His Life: Comes Upon a Stream

Individual Cognitive Model

Selection: Attunement (includes Experience) + Current Activity + Goal Available Information Pickup

Behavior(Observed Perceived

Affordances)

+

Last Week: I jumped and survived, but Dilbert didn’t and he died.

Running For Their Lives, Tethered: Come Upon a Stream

Perception - non self-aware(shallow knowledge: Attunement

to reveal Cognitive Constructs, )

Conception: Deeper, Reflective

Judgment: JumpablePotency: VeryAction: Getting more jumpable

Informationstructures

Receiving AgentVery Jumpable,

Increasingly

Message

Constructing Shared Meaning

Sir, request permission

to jump

Running For Their Lives Tethered: Need

Permission From

Sammy the Snake

At Headquarters

Come Upon a Stream -

Animal

Levels of Social and Subjective Worlds:Attunement

HumanCulture

Experience

Subjective

Social

Subjective

Social

Subjective

Social

Message Construction Using Habermasian Ideas

Judgment: ThreatPotency: SeriousAction: Getting Worse

Informationstructures

Receiving AgentSerious Threat,

Worsening

Message

Constructing Shared Meaning

Cognitive Model of Collaborative Acts Agent 1, Time 1

Selection State: Attunement (includes Experience) + Current Activity + Goal Available Information Pickup

+

Behavior: Messsage for Agent 2

Agent 1, Time 2 (Initiation of Collaborative Act):Need to Attune Agent 2 to Perceive Affordance

Reflection: (Become self-aware): Available Information Pickup + Affordance (Judgment) + Judgments of Other (Including Attunement to Perceive Affordance)

Selection State: Attunement + Current Activity + Goal

+

Agent 2, Time 2Completion of Collaborative Act

+

Selection State: Attunement (Including those towards Agent 1) + Current Activity + Goal

Information Pickup (including message from Agent 1)

Behavior

Activity, Goal, and AffordanceJumpability

Activity Goal Jumpable Not JumpableGrazing by Eat Not Evoked

Running toward Fun Running toward Survival Running toward Message:

"Have Fun" Running toward Message:

"Dilbert did notjump and died"

Command andControl

Make bestdecision for

Danny

Not possible to EvokeEvoke other - threat

Cognitive Model of Collaborative Acts: Research Questions

• Model Predicability and Testability

• Perceived Set of Affordances– Training?– Reduce information overload?– Attention Management?

• Team Constructs

• Better Collaboration Envelopes™

Summary

• Agent/Environment System

• Constructing Shared Meaning– Perception - Conception (Reflection)– Lifeworld attunements

• Action Oriented– Affordance (Action available to agent class)– Selection:

• Attunement - Capacity to Perceive Action Availabilities (Experience/Knowledge):• Goals