Distributed cognition: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:41, 1 July 2021

Revision as of 19:42, 1 July 2021

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'''Distributed cognition''' is an approach to [[cognitive science]] research that was developed by cognitive anthropologist Edwin Hutchins during the 1990s<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Hutchins E |title=Cognition in the wild |date=1995 |publisher=MIT Press |___location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-262-58146-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CGIaNc3F1MgC}}</ref>.

From cognitive ethnography, Hutchins argues that mental representations, which classical cognitive science held that are within the individual brain, are actually distributed in sociocultural systems that constitute the tools to think and perceive the world. Thus, a native of the Carolina Islands can perceive the sky and organize his perceptions of the constellations typical of his culture (the groupings of stars are different than in the traditional constellations of the West) and use the position of the stars in the sky as a map to orient yourselfhimself in space while sailing overnight in a canoe.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Hutchins E |title=Cognition in the wild |date=1995 |publisher=MIT Press |___location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-262-58146-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CGIaNc3F1MgC}}</ref>.

According to Hutchins, cognition involves not only the brain but also external artifacts, work teams made up of several people, and cultural systems for interpreting reality (mythical, scientific, or otherwise).