Representations in Distributed Cognitive Tasks

In this article we propose a theoretical framework of distributed representations and a methodology of representational analysis for the study of distributed cognitive tasks—tasks that require the processing of information distributed across the internal mind and the external environment. The basic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive science 1994-01, Vol.18 (1), p.87-122
Main Authors: Zhang, Jiaje, Norman, Donald A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition. Intelligence
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mental imagery. Mental representation
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
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Summary:In this article we propose a theoretical framework of distributed representations and a methodology of representational analysis for the study of distributed cognitive tasks—tasks that require the processing of information distributed across the internal mind and the external environment. The basic principle of distributed representations Is that the representational system of a distributed cognitive task is a set of internal and external representations, which together represent the structure of the task. The basic strategy of representational analysis is to decompose the representation of a hierarchical task into its component levels so that the representational properties at each level can be independently examined. The theoretical framework and the methodology are used to analyze the hierarchical structure of the Tower of Hanoi problem. Based on this analysis, four experiments are designed to examine the representational properties of the Tower of Hanoi. Finally, the nature of external representations is discussed.
ISSN:0364-0213
1551-6709
DOI:10.1207/s15516709cog1801_3