Cognition In The Wild
Hutchins, Distributed Cognition, and Cognitive Systems
Kenny Skagerlund 2015-09-29
Ramifications?
”The central claim of distributed cognition is so radical that it
may well reorganize the whole of cognitive science”
--Latour (1996)
”Some of what has been done in cognitive science must now be
undone so that these things can be brought into the cognitive picture”
--Hutchins (1995)
Todays lecture at a glance
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Recap of distributed cognition
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Some central tenets revisited
Hutchins pioneering work
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”Cognition In The Wild”
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Why traditional cognitive science is fundamentally flawed
The role of culture
”How a cockpit remembers its speeds”
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Cognitive science in sociotechnical systems
The cockpit as a thinking thing
Distributed Cognition
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Cognition extends beyond the individual
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Interactions between people, resources and material
Looks for cognitive processes wherever they occur
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Functional relationships between elements are key (as-if’s)
Not every process in the brain is cognitive
Distributed Cognition is not a certain kind of cognition
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A perspective on all cognition
To understand memory, we have to understand how memory
is used in interaction with the world
Distributed Cognition
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Object of study:
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Wherever cognitive processes can be found
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The brain and the neural activity (even our brain is ”distributed”)
One individual – brain and body
Among several individuals – social cognition and external resources
…it’s not where cognitive activity takes place that defines cognition
Cognition is still transformations of representations
But where are we to draw the boundary?
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Depends on the question asked and the functional role of
elements
Distributed Cognition
Distributed Cognition
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Three kinds of distributed cognitive processes:
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Cognitive processes distributed across a social group
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Cognitive processes between internal and external
representations
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E.g. Communication and problem-solving between friends
E.g. Epistemic actions
Cognitive processes may be distributed through time
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E.g. Cultural processes and history
Hutchins and Distributed Cognition
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Cognitive Ethnography
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Aboard US Navy ships
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Aboardcommerical airliners and cockpits
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Became a book – ”Cognition In The Wild”
The role of culture and why traditional CogSci is mistaken
How a cockpit remembers its speeds
Serve as foundation for Distributed Cognition
Cognition In The Wild
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Traditional cognitive science is fundamentally
flawed
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Traditional characteristics of CogSci (Gardner, 1985)
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Representations
Computers
Marginalization of emotions, context, culture and history
Interdisciplinary approach
Roots in classical philosophy
The flaws of traditional CogSci
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So why is the traditional view flawed?
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Cognitive processes consists of the manipulation of mental
symbols (PSS hypothesis)
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”The computer was made in the image of the human” (Simon
& Kaplan, 1989)
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Binary digits as on/off switches resemble neuronal activity (McCulloch
& Pitts)
Universal Turing machines and formal logic
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Programmable using formal rules
”Intelligent” behavior – capture human cognition
The PSS hypothesis – initial success appealing
The flaws of traditional CogSci
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Origin of PSS due to Turing
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Self-conscious introspection
Mathematician doing math – computations
Apply rule to problem  Compute  Write down on paper 
Look at result  Next step/rule
Interaction with symbols doing computation
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Manual manipulation of symbols
Cognitive properties of ”human+pen+notebook” is not the same as
properties of the ”human” alone.
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The system has computational properties that the human does not
Turing mistook the properties of the system as symbols in the head
The PSS = The entire symbol manipulating system!
The computation is not done in the head alone
The flaws of traditional CogSci
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The PSS is the entire system
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The individual is just one ”component”
Searle’s Chinese room = PSS
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The human is not the symbol cruncher and does not understand
semantics
But the room as a system does
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The room is a cognitive sociotechnical system!
The result?
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The PSS tells us nothing about the pure psychological processes of
the human – the person is dissolved
We have been studying sociocultural systems – but know nothing
about the processes and the interactions within the system
The flaws of traditional CogSci
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AI and cognitive psychology:
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Lost embodiment, emotions, culture etc.
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The computer was not a model of human cognition
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Computer (PSS) is a model of a cognitive system
The flaws of traditional CogSci
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So now CogSci has tried to shoehorn and conceptualize
humans as computers!
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We have lost the fine-grained cognitive activity of what really
goes on
Symbols were outside the head – sensorimotor activity
responsible for interaction
Gardner (1985) describes the deemphasis of emotion, culture
and context
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It’s too hard to model
To get the program started and then add them later
It’s hard, even impossible – they are by definition removed as cognitive
processes
Some consequences
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Strict boundary between perception, action and cognition
”Cognition”
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Artificial boundary between inner/outer processes
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”When one commits to the notion that all intelligence is inside the
inside/outside boundary, one is forced to cram inside everything that
is required to produce the observed behaviors”
Some consequences
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Turing thought this was the PSS:
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Transformation of symbolic
representations in the head
PSS according to Hutchins:
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Transformation of symbolic
representations in a sociotechnical
system
Some consequences
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If the PSS is a sociotechnical system and…
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…Cognitive Science removed emotion, culture and context..
…how can we now add them again?
We can’t.
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The interactions giving rise to tranformation of symbols have been
lost. The human has been lost, and therefore there is nothing to add.
Cognitive processes has been ”Lost in Translation”
Thus…
”Some of what has been done in cognitive science must now be undone so
that these things can be brought into the cognitive picture”
--Hutchins (1995)
So what has been lost? The role of Culture
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What is culture?
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”…whatever it is one must know in order to behave appropriately
in any of the roles assumed to any member of a society.”
--Goodenough (1957)
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”Culture is not a collection of things, whether tangible or abstract.
Rather, it is a process. It is a human cognitive process that takes
place both inside and outside the minds of people. It is the process
in which our everyday cultural practices are enacted. (…) a major
component of culture is a cognitive process (…) and cognition is a
cultural process.”
--Hutchins (1995)
So what has been lost? The role of Culture
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Cultural artifacts (things) are residua of cognitive
processes
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”Culture is an adaptive process that accumulates partial
solutions to frequently encountered problems”
--Hutchins (1995)
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By marginalizing culture, we have lost alot of cognitive
activity and processes inherent in culture
Culture and cognition
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Understanding culture is understanding cognition
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We have to capture the interactions between the self, others
and artifacts, that got lost using the old view of PSS/cognition
To understand cognition we have to study cultural
practices in everyday activities and problem-solving
situations.
Hutchins empirical cases
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Cognition In The Wild (1995)
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Cognitive Ethnography
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Studying navigation aboard
a U.S. Navy vessel
Focus on navigation and labor
division between crew members and their interaction
Cognition in the wild
Computational properties and representations are shared and transformed
between several individuals and artifacts.
Cognition in the wild
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Calculate position through triangulation
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Measure bearing to 3 landmarks
Line of position: smaller fix triangle – greater accuracy
Anticipate appropriate landmarks in future states
Calculation and anticipation:
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Several multimodal representations
Distinct cognitive properties
Cognition in the wild
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Calculate position
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Situated seeing of the chart – look at the map and estimate
appropriate upcoming landmarks. Visual imagination on map
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Enacting line of position with finger motions above map
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Augmentation through gesture for communication and own thinking
Motor/visual/proprioceptive representations
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Integrate line of position with finger motions on/near the surface of
the chart. Communication and distributed ”reasoning” with crew.
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Placing charting tool on chart. Stable visual representation to system
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Then drawing on the map itself with pen. Plotting.
Cognition in the wild
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Increasing tangibility of representation
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From communication to reasoning using visual, motor and
proprioceptive feedback.
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The last part – plotting – is the only formal task.
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The result of several cognitive processes using cultural
processes – communication and embodied gestures.
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Actions are trains of thought
This is the transformation of symbols and
representations – the PSS!
Cognition in the wild
How a cockpit remembers its speed
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Later work by Hutchins aboard a commerical airliner
How a cockpit remembers its speeds
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Since the PSS is a sociotechnical system…
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”The classical cognitive science approach can be applied with little
modification to a unit of analysis that is larger than a person”
--Hutchins (1995)
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Hutchins focuses on representations
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Transformations of representations across media
Cockpit as sociotechnical unit
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Two pilots (PF & PNF)
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Instruments and levers
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Manuals, protocols and instructions for computations
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Memory card (speed card)
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Visual memory support (speed bugs)
Some technical background
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Wings of airplanes have different configuration depending
on speed
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Aerodynamics
The configuration is handled by ”flaps” and ”slats”
Some technical background
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Low speed (landing/take-off) requires one configuration
to maintain lift
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High-speed configurated wings cannot maintain lift during
low speeds
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Too low speed (given weight/configuration) can cause stall
(sudden drop in altitude and control)
Crucial to remember certain speeds
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Minimal maneuvering speed
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Plane weight and wing configuration
Landing speed
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Tradeoff between different speeds
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High speeds are safe because of good control and stability in air but
dangerous on ground
Low speed is good for length of landing, but require enough speed to
lift again for safety.
The interplay between speed, configuration and weight is
cruical!
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The key to this is in the speed card
Landing procedure
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PNF prepare landing data
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Compute projected landing weight
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Select the appropriate speed card
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Place in visible, appropriate place in cockpit
Apply speed bugs on correct locations on the speed indicator
to match with card
Representations in cockpit
Representations in cockpit
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Striped indicator – Max speed
Black indicator – current speed
Salmon bug – speed to be communicated
Representations in cockpit
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Speed bugs – minimum speed with different
angle/configuration of slats/flaps
Safety to ensure ”lift”
Landing procedure
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7000 ft  lower velocity  change wing configuration
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Cross-check on both pilots indicators and verbally reports
At 1000 ft  change again for max flap
At 500 ft  coordinate landing sequence
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PNF verbally announces velocity and deviations
Cognitive representations in cockpit
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Speed card
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Verbal representation of speed from PNF
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Long-term memory – durable
Weight and speed
Flap settings
Spatially located in between both pilots, once opened, keep open –
distribution across social space
The visual working-memory/attention of PF is high
Auditory resources instead
Speed bugs
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Malleable memory – working memory
Prospective memory (when at speed X  adjust config)
Cognitive representations in cockpit
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Large handles are visually perceptible in cockpit
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Easy to get visual feedback
Analogue, large inputs
Motor memory and representation
Fuel indicator
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Sensory information
Cockpit as distributed cognitive system
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Safe and reliable
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Redundancy in information display
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Workload is distributed among components
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Crosschecking and different sensory modalities
Two pilots with different assignments
Arefacts as information resources and memory
Transformation of cognitive work
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From computation to perception
From memory to perception
Cockpit as a distributed cognitive system
”Speed bugs do not help pilots remember speeds; rather,
they are part of the process by which the cockpit
remembers speeds.”
--Hutchins (1995)
Cognitive systems
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We are not always aware of how representations and
resources are exploited
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From cognition to perception
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”Cognition flows wherever costs are lower” (Kirsh)
Hard to predict how artefacts and tools are going to be
used
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Sometimes dangerous to make big changes in volatile settings
Cognitive systems
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Hutchins showed how cognitive systems can be analyzed
using traditional notions of cognitive processing
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(The PSS as sociotechnical systems)
The correct application
But with a systems view…
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…who bears responsibility?
… ”the human factor”
Some consequences
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Studying hard puzzles in laboratory settings
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Artificial, controlled challenges where solutions are
unimportant to the individual
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We should focus on open-ended problems in natural settings
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”Intelligent use of Space” – ”Epistemic Actions”
They tell us about real cognitive activities and processes
Cognition in the lab vs. the wild
Lab
 Uncommon
 Isolated
 Problem defined by
experimenter
 Novel situations
 Performed once
 ”in captivity”
Real world
 Common
 Ecological context
 Problem defined by the
self
 Familiar situations
 Performed often
 ”in the wild”
Cognition
Complementary approaches to understand cognitive processes: From brain
to sociotechnical systems
Study domain in the wild
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”It is not possible to discover these regularities of the
domain without understanding the details of the domain,
but the regularities of the domain are not about the
domain specific details, they are about the nature of
human cognition in human activity.”
--Hutchins (1995)
Distributed cognition as framework for
design
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1) Observe
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2) Theorize
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How do these components enhance performance? How can
they be better? Perceptual aspects? Working-memory aspects?
Propagation of representations?
3) Design
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Identify functional components and features of structures
Sketch and implement
4) Observe/measure
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Investigate if the new design solution works
Measure performance
Cognitive systems and extended cognition
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Some concerns…
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… Where should we draw the boundary of cognition?
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…Persistence of cognitive systems
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…Coupling vs. constitution
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What enables a process and what is part of it?
…Mental representations?
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Organism vs. transient coupling with artefacts
Difference between perception and introception?
… Who bears responsibility in case of accidents in cogn. systems?