Distributed cognition

Distributed cognition is an approach to cognitive science research that was developed by cognitive anthropologist Edwin Hutchins during the 1990s. Hutchins argues that mental representations, which classical cognitive science held are within the individual brain, are actually distributed in sociocultural systems that constitute the tools to think and perceive the world. Thus, an individual can perceive the specific environment and organize his perceptions following typical mental representations of his sociocultural system. 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). Hutchins' distributed cognition theory explains mental processes by taking as the fundamental unit of analysis "a collection of individuals and artifacts and their relations to each other in a particular work practice". Distributed cognition theory is part of the interdisciplinary field of embodied cognitive science, also called embodied cognition. Hutchins' distributed cognition theory influenced philosopher Andy Clark, who shortly after proposed his own version of the theory, calling it "extended cognition" (see, for example, the paper The Extended Mind).