A Taxonomy of Cognitive Artifacts: Function, Information, and Categories

The goal of this paper is to develop a systematic taxonomy of cognitive artifacts, i.e., human-made, physical objects that functionally contribute to performing a cognitive task. First, I identify the target domain by conceptualizing the category of cognitive artifacts as a functional kind: a kind of artifact that is defined purely by its function. Next, on the basis of their informational properties, I develop a set of related subcategories in which cognitive artifacts with similar properties can be grouped. In this taxonomy, I distinguish between three taxa, those of family, genus, and species. The family includes all cognitive artifacts without further specifying their informational properties. Two genera are then distinguished: representational and non-representational (or ecological) cognitive artifacts. These genera are further divided into species. In case of representational artifacts, these species are iconic, indexical, or symbolic. In case of ecological artifacts, these species are spatial or structural. Within species, token artifacts are identified. The proposed taxonomy is an important first step towards a better understanding of the range and variety of cognitive artifacts and is a helpful point of departure, both for conceptualizing how different artifacts augment or impair cognitive performance and how they transform and are integrated into our cognitive system and practices.

[1]  John Sutton,et al.  We Remember, We Forget: Collaborative Remembering in Older Couples , 2011 .

[2]  Pieter E. Vermaas,et al.  Actions Versus Functions: A Plea for an Alternative Metaphysics of Artifacts , 2004 .

[3]  Pieter E. Vermaas,et al.  Technical Functions: On the Use and Design of Artefacts , 2010 .

[4]  David Kirsh,et al.  Distributed cognition: a methodological note , 2006 .

[5]  G. Miller,et al.  Cognitive science. , 1981, Science.

[6]  Mirko Farina Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action and Cognitive Extension. , 2010 .

[7]  Massimiliano Carrara,et al.  The fine-grained metaphysics of artifactual and biological functional kinds , 2009, Synthese.

[8]  Beth Preston,et al.  Philosophical Theories of Artifact Function , 2009 .

[9]  A. Clark Supersizing the Mind , 2008 .

[10]  Robert A. Wilson,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition: How to Situate Cognition , 2008 .

[11]  J. Sutton Exaograms and Interdisciplinarity: history, the extended mind, and the civilizing process , 2006 .

[12]  D. Norman,et al.  A representational analysis of numeration systems , 1995, Cognition.

[13]  T. V. Paul,et al.  Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers , 1994 .

[14]  David Kirsh,et al.  The Intelligent Use of Space , 1995, Artif. Intell..

[15]  Philip Brey,et al.  The Epistemology and Ontology of Human-Computer Interaction , 2005, Minds and Machines.

[16]  Richard Heersmink,et al.  Mind and artifact : a multidimensional matrix for exploring cognition-artifact , 2012 .

[17]  Peter Kroes,et al.  Technical Artefacts: Creations of Mind and Matter , 2012 .

[18]  D. M. Hutton,et al.  Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI , 2000 .

[19]  John M. Carroll,et al.  Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface , 1991 .

[20]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Where the action is , 2001 .

[21]  P. Robbins,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition , 2001 .

[22]  A. Burks Icon, Index, and Symbol , 1949 .

[23]  A. Clark,et al.  The Extended Mind , 1998, Analysis.

[24]  D. Kirsh Problem Solving and Situated Cognition , 2009 .

[25]  Georg Theiner,et al.  Transactive Memory Systems: A Mechanistic Analysis of Emergent Group Memory , 2013, Review of Philosophy and Psychology.

[26]  Leslie Marsh Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence , 2009 .

[27]  Paul P. Maglio,et al.  On Distinguishing Epistemic from Pragmatic Action , 1994, Cogn. Sci..

[28]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine , 1993 .

[29]  J. Sutton Distributed cognition: domains and dimensions , 2006 .

[30]  H. Kornblith Referring to Artifacts , 1980 .

[31]  Beth Preston,et al.  Why Is a Wing Like a Spoon? A Pluralist Theory of Function , 1998 .

[32]  James D. Hollan,et al.  Distributed cognition: toward a new foundation for human-computer interaction research , 2000, TCHI.

[33]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Cognitive artifacts , 1991 .

[34]  Richard Heersmink Embodied Tools, Cognitive Tools and Brain-Computer Interfaces , 2013 .

[35]  Richard Menary Cognitive integration: mind and cognition unbounded , 2007 .

[36]  Nancy J. Nersessian,et al.  Research Laboratories as Evolving Distributed Cognitive Systems , 2003 .

[37]  B. Eckardt What Is Cognitive Science , 1992 .

[38]  Beth Preston,et al.  A Philosophy of Material Culture: Action, Function, and Mind , 2012 .

[39]  A. Jonker Origins of the modern mind. Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition , 1998 .

[40]  Michael D. Kirchhoff Extended cognition and fixed properties: steps to a third-wave version of extended cognition , 2012 .

[41]  Randall R Dipert,et al.  Artifacts, Art Works, and Agency , 1993 .

[42]  Nancy J. Nersessian,et al.  Interpreting Scientific and Engineering Practices: Integrating the cognitive, social, and cultural dimensions , 2003 .

[43]  D. Peterson Forms of representation : an interdisciplinary theme for cognitive science , 1996 .

[44]  E. Hutchins Cognition in the wild , 1995 .