1. Situated Cognition
Minds and Machines

2. The Astonishing Hypothesis
“You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.”
- Francis Crick, “The Astonishing Hypothesis”

3. Brain Gives Rise to Mind Hypothesis
Intelligence, cognition, mind, etc. are all a function of the brain
Cognition = f(Brain)

4. Sense, Plan (Think), Act
Sense
Cognition
Act
(brain)
Agent
Environment

5. Situated Cognition
Situated (or Embodied) Cognition is the view that we have to take into account the body and the environment in trying to explain, and think about, cognition.
Situated cognition objects to the classical ‘Sense, Plan, Act’ model of cognition, which many cognitive scientists, most AI researchers, have assumed in their view of cognition:
Instead, Situated Cognition proponents say, perception and action are integral to cognition.

6. Catching a Fly Ball

7. Copying Blocks Experiment
Original
Copy
Task:
Subjects have to make a
copy of the configuration of
blocks on the left by
‘grabbing’ individual blocks
from the bins at the bottom
and placing them on the right
Bins

8. Results Blocks Experiment
The finding was that subjects would look at the original, then select a block, then look back at the original, and finally place the block.
On the traditional view of cognition, the third step would be a surprise. But, on the situated view, it makes sense.

9. ‘Epistemic moves’:
Moves that are not
part of a solution,
but help find one
Rotating
Slamming

10. No Opposable Thumbs …

11. The World as External Memory
Situated Cognition people say that the brain often uses the environment as a kind of ‘external memory’. Examples:
Taking apart your computer: how do you lay down the pieces to get it back together?
Notes you write to yourself
Planners, calendars, cellphones, laptops

12. The Google Effect
The Google effect is that people forget those things that they can ‘Google’.
Some people lament this, saying that people have become ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’, not unlike how the calculator has made people worse at basic arithmetic.
But in reality, this was in fact a very smart move of the brain. Incorporating the internet as external memory is not ‘lazy’, but efficient. And while brain alone = less smart, brain + internet = smarter!
Most importantly, the brain naturally integrates its environment if it makes sense: we don’t control this!

13. Copying Blocks Experiment II
Original
Copy
Same task as before.
However, original is hidden by
square, and you have to click on
it to reveal the original. Moreover,
it takes a certain amount of time
for original to appear.
Result: the more time it took for
original to appear, the more
subjects started to rely on internal
memory (brain).
Bins

14. Language: Our Best Tool?
Language seems to be an especially powerful tool that we use to enhance our cognitive abilities:
Expressions of language can be used to represent information and thus serve as external memory (see examples before)
Expressions of language can be manipulated and thus reasoning and decision-making can take place (logic, mathematics, science)

16. Tools to Enhance Cognition
To become smarter, then, we don’t need bigger brains, but better interactions with our environment.
Indeed, we can see the use of tools as a straightforward example of enhancing our abilities, so why not have cognitive tools?

17. Blind-Cane-Man Bob is blind, and uses a cane to feel around.
Is the cane part of Bob?
It isn’t part of Bob as a biological being.
But is it part of Bob as a cognitive being?
There is a cognitive agent here, perceiving the world, thinking about the world, etc.
Is the cane part of the cognitive agent, or part of the world?
(Is Bob a cyborg?)

18. Hammer-Man! Hammers don’t hit Nails, People Do!
“If all you have is a hammer,
everything becomes a nail”
- Bernard Baruch

19. How our Brain Integrates Technology: Perception
(Click on pic for vid)

20. How our Brain Integrates Technology: Action
(click on pic for vid)

21. Quiz 1
True or False? According to Situated Cognition, we perceive the world around us, carefully figure out and plan the best action to take, and then act in accordance to that plan.
A. True
B. False

22. Quiz 2
Otto suffers from Alzheimer’s, but brings a notebook with him to write down things he needs to remember. Which of the following is NOT a good way to look at this situation?
A. When explaining why Otto gets to his appointments in time, it makes most sense to simply say that he remembers all of his appointment. But we can only do that by considering the notebook as part of Otto.
B. When explaining why Otto did not get to his appointment in time, it makes sense to point out that he lost his notebook, and therefore didn’t remember the appointment. So, in that situation the notebook is not part of Otto.
C. The notebook is definitely not part of Otto, since Otto is made of biological material, whereas the notebook is not.