1994/01/01 by Jiaje Zhang, Donald A. Norman · 6 citations
Computer Science · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Cognitive Science and Mapping #Cognitive Science and Education Research #Neural dynamics and brain function #Computer science #Task (project management) #Representation (politics) #Cognition #Set (abstract data type) #Socially distributed cognition #Component (thermodynamics) #Artificial intelligence #Cognitive science #Theoretical computer science #Human–computer interaction #Psychology #Programming language
paper · pdf · doi:10.1207/s15516709cog1801_3
openalex publication_date 1994/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
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 abstract 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.