Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M7850

Distributed Cognition

Distributed Cognition
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportCognitive Science
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Distributed cognition is an approach to cognitive science research that was developed by cognitive anthropologist Edwin Hutchins during the 1990s.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Distributed cognition is an approach to cognitive science research that was developed by cognitive anthropologist Edwin Hutchins during the 1990s.

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Anchor fast decisions

Proposed by Hutchins (1995). Cognition is not confined to the individual mind but is distributed across people, tools, artifacts, environments, and social networks. The mechanism is that cognitive tasks are accomplished jointly by humans and external representations (whiteboards, manuals, software), and the intelligence of the system is greater than the sum of its parts.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_cognitionZH · Explicit
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