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The cognitive ecology of the Internet

The cognitive ecology of the Internet
The cognitive ecology of the Internet
In this chapter, we analyze the relationships between the Internet and its users in terms of situated cognition theory. We first argue that the Internet is a new kind of cognitive ecology, providing almost constant access to a vast amount of digital information that is increasingly more integrated into our cognitive routines. We then briefly introduce situated cognition theory and its species of embedded, embodied, extended, distributed and collective cognition. Having thus set the stage, we begin by taking an embedded cognition view and analyze how the Internet aids certain cognitive tasks. After that, we conceptualize how the Internet enables new kinds of embodied interaction, extends certain aspects of our embodiment, and examine how wearable technologies that monitor physiological, behavioral and contextual states transform the embodied self. On the basis of the degree of cognitive integration between a user and Internet resource, we then look at how and when the Internet extends our cognitive processes. We end this chapter with a discussion of distributed and collective cognition as facilitated by the Internet.
internet, web, web science, cognitive science, cognition, extended cognition, situated cognition, embodied cognition, distributed cognition, embedded cognition, collective cognition, cognitive ecology, embodied interaction, quantified self, embodiment
251-282
Springer Cham
Smart, Paul R.
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Heersmink, Richard
cc800bd5-1ee1-49b7-b866-c303cec30529
Clowes, Robert W.
e95ba4b2-48fa-45d0-8f9f-d428ac6c97a6
Cowley, Stephen J.
Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric
Smart, Paul R.
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Heersmink, Richard
cc800bd5-1ee1-49b7-b866-c303cec30529
Clowes, Robert W.
e95ba4b2-48fa-45d0-8f9f-d428ac6c97a6
Cowley, Stephen J.
Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric

Smart, Paul R., Heersmink, Richard and Clowes, Robert W. (2017) The cognitive ecology of the Internet. In, Cowley, Stephen J. and Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric (eds.) Cognition beyond the brain: computation, interactivity and human artifice. 2nd ed. Cham, Switzerland. Springer Cham, pp. 251-282. (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-49115-8_13).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In this chapter, we analyze the relationships between the Internet and its users in terms of situated cognition theory. We first argue that the Internet is a new kind of cognitive ecology, providing almost constant access to a vast amount of digital information that is increasingly more integrated into our cognitive routines. We then briefly introduce situated cognition theory and its species of embedded, embodied, extended, distributed and collective cognition. Having thus set the stage, we begin by taking an embedded cognition view and analyze how the Internet aids certain cognitive tasks. After that, we conceptualize how the Internet enables new kinds of embodied interaction, extends certain aspects of our embodiment, and examine how wearable technologies that monitor physiological, behavioral and contextual states transform the embodied self. On the basis of the degree of cognitive integration between a user and Internet resource, we then look at how and when the Internet extends our cognitive processes. We end this chapter with a discussion of distributed and collective cognition as facilitated by the Internet.

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Accepted/In Press date: 1 June 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 March 2017
Published date: 29 March 2017
Additional Information: Funded by International Technology Alliance in Network and Information Sciences: International Technology Alliance in Network and Information Sciences Agreement (W911NF-06-3-0001)
Keywords: internet, web, web science, cognitive science, cognition, extended cognition, situated cognition, embodied cognition, distributed cognition, embedded cognition, collective cognition, cognitive ecology, embodied interaction, quantified self, embodiment
Organisations: Web & Internet Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 397486
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/397486
PURE UUID: f9c1722d-d611-4dcb-bce3-d137c773efa2
ORCID for Paul R. Smart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9989-5307

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Date deposited: 28 Jun 2016 15:16
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: Paul R. Smart ORCID iD
Author: Richard Heersmink
Author: Robert W. Clowes
Editor: Stephen J. Cowley
Editor: Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau

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